Saturday, January 03, 2009
VanBuren's New Year resolution was to play more. Get active, move around some, rediscover his inner kitten. I took him up on it and volunteered to help him train. We started light with a toy his grandmother gave him for Christmas - an uncontroversial plastic ball with a little bell inside.
Veebs stood at the bottom of the stairs while I rolled the ball down. The idea was for him to extend his arm and catch it. Work on his reflexes/hand-eye coordination.
The only part of his body that moved were his eyeballs.
We tried another tactic to see if it would be more enticing - me rolling the ball up to him. Again the idea was for him to catch it.
He did not catch it. He did not catch on.
Perhaps it was just too much stimuli, or he was shy, or he wanted to play on his own terms. So I left the ball in front of him and crept upstairs, leaving him to his own devices.
A few seconds later...
Score!
Filed Under: Cats | Pet Photography
Monday, December 29, 2008
Hope everyone had or is having a restful, peaceful holiday. We spent the last several days binge eating and drinking, and then when we got home we spent 7 hours or so binge TV-watching. 8 episodes of Dexter Season 2, back to back to back to back. To back. I feel utterly gross.
I'm spending some time now trying to cross out items from my mile-long to-do list. There are so many details to take care of that I'm pretty much overwhelmed. I don't know where to start, I can't make up my mind, I want to push off final decisions for another day. I've learned that I'm really good at putting things off. So here I am, painfully oozing towards the finish line like some obese snail that's run out of slime, but I'll get there. It's gonna be ugly, but I'll get there.
So I'm going through all my photos for ones that will go into the portfolio (which will be ready as soon as I decide on a template...), and thought I'd share just some of the many, oh so many photos that don't make the cut. While there are plenty - due to bad lighting, bad composition, blurriness, whatever - these are a few that particularly pain me because I feel the potential for really good photo was there, and I either couldn't get my camera to work for me in time, or my eyes didn't see what was directly in front of me.
Exhibit 1: Energetic dog doing what she loves
I crouched to the ground, threw a stick, Sadie ran for it, and before I could bring the camera up to my face, she was already back. That dog is lightening covered in fur. I couldn't focus in time. You can see the stick is falling out of her mouth and she's ready for more. I probably should have just thrown the stick while holding the camera to my face with the other arm (camera+lens is HEAVY though). Or, I could have thrown the stick farther. Or, I could have gotten her owner to stand behind me and throw the stick. I should have. Whatever method, this blurry shot was the only one I took. I wish I had tried again, but for some reason, I didn't.
Lesson learned: Enlist owner's assistance; See the shot you take.
Exhibit 2: Energetic dog is funny
Bob was chewing his squishy toy, and snorting, looking at me with those eyes. He was clearly very happy with his toy, and I couldn't stop laughing, which is a surefire way to get blurry photos.
Lesson learned: Keep up and don't laugh. Not too hard anyway.
Exhibit 3: Cross-eyed cat cocks head
Looking at this photo I weep at what could've been. This is one of the very first shots I took of Tilly. I was still adjusting my camera and whatnot, and set the little shiny toy just there in preparation. Too soon, too soon! She immediately jumped onto the chair and performed a wonderful impersonation of her own bobblehead doll. All the cute exploded everywhere. And I wasn't ready for it.
Lesson learned: Only entice pet with favorite toy after you're prepared to shoot.
Exhibit 4: Black lab with sailboat
I look at this photo and I'm like, What. Did. I do. I've made a dead bush the main focus of the shot. Unlike the Sadie photo that I didn't retake, I did retake this, 5 times, 5 slightly different angles. And the ridiculous bush was there each time. I was so excited to have a black lab, the water, and a little sailboat in the same frame that my mind just selectively cropped out the bush. That's the only reason I can give. I also wish I had posed the dog some - have her sit on the sand and looking out towards that sailboat in the nearby distance, and shoot from the back.What a serene picture that would have made.
Lesson learned: You want to be a pet photographer, not a dead bush photographer.
