Day 345

Just chillin' with my cat and exploring reflections

Day 332

Today I've been very busy and the weather's been very wet; neither of which is conducive to leisurely, artistically satisfying photo breaks.

The Law of Cat, Number 2: No matter how copious and dewy fresh the water in a cat's water bowl is, he or she will always prefer to drink from another, 'tastier' source.

I almost always eat porridge for breakfast, and I leave my bowl to soak for a few hours before putting it in the dishwasher. I caught Pookie drinking the porridge water this morning. This, of course, is not the most disgusting thing she's ever drunk. Not by a long way.

With only five weeks of this project to go now, I asked my Facebook friends to suggest some theme words as a starting point for photographs to keep me inspired in the final weeks. They came up with lots of ideas, and these next shots were inspired by two of them.

'Moving' suggested by Myfanwy

'Reflections' suggested by Carin

Day 319

The First Law of Cat: If you leave something lying around, a cat will sit on it. Or in it.

I made the mistake of leaving my diffuser lying on the floor yesterday after I came back indoors after photographing the dandelions. In the original version of this shot the floor was a bit distracting, with parts of it rug and other parts laminate, so I cut out the diffuser and put it on a black background.

I received a parcel today, and Pookie requisitioned the box as a napping spot.

Day 285

Tonight it was my turn to hold our monthly book club meeting. It's spring here and the nights are starting to draw out, so we were able to sit on the veranda sipping our drinks, listening to the skylarks and watching the sun go down, which was very nice indeed.

I put the camera on the tripod, set the shutter onto self-timer and then leapt over the electric fence in an attempt to get into the frame in time. As you can tell in this shot, I only just made it!

And here's one I took from behind the lens, complete with the ubiquitous Pookie.

Pookie likes sleeping under the veranda. I think all the noise we were making must have disturbed her, because she slinked off, disgruntled.

As part of the evening, my friend Judith showed me how to make the Kiwi national dish, pavlova. She makes her meringue with crushed vanilla pods and covers it with a home-made lemon topping instead of cream. It's incredible. I cut it into eight pieces. There were seven of us at book club, which means I've got a piece left for breakfast tomorrow morning. Being able to eat bizarre things for breakfast has got to be one of the many plus points of living on your own. :-)

I took quite a few shots of the pavlova, but none of them did it justice. I just don't 'get' photographing food. People and animals are easy: press the shutter when they're *doing* something. Flowers are easy: take them from an unusual angle and/or process the image in an unusual way. Landscapes are easy: wait for amazing light. But food; what can you do with food (other than eat it?)

And finally, an abstract shot. Can you guess what it is?

Okay, I'm off to do one of the following things: either clear up the mess, or to go to bed and leave the mess till the morning. I'll let you guess which.

Day 284

One of my dreams is to go on a photo safari in Africa. If I squint when I look at this photo, I can almost imagine Pookie is a lioness on the Serengeti plain.

I read in one of my self-help books that when you lose your life partner, it takes 1 year to recover for every 5 years of the relationship. Iain and I were together for twenty-five years, so, realistically, it's probably going to take me about five years to heal fully. That was a rather depressing realisation. I know that the road to emotional recovery is a long one, but I'm convinced that I can make it, that I've already lived through the worst of it, and that I'll be stronger and happier than ever by the time I've got through it.

One positive side-effect of experiencing a major loss in your life is that you stop playing it safe; you become more willing to take risks, and more determined than ever to move resolutely in the direction of your dreams. I don't know when and I don't know how, but photo safari, here I come! ;-)

Day 264

I've been missing Iain so much. Any moments when I'm not giving my mind something else to concentrate on, I find myself thinking about him. Not all of the thoughts are full of rage, regret or pain. Some of them are loving thoughts. But whatever the 'flavour' of the thought, thinking about Iain is making me distressed. I'm keeping myself as busy as possible to reduce the amount of 'brooding time' I have.

Until this week, at least I could take refuge from my thoughts about Iain while I was asleep. But over the last few days, he's started to crop up in my dreams as well. I guess it's just my brain trying to process the loss, but it would be nice to get some respite! I really need to train myself to think about him less. But it's not easy to break a 25 year-old habit.

To help combat the 'poor little me's' over being left on my own, I've drawn up a list of advantages of living alone. So far I've found 42 things that are really good about living on your own. I've got that list in a handy place so that whenever I'm feeling lonely, I read a few of the items on it, and remind myself that things aren't all that bad, after all.

Today's photo is a bit of a cop-out. You can always tell when I'm copping out, because I take a photo of the cat. Looking at the state of the bed when I took this shot, I'm beginning to think that buying a predominantly white duvet cover when I have a predominantly black cat with permanently muddy paws was not such a good idea! ;-)

Day 247

Today's offerings are 100% Hipstamatic. Here's a dead thistle, taken on my way to the mailbox.

