Coraline and I'm in Beijing

Coraline by Ysolda
Yarn: Manos del Uruguay Manos Silk Blend, 5 skeins. Inadvertently made the body shorter than intended, so I came in way under with 2 whole skeins leftover.
Needle: US 5

I started Coraline sometime in June, July? Can't remember. Anyway I've been working on it off and on for the last several months. I lerve it. My first time with i-cords (GENIUS) and smocking (PRETTY). I made the body too short but I think it works pretty well regardless. It's actually not entirely finished as I have not added buttons for the front. But I decided I'd give it to my mom for her birthday which is coming up in a couple of weeks - yes the idea of gifting Coraline was a total afterthought, but the afterthought still counts right? - and she'll add the buttons herself.

Here is my mom modeling from high atop her apartment overlooking Beijing. I'm totally into shooting straight into the sun these days, though my eyes aren't too happy about it. But I love lens flare! Anyway I've been here in Beijing for almost a week now, visiting my parents who moved here from Atl. in May. The city is quite...something. Not sure what that something is. I know how I feel about the air quality though. It's quite shitty. At the risk of TMI, my snot is black. I wiped my runny nose yesterday and the result was like wiping running mascara crud off your eyes. UGH.

It rained though last night, and this morning for the first time I saw sky! Adjacent buildings! Even mountains in the distance!

The view on a normal, lung-choking day.

This is not a cloudy day. It's all smog. Nice isn't it.

The view on an abnormal, clear-sky day, after the evening's rain.

I can hear my own lungs singing, just looking at that.

Dottie is lucky she has no lungs. Here she is on site at one of the tombs for the Ming Dynasty emperors.

Yesterday we hit the Great Wall. We should have gone today because yesterday was one of those days where visibility was completely nil, not just with the smog, but with a drizzly fog as well. I'll have to go back again for a better view. Though the misty one below is kind of romantic...

More to come!

Comments [11]
Filed Under: Completed Projects | Postcards from Dottie | Travel

FOC logos

I have potential logos! My graphic designer friend sent half a dozen versions, and I've narrowed it down to these:

Love the non-cutesy yet bulbous take on the cat. Very clean. Duck likes the last one with the cat forming the g, and I like the first one. I'll change some minor things like the color but this is great start. Very exciting.

Comments [38]
Filed Under: Pet Photography

Working hard for the money

I just spent over 4 hours on a conference call and the only thing that will make me feel better besides a gallon of martinis is to process some photos of pets. YAY for pets! I'm smiling already.

I had the privilege recently of photographing Maritza's furry loved ones. A dog and three cats, swoon. One cat was snuggled deep inside a kitchen cabinet and she looked so comfy and cozy (and in the shadows) that I did not want to disturb her. So I harrassed the rest of them.

Once I get more proficient in Photoshop I'll try to edit out the broom stick thing behind his head. I did try to move them out of the frame before taking the photo, but as you can see I severely disturbed his cat nap as I attempted to reach over so I decided to keep the pre-shoot clattering at a minimum.

Poor Malachi. I was really making him work hard for the money.

It was clear after this shoot some of things I need to work on if I want to become a decent pet photographer. But I'll share those thoughts in another post. For the rest of the night it's martinis and baseball!

Comments [14]
Filed Under: Pet Photography

Weather barometers

I know it's getting cold out there when the boys start squeezing themselves into tight spaces. The less comfortable they look, the more comfortable they are. I walked into the office this morning and found the following pile-up:

Bunny is comfy, really. He was purring as I took this photo. Or maybe what I heard was his last breath  getting slowly pushed out by VanBuren's weight.

They really bug me sometimes. I spent all summer long shooing them off my office chair which is a cat fur magnet that no amount of vacuuming can dislodge, off the pile of papers on the desk, off the couch where they don't belong. I try to make their beds as enticing as possible but you'd think I had lined them with tin foil instead of yummy, plushy pillows.

Now suddenly they can't get enough of it. Now they're nesting. Happens every year. Cats are so weird.

Comments [16]
Filed Under: Cats

Lola

Thank you to everyone for your extremely kind words of encouragement about the start of F@t Or@nge C@t Studi0. I sort of can't believe I really named it that. To give props where props are due, Duck came up with that name, after he shot down a whole variety of options, including yes "Bunny&Veebs." Much as we love our B&V, he thought as a biz it sounded too esoteric.

I have emailed those who got in touch about volunteering their time and pets for a quick photoshoot, as mentioned in the end of the previous post. But if there are more of you out there, don't hesitate to contact!

I was able to shoot another springer spaniel recently. Her name is Lola and she lives right downstairs. Her pelt is so baby soft. I want to turn her into a blanket. She is much stockier than Sadie (apparently the runt of her litter, I get it now) and has a docked tail.

It's really cute.

And check out her soft, serious eyes...

The day is never complete without a serious close-up of a doggy snout. Lola's more of a bayer than a barker. Whenever she's excited, she says, Ah-woooOOoooOOOoooOOOoo!