Filed Under: Pet Photography
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Thank you everyone for your comments about the cat calendar. I was actually thinking about offering them for sale as I was rushing to get them ready over the weekend. I'll have to see how they turn out first. The calendars would probably cost around $25-$30 a pop - the only markup I'd put them is the shipping cost, so I'd be breaking even, at best. But a full of year of Bunny and Veebs, I dare anyone to resist! So, anyone, if you're interested in a calendar, let me know, and I'll get a full preview up (although I might want to swap out some photos).
Til then, more photos of other people's pets. Today I present to you...
Bobby Bobushka, a Boston terrier.
I mean, THE Boston terrier.
Bob!
Bob greeted me with little grunts and excited nips of the fingers. I had met Bob's parents for dinner the night before, and stopped by at Ravelry headquarters while out for meetings in the area. It was one of those super productive days where I accomplished more in 4 hours than I usually do in 4 weeks, and it will probably never happen again. Since everyone was hard at work over at Rav HQ, I spent maybe just 10 minutes shooting.
I apparently took only a minute to bore him.
Then oops, I got a little too close to his toy.
More. I need more. So much doggy goodness packed into that little body of his, he's practically bursting at the seams!
Filed Under: Pet Photography
Monday, December 15, 2008
I'm having myself a grouchy little Christmas.
Honestly I have never felt this grumbly about the holidays in a really long time. First has to do with the fact that it has come much too quickly. YES I KNOW I say that every freaking year but this year I have felt it more than ever. My birthday is around this time, and it felt like only 2 days ago that I said to myself, while slathering sunscreen and drinking one seabreeze after another, Whew! I don't turn 90 for another half a year! And now here I am at the cusp at 90 and I don't know how it happened nor what was accomplished during the time leading up to now. Must drink less.
Second, it has not snowed. Not really. A little last week, for a few minutes, and it all melted on contact. Ironically I am not a huge fan of winter - well I take that back, I'm not a huge fan of LONG winters - but I would say an old-fashioned snowstorm would do me good. Especially as we neither have a long driveway to shovel nor a car to de-ice. So bring on the snow I say. I want it. I want it all.
I am SO grouchy that I was going to forego making the annual Cat Calendar this year. For the last 6 years or more, I have made a 12-month calendar of the boys which I give out as part of the Christmas gifts for my mother and father-in-laws, my sister-in-law, a few other cat-crazy friends. Because it really does take a special brand of crazy to want a calendar of other people's pets. Honestly though, Bunny and Veebs are so well-loved and revered in our little community, owing to their sunny dispositions and winning personalities, that it's not hard to understand, if you're insane for cats, why their pinups would be so popular.
I only skipped one other year because my nephew was born, and I assumed that he, a human being, would take precedence over feline relations. I assumed my sister-in-law would want to make a calendar for him. I assumed my mother-in-law would have wanted a 12-month calendar of her first grandchild. Oddly that was not the case. My parents received a calendar for only one year, because my mom laughed at it and called me nuts. How dare she! So she's been off the list.
I wanted to skip this year only because I have had no time. You know how long it takes to try to pick out 12 photos from a 12 million, especially when your cats are so goddamned photogenic?! So I told Duck that No, I would not be making a cat calendar this year, and, well. He yelled at me. He said, AND YOU CALL YOURSELF A PET PHOTOGRAPHER?! Well, I would be pet photographer if I had a real portofolio site or ecommerce site or business cards ready, which hasn't yet happened (need more time, and/or personal assistant). So fine, instead of getting any headway in that department, this weekend was dedicated to making...
The "10 Year Anniversary" shout-out refers to 2009 being their 10 years of being with us. It was in 1999 that I brought them home from the animal shelter, all the way out from Sudbury, MA where the two of them shared a cage for 6+ months. Sudbury is a good 30 minute plus drive from Boston, and I and my nostrils remember as if it were yesterday when Bunny puked and pooped his guts out in the car ride home. I had always meant to give him a bath afterwards, but I think after 10 years of shedding, he's as good as new.