Pookie rolls over for her tummy to be tickled on the way back up the drive. I can't help thinking of Charlene Butterbean's catchphrase over at The Itty Bitty Kitty Committee: 'I'm not fat, Im floofy.'

Day 236

Yet another old subject revisited. I took a Hipstamatic shot of this scene months ago. I took this one with the 50 mm lens, and got a lovely, crisp, clean, noise-free shot. So, naturally, I decided to gunk it all up with a grain effect.

Pookie accompanied me on my photo break, as usual. Here she is taking a dust bath on the mound of earth left over when our water tanks were buried. She's the only cat I've ever owned who has enjoyed rolling around in things and getting dirty. Yet more evidence to support my theory that she was a dog in a previous life. ;-)

Day 231

Today has turned into Portrait Tuesday.

I took this shot of Iain with the Canon and the 50 mm lens.

I took this selfie using the iPhone's front-facing camera.

I took this shot of Pookie with the iPhone's better camera. She looks like she's being engulfed by her own fluff!

And here's Pookie's newest toy, Marcie the Mouse, taken with the Hipstamatic app on the iPhone.

Day 219

Today Pookie pays homage to the lolcats over at I Can Haz Cheezburger.

Day 210

Today there's just one subject (a pallet left over from the last time we had some building supplies delivered), one camera (the iPhone), and one processing style (high contrast black and white). Oh, and a cat. Of course. ;-)

Day 208

It was a gorgeous, sunny Sunday today, and I would have loved to have gone on a photo walk, but I don't have the time because I've got a deadline coming up (yes, another one!)

Nevertheless I had a fun photo break this afternoon, wandering around outside, searching for something interesting to shoot.

Here's a view of one of our water tanks. As you can see, it's looking pretty empty. As luck would have it, we're having a run of dry weather in the middle of the wettest time of year.

As usual, Pookie accompanied me, and I always end up pointing the camera at her at some point in the proceedings.

Grass seed heads, with cross-processing:

Day 205

Blogger was down yesterday, so I'll be making two posts today. Here's yesterday's.

I've been so excited about having an iPhone at last (the one I used to use was Iain's and so I only got to use it occasionally) that I almost forgot about my other new toy - my 50 mm lens. 

I've only ever used a zoom lens on the Canon before, so using a prime is taking a bit of getting used to. I keep going to twiddle the lens when what I really need to do is step forwards or backwards. 

I went for the f/1.8 50 mm because it was recommended by a couple of photographers on TWIT TV as being a really good quality lens for the money (around $200 NZ). 

I thought I'd put my new lens to the test in low light conditions (indoors, daylight, handheld). With the lens open wide I was getting crisp handheld shots at ISO 200, whereas before I couldn't do handheld indoors at all, even when I cranked the ISO up to 1600. I'm really glad I bought it!

Day 198

A contented cat has a purr and kneads my fleece.

Iain and I are going to Wellington for a long weekend tomorrow, and Pookie's off to the cattery. Tara 'til Monday!

Day 178

Yesterday I tried too hard to be arty, and it wore me out, so today I decided to be silly instead.

The manic-looking kitten is on a wastepaper basket which mysteriously* found its way back home with us one day on a visit to the DIY store. When Pookie first saw it she did a hilarious double-take and spent a few minutes cautiously checking it out, before she was satisfied there wasn't an enormous cat inside. I wish I'd got a photo of that!

*I tried to claim I didn't know it was in our trolley, but Iain wasn't buying it.   ;-)

Day 171

About half an hour before the sun went down I realised I hadn't taken any photos yet today, so I went to check the mailbox and took the camera with me.

These are wire tensioners on the fence in the bottom paddock.

Pookie only escorted me halfway today. Here she is, waiting for me on my way back up the hill.

Day 168

If you point a camera at a cat for long enough, they're bound to yawn. :-D

Before, during and after:

Day 165

I'm working seven days a week at the moment to meet a work deadline, so I've not got as much time for photography as I'd like. Definitely no time to take any photo walks, or to spend ages playing around with processing. For the next couple of weeks all my shots are going to be quick snaps taken at home. Isn't it irritating when real life gets in the way of your hobbies?!

Pookie gets in some serious shut-eye.

Day 145

This is today's official 365 shot. I think I may be obsessed with feet! ;-)



The martins were flying around the house not long before sunset, so I tried to capture them on camera. I had no joy, but I did get a couple of shots of other things that are good enough to share.

This one's not very good, but it makes me smile!

Day 140

No arty pretensions today; just raw, journalistic-style 'slice of life' photography. ;-)

This one's called 'Being Owned by a Cat: The Downside', and shows what I found on our front door mat this morning! :-O