Shoot For The Eyes!

Posted on September 24, 2012 | Leave a comment

No, I’m not talking about surviving a zombie outbreak, and no, I’m not talking about getting one up on a sibling during a clash.  I’m talking about photography!

When photographing a person or animal, the one point of the face that you should focus your lens on is….you guessed it….the eyes.

There’s a reason for the popular idiom “The eyes are the windows to the soul.“  Eyes are incredibly expressive.  Not just human eyes, but animal eyes as well.

I recently photographed my new kitten while my mother and I took her for a little car ride.  We want her to get used to her carrier and not associate it with just going to the vet like my other cats do.  While my mother ran into the grocery store for a few things, I sat in the car with the kitten.  She kept peeking at me through the side of the carrier, so all I could see where here eyes.  It was so cute that I couldn’t help but take a few pictures.

I’m still in the process of “kitten-proofing” the house.  Our new little friend is getting tired of being confined in the basement.  We let her have run of the whole basement during the day, but at night we confine her to one room.  On Saturday night, we heard a thump and then heard her meowing.  Come to find out, she figured out how to climb over the six-foot tall partition and escape her “bedroom”.  That same evening, I put her back in the basement room and sat on the basement stairs to watch her.  She jumped from a low table to the top of the partition and over.  I thought we had adopted a kitten, but with that little maneuver, it seems she might be part monkey.  She can jump and climb much higher than I thought she could!

Now, I’m rethinking the entire layout of the house.  If she can get over a six-foot tall partition and escape the basement room we had her in, then what could she climb and jump onto once we let her upstairs?  [-_-]

Looks like there’s much more cleaning/kitten-proofing to do.  Wish me luck.

Until next time…

[^_^]

~A.M.

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Posted in Animals, Cats, Photography

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Rescued Kitten

Posted on September 17, 2012 | Leave a comment

A while ago, I told everyone about a family of stray cats that moved into my yard.  Well, I managed to win over the affections of one of the two kittens.  That kitten ended up adopting us and started living on my porch.  My mother and I set up a little shelter for her, made out of a plastic bin, a tarp, and an old cat bed.

After a while, and as it started to get cold, my mother and I caved and brought the kitten inside.  We‘re still hoping to find the mother and second kitten a home as, sadly, we can‘t afford to rescue all of them ourselves and our local shelter is full (they have over 70 cats! [-_-]).

At the moment, as we de-flea and de-worm our new little friend, we have her secluded in a room in our basement away from our two older cats.  Once she’s clear of any harmful parasites, we can introduce her to our other cats.  I hope they all get along.  Wish us luck on that!

Pets can be a difficult subject to photograph (I think I mentioned this in a previous post “Unruly Subjects”), especially a hyper active kitten!  I had a bit of a hard time getting a decent photograph of our new kitten at first, but after she started to wind down from a little catnip encounter, I was able to get a few images.  [^_^]

My next step (while our new little friend is still in the basement room) is to “kitten-proof” the house.  Wish me luck!

Until next time…

[^_^]

~A.M.

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Heart In A…Litter Box?

Posted on September 10, 2012 | Leave a comment

That’s right, folks.  This post has toilet humor…Cat style!

Well, it’s more like seeing something funny in the litter box.

Those of you that have cats may have come across something in the litter box that doesn’t belong.  Maybe it’s a cat toy.  Maybe even a dead mouse (thanks for giving the mouse proper burial after killing it, Fifi).  Mine don’t leave toys in the litter box and they’ve never caught any mice, but one of them (I haven’t figured out which one yet) loves me so much, that every once in a while they leave me something interesting in the litter box.

That’s right, my cat pees hearts.  What can yours do? [-_^]

Anyway…

Until next time…

[^_^]

~A.M.

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Posted in Cats, Miscellaneous, Photography

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Blue Moon

Posted on September 3, 2012 | Leave a comment

 

Don’t ask me to sing the song to you.  One, I don’t know all the words, and two, I can’t sing.

 

Everyone’s heard the expression “every once in a blue moon”.  But some people don’t know exactly what a blue moon is.  Shocking, I know!

 

No, the moon isn’t actually blue in color when we talk about a “blue moon.”  What it means is, according to Wikipedia, “the third full moon in a season that has four full moons, instead of the usual three.” (they say the definition of a “blue moon” as the second full moon in a single month is a mistake.  But, it kind of works out that way from what I’ve seen over the years).  I guess an easy way to remember that would be to say it’s an extra full moon in a year.

 

For those of you that didn’t know that…Huzzah!  You’ve learned something new.  For those of you that DID know that…Huzzah!  I’ve educated you on the obvious!

 

Anyway, on August 31st, 2012, there was a blue moon.  Now, I make it a point to take photos of every full moon, especially every blue moon, if I can.  Usually my luck works out that it ends up being cloudy the night of the full moon.  But sometimes the heavens open up and let the lunar light shine.

 

The 31st started out cloudy and I was pretty bummed.  But a little later in the evening the clouds thinned and the moon came out.  YAY

 

 

Until next time…

 

[^_^]

 

~A.M.

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Posted in Nature, Photography

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Hey There, Huge Spider…[o_O]…

Posted on August 27, 2012 | Leave a comment

 

First of all, it’s my brother’s birthday today so let me take a moment to say, Happy Birthday Don!!

 

Now, those who suffer from arachnophobia probably won’t want to read this post or scroll down to the included image.  But those of you who don’t mind spiders, or think they’re awesome, read on!

 

This past Friday (August 24th for those keeping track) while I was looking for a cat toy in my back yard (long story), I came across the biggest, hairiest, most colorful, and creepiest spider I had ever seen in my life.

 

This thing was huge.  Probably an inch and a half to two inches in size, not including the span of its legs!  And, of course, it was building its web right on the side of my house between the shingles and the lattice we have along the foundation (which made weed whacking yesterday very interesting).

 

I just happened to look up and there it was, inches from my face.  Now, I’m not arachnophobic (I’m not in love with the things either) but seeing that thing so close to my face was quite an unpleasant surprise.  I could have smacked it away from me.  I could have squished the daylights out of it.  But no.  What did I do?  Like a true lover of nature and a true photographer, I ran inside, grabbed my camera, and returned to take a picture of it.

 

I had never seen this type of spider before, so once I was safely back inside (and after I checked myself over to make sure the thing didn’t hitch a ride on my pant leg!), I searched online for what type of arachnid it was.

 

With my awesome detective skills, and confirmation from my spider loving friend, Sarah, I found out that it’s a Black and Yellow Argiope, better known as a St. Andrews Cross spider.

 

*Warning*  Again, if you suffer from arachnophobia, or if you’re prone to nightmares, scroll NO further!

 

 

BEHOLD!

 

 

 

Weird and creepy huh!?  See?  Again, tying into last week’s post, sometimes you find some really interesting things to photograph right in your own backyard!

 

Until next time…That is, if the spider doesn’t eat my face first…

 

[o_O]

~A.M.

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Posted in Animals, Photography, Wildlife

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