Other calendar names from years past have been:
Baxter & VanBuren 2005: A Year in Fur
A Tail of Two Kitties: The Baxter & VanBuren 2006 Calendar (not particularly original, I'll admit)
It Was a Very Good Year: The Best of Baxter & VanBuren 2008
In addition to the usual suspects of recipients, I think I'm giving a calendar to our financial advisor, who has never once failed, during meetings or phonecalls, to inquire after Bunny and Veebs. Cat lovers unite! Except he keeps calling Veebs "Buchannan."
Filed Under: Cats
Monday, December 08, 2008
Pattern: Gail aka Nightsongs. No idea why it has two names
Ravelry pattern | Web site
Yarn: Sundara Yarn Silk in Granite Falls. Used maybe half the skein
Needles: US6
This is my first shawl, destined to be my mother-in-law's Christmas gift. I saw Saccade's beautiful version of it in the same yarn, and knew it had to be done.
It was quite the mental challenge. I could not for the life of me get a mental hold of the chart and how it would translate to a shawl. The first attempt at the chart repeat, I knew leaves were not lining up and stitches were in places where they should not be. So very puzzling. I started over, this time using stitch markers and bam! I had bitten into the forbidden apple and suddenly I knew things. Everything.
The biggest revelation was that shawls are knitted top down. WOW!
I placed stitch markers each time at the beginning of each new leaf, plus one in the center, and so as the shawl grew I was able to clearly see when I was knitting a new leaf vs a filler leaf. It helped this first-time shawl knitter immensely. Now I get it, but would probably stick with using stitch markers regardless.
I messed up on the chart reading for the edging though. There is an extra repeat between the two final leaves, right in the middle.
But I get it now. Shawls from here on out will be a breeze. I just have to convince my hands and shoulders that they want to knit another one. My mind says More! but my phalanges, they say F*&#$ you.
So I've already posted some details of the shawl on Ravelry, and to post the photos on Rav I had to also post them on Flickr, and now I'm posting them here..maybe this is why I don't blog so often because all this business of posting is getting really repetitive, you know? I feel like I spend most of my time uploading and cross-uploading and by the time I'm finally ready to write something down, my energy has waned and you see posts like, Hello. Here's a photo. My cat is wearing a scarf. OK. Bye. I have to think about my strategem on this blogging business some more, particularly when it comes to knit-blogging. It's a good thing I don't talk about knitting on F@cebook. It would be out of control.
Filed Under: Completed Projects
Thursday, December 04, 2008
There is just not enough time in the day!!! That's pretty much the summary of the last 2+ weeks.
I recently did a shoot of 3 cats who live in my neighborhood. I freaking love cats. So much. Could have photographed them all day long until the break of dawn. These guys were so sweet. Everytime I got low to shoot one, another would come along and butt heads with the lens. There were a lot of blurry shots.
I haven't gone through all the photos but here are some faves:
The lazy-eyed one. You're not sure if she's looking at you or near you...
The playful one.
The thoughtful one.
Do we like this last photo? It's a little grainy, flarey, imperfect. But I think that's why I like it. Maybe. Hmm.
Filed Under: Pet Photography
Friday, November 14, 2008
Pattern: Wedge scarf by NorahGaughn
Yarn: Sundara Sock Yarn in Roasted Persimmon over Green Papaya
Needles: US2
Mods:I changed all p2tog's to k2tog's
Started this scarf in Beijing and finished it while somewhere over the North Pole (direct flights from the Far East to the East Coast are awesome). It's for Duck and the color looks fab on him.
It also looks fabulous on Bunny, as all scarves - and ribbons - are wont to look. So, it is with much shock and sadness that I announce Bunny's early retirement from scarf modeling. He has decided to become a full-time Liaison to the Squirrels. We wish him all the best.
Little stinker.