Comments [17]
Filed Under: Pet Photography

I has a dream

I have something to share! A little project that's been brewing for awhile now. Soft bubbles are popping at the surface. I wasn't going to share until it was little more stable, more off the ground, more official. But then I thought boo! Why be so careful? That's no fun. If I talk about it from the get-go, I will
1) write more. I have not been writing, not for lack of topics but for lack of discipline, and it gets harder and harder to write the less I do
2) be held accountable to follow through with my own plans which I fully admit I am very bad at doing
3) document each step of the journey for prosterity. It could be very interesting. Or not. We will see. But only if I write all this down.

And if I say it out loud to the internet, then there is just no going back right? Because I am counting on you guys to make me look foolish if I renege on my goal and don't give it my all.

So, today, right now, I am officially announcing to the world that I, me. Want to be. A.

 

PET PHOTOGRAPHER!

YAY! It feels so right it can't be wrong!

I spent the last several months just coming up with a name. Hardest thing ever. I didn't want to use my name. I didn't want the word "photography" in it. I wanted something a little fun, a little quirky, but not too cutesy. Most of all, I wanted to name it after this dude...

 

...who for the last ten years has been my muse and my inspiration. Sniff sniff I owe it all to you, VanBuren J. Meowcat. You may know him as Veebs, but to others he's also known as that F@t Or@nge C@t.

So Veebs is officially the mascot of F@t Or@nge C@t Studi0! Yay for Veebs, I just knew you didn't have a set of oversized cat hips for nothing!

Right now my BFF Kitty's graphic designer husband is designing a couple of logos for me. I came up with something rudimentary myself but he's going to punch it up. They should be ready soon and I can't wait to see what he's delivered.

In the meantime, I have a portfolio that needs filling with photos of pets OTHER than Bunny & Veebs, even if they are the most photogenic critters in all of critterdom. I started off by using my friends' dogs to shoot. They happily obliged. My first client was this lovely springer spaniel who lives across the river in Somerville. I spent maybe 30 minutes to an hour shooting, and wow it was a lot harder than I anticipated! I didn't foresee myself getting so self-conscious and nervous. It was an instant switch, from Hey cute dog let me take your picture! to, Oh shit I have to know what I'm doing now but wait what does this button here do?

Practice makes perfect though and that's what I plan to do.

Here are a couple of photos from that shoot:

She is an extremely energetic dog but unfortunately I was not able to capture too much of her acrobatics since she had a hurt front leg . It didn't stop her from trying to run and jump though we tried not to encourage it. When she's healthy again I'm going to reshoot her at the park. I would love to get a shot of her airborne as she plays fetch, and have some ideas about how I want that shot to look. Can't wait to try it out!

MEANWHILE....

I have a couple more dogs to shoot, but I need more! Would you like to help me? If you live in the Boston area, have a dog or a cat and about an hour or so to spare, I would love to photograph your pet! It would be totally free, no money down, and as a token of my appreciation, I'll send you a complimentary 8x10 photo of your pet. If you're interested, send an email or leave a comment, if you have a dog tell me what breed it is - if you know - and I'll get in touch!

What do you say?

Comments [34]
Filed Under: Pet Photography

Bye, summer

Well. Summer's officially over. I've given up hope of having those final few days of unexpected, uncomfortable heat before I started pulling out the sweaters - I HATE pulling out the sweaters - but it looks like it's not to be. Haven't seen the sun in days, and tomorrow October comes. Already! As much as I like wearing my handknit socks, I choose you, flip-flops. I choose you.

Here is one last homage to summer, when we let Bunny out on the roof, supervised. His pink rabbit nose went into overdrive smelling all those outdoorsy city scents. I think he had a nice time up there. As did I.

Comments [12]
Filed Under: Cats | Life

Let's go Red Socks

I recently finished up my Red Socks, just in time to wear during the post-season.

I used the always scrumptious Sundara Sock Yarn in colorway called Claret over Scarlet. Love.

I made up the pattern as I went along. I cast some stitches with the red yarn, did a corrugated rib with the white yarn, and then did some form of ribbing with the red yarn, and then I when I came to the heel I used the white yarn, but then red for the foot, and then last but not least, went back to white with the toes. Et voila, Red Socks! How's that for a description?

They are slightly too large. I am wearing them now and even as I sit here in front of the computer, unmoving for the last 10 hours straight, they are sliding down and bunching around the ankles. I should have used a purl gutter rather than a garter so that the fabric pulls in more. Other than that, these socks kick ass.

Comments [19]
Filed Under: Completed Projects | Socks | Red Sox

Bunny officially hates me

Bunny wears the scarf I made using Sundara Yarn Fingering Silky Merino in Winter Skies.

For the first time in known history, he was not a very cooperative model. The photoshoot disintegrated very quickly.

 

Bunny is so mad that even from this blurry shot you can tell that green fire is shooting out of his eyes.

I'll get you next time, you wascally wabbit!

Comments [17]
Filed Under: Cats | Completed Projects