Holiday iPhonography

The evening of the 25th, we shared a celebratory dinner with friends.  The host created a very simple dessert that was a visual treat in the making, so here is some iPhonography of the occasion.  Cherries Jubilee, like any flambé, involves burning off the alcohol from a liqueur.  The "sauce" was preheated over an open flame.

After being poured over the cherries, it was lit within the pan.

Then the concoction was enjoyed over ice cream.

No doubt Escoffier did a fancier job for Queen Victoria, but Rick LaBach's dessert was enjoyed by all!

A cat may look upon a king.  Presumably a cat may look upon a queen as well.  Rick's cat Sparkle looked upon whomever she chose, and stayed in the shadows for this mysterious portrait.

I can't leave Ziva out of the picture for long.  Friday morning, she ran through rows of puddles along the Greenway, and waded more slowly through this mini-pond.  I've named the photo "Ziva, Center of a Tension".

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Cat and Dog

Near the start of our morning walk today, Ziva encountered a neighborhood cat.  Although Raleigh's leash law applies to cats as well as dogs, almost all cat owners seem to have no problem with their feline pets wandering freely about town.  Dogs can be trained to observe boundaries such as "invisible fences" (shocking as that may sound), but cats will go where they please (and look upon whomever they wish).  I love cats, they're adorable, but they do hunt and kill wild birds (including threatened species) and taunt dogs on leashes.

At any rate, I was expecting Ziva to pull hard and lunge at the little clawed menace*, but she simply perched for a good view, did not tense her muscles, remained silent, and did not make any attempt to get closer.  That's what allowed me to grab this photo with my phone.  Composing carefully and shooting an image with one hand is tricky enough without being jerked around.  I had my arm through the leash loop, but there was no ruckus.  After a few seconds of staring, we turned around and continued on our way.

*Really, I love cats, and simply wish that all owners would take good care of them, just as I wish that were the case for dogs.  By the way, one of my favorite cat names of all that I've heard was Clawed de Pussy, as in Claude Debussy, and please don't fuss over the nicety of proper French pronunciation of Debussy.  I'm aware!

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Indoor/outdoor cats

I met two house cats who share a home, but do not get along with each other at all.  As a result, their owners have to do serious cat herding, keeping them in different parts of the house, or one outside and one in, by turns.  Sophie stalked me, but would not allow me to approach closer than 8 feet.

Moose was perfectly fine with petting and photography from intimate distances.

Sophie's yawn does not denote boredom or indifference - when I moved a step closer, she slipped off to the side.

However, she allowed me to catch her in this moment of repose when I observed the precise limit of her comfort perimeter.

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Wandering Cat

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I've not been able to complete any blog posts for a couple of weeks. So, just to satisfy my hordes of followers, here is a cat. Just a wandering neighborhood cat. To add weight to this post, I'll provide the relevant exif statistics: ISO 500, 300mm, f/2.8, 1/500 sec.

I plan to publish some more thoughtful things in the next few days, but really, the internet never tires of cat pictures, so I can't go wrong with this one, right?

By request, here is a known entity, our neighbor's cat Charlie:

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Cat hiding in the bush - an exercise for shooting in low light

A neighborhood cat decided to hunt in our yard. It hid under a dense bush, in such dark that I could barely see it, as I lay down resting on my elbows. The camera, however, was able to focus on kitty's eyes, and thanks to very high ISO capabilities, it pulled out these jungle-like pictures. Watch out birds! Watch out squirrels!

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Cats, just because.

Because of my wife's allergy, we are unable to have cats living with us. Too bad, because we both love them. I "compensate" by photographing cats wherever I find them, whether they are wandering the parks, sitting in windows, or hiding under vehicles. From time to time I'm even hired to do in-home portraits for pet lovers. I've done just a few in my studio, but that's not a preferred choice for me. I like it when cats feel at home. Same for people, actually. Here are ten, just because.

Jess Isaiah Levin

www.classicalphotography.com

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