Filed Under: Cats | Completed Projects
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Hi. I'm way behind. No one is surprised. I got back from China last week, voted, caught a cold from the guy sitting next to me on the plane who had the most digustingly phlegmy cough, and have spent most of the week trying to catch up on sleep, getting over cold (not quite yet) and catching up on work (ugh definitely not quite yet). Daylight savings is not helping. My productivity level plummets when it starts getting dark. So I start getting unproductive at around 3:30-4:00pm these days. Horrible.
I have so many more photos and stories from China to share, but I should get back to the routine I was trying to establish before I left. If I stop talking about pet photography I will lose any inertia I may have had, and I don't want that to happen. Because I haven't made much progress elsewhere on the biz side. I haven't gotten cards made, haven't set up site, coming with an actual biz plan, etc. OH what a pain in the ass, if only my fairy godmother was around to do it all for me. I know the vendor I want to use for the cards, I know what I want the site to look like, it's all a matter of implementation. And knitty gritty details. My brain sputters at the mention of nailing down the knitty gritty details.
Anyway, I gotta just shut up and get on with it.
SO. During a beautiful, warm Saturday afternoon sometime in late September, my sister-in-law hooked me up with her co-worker's black lab named Maggie. We met at a beach near the Rhode Island border. Oddly there was no one around, we had the entire beach to ourselves. Great weather + docile dog + beach + new camera lens = Everything's going to come out perfect without much effort. Right?
Well. Very nearly. But not quite.
First, the sun. OH GOD the sun. There was not a cloud in the sky. I purposely scheduled it for a late afternoon shoot, but still the sun was everywhere, bouncing off the white sand, the water, the dog's fur. I got nothing but glare. Here she's almost a yellow labrador. Lesson #1: get polarizer for lens.
Second, the owner would not let Maggie off the leash, not for a second, even though she was as well-mannered as a lady could be, and not another soul was around. The owner was all, She's going to run after the squirrels! Right. Beach squirrels. Then he was all, Labs are so cool, they have webbed feet to aid in swimming!! And yet there we were, at the beach, and her webbed feet remained dry.
I am sure I will get paying clients who insist their dogs remain leashed. I will just have to be sure to mention that a leash might "compromise" the photographs, do my best under the circumstances, then go home and curse when I have to spend 5 extra hours in front of the computer Photoshopping the leashes out of every picture.
I'm not great at it yet, but getter better I think.
Not terrible right? I can still see where the leash was, as my editings skillz weren't quite so clean, but I showed the above to the owner and he wants to buy an 8x10, so hah. Fooled him. Man that sun is harsh though.
Here's another shot where the leash was everywhere, but thought if it could be removed, the photo would be pretty decent.
The leash extends out from her back and out of frame to the left. I did use the clone stamp to clone parts of that yellow bushy plant over there and stamp out the leash. I didn't attempt to remove any more leash from above the dog's back because it sucked. My eyes were dying. But again, the owner did not seem to notice or mind the disappearing leash since he ordered two of these in 5x7, heh heh heh.
Well the light wasn't getting any softer even as the afternoon went on, so I decided to try something different, and that was to shoot directly into the sun, with Maggie all backlit and beautiful. I was seeing white spots for awhile, but the results came out exactly as I hoped it would, all warm and golden and soft. Also, I heart lens flare.
 
It was easy to Photoshop out the leash on that one.
When it's not so easy to Photoshop out the leash, and you don't feel like doing it, employ some creative cropping instead...
Ta-da!
Out of the 200-some photos I took, there were only about 10-15 that I really liked. That's not much return at all. At this stage I can't tell if the small number is due to me starting to get really picky about what shots are actually "good," or if it's because most of them actually suck. Maybe it's perfectly OK if most of them suck, as long as I can tell they suck. I'm working on my eye!
So even with the other challenges which prevented me from getting shots of a black lab frolicking along the beach, kicking up sand, or splashing in the ocean, I still thought this was a great shoot in terms of the experience gained and the lessons learned.
And because the owner bought a lot of prints.
Filed Under: Pet Photography
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