Meet Dainty Dot , the now around Fifteen-year old kitten of Momma Cat. In my post An Old Cat Through An Old Lens I used a vintage SLR lens in the capture mated to a modern DSLR. In this shot I used a kit lens on a modern DSLR to capture the beauty of this wonderful offspring of a great Queen called Momma Cat. So I present an old cat’s kitten through a new lens.
Meet Momma Cat. I do not know how old she is but she has been with The Bride and I for about fifteen-years. When we bought our place the previous owner and our good friend Ms. Sue had not seen her in many months so she thought she was gone for good. Well that was not the case because five or so months after we moved in she brought us a litter of kittens right before a very bad thunderstorm. She knew she had to get her babies to safety and for the next several days the storms caused severe flooding and property damage. She had five-kittens, two of which we gave to new homes, of those left we loss one to cancer and the other to renal failure but she and one of her kittens are still with us. I felt it was time to get some captures of her and decided to use an old Minolta MD 28mm f2.8 lens in the spirit of her been vintage an all. So fitted with an adapter to work with my Sony A300 I took this and several others with just ambient light. This picture was the only one she sat still for with this lens. I decided not to edit the shot and just enjoy it as is. I present to you Momma Cat, an old cat through an old lens!
As the greens start to fade into the reds of Autumn I feel the need to grab snippets of the last of the green things before Winter arrives. I took this on our place a week or so ago and it is my interpretation of the transition from Summer to Autumn.
Last month, in response to a suggestion from Nelson @ A few images, frozen in time , I wrote about the software I use to do my post photo-editing. Corel PaintShop Pro X6 is my main editing tool but I have been messing around with Perfect Effects 8 Free edition as well. As is my preference at this time I set my camera to the standard or natural setting in the camera’s onboard color mode. Since I usually do not limit my self to one subject when I am walking about this has several advantages. One is it allows me to shot an old building, like the following two, or brighter subjects with greens, reds or yellows without fear of the color blowing out the detail. Secondly I am freed up to enjoy the journey and live within the moment without sweating the small stuff. Since PaintShop Pro X6 has nice smart-fix menu tweaking the captures takes no time at all. I do not like spending time behind the computer so I keep it real simple. With Perfect Effects 8 Free edition tweaking my shots took a while but once I developed a sense of what I like I do not use more the four or five settings or effects as it is called with Effects 8. Below are two photos, one is I used PaintShop Pro the other Perfect Effects 8. I would be interested if anyone could see tell which was done with paid-for software or by freeware. Let me know I and I will respond to your comment.
Today after finishing a few tasks around our place I went for a walkabout in search the semi-perfect Hummingbird capture. Since that did not happen I went in search of a Monarch, Viceroy or Swallowtail butterfly capture. Strike Two! “Well now”, I said to me “just look about, breath in and something will come to you.” It did. I took the following within a few feet of each other and it blesses my to no end to see the diversity of pollinators on our place. Pollinators Rock!
Life is not what I want it to be right now but that’s alright. As an adult sometime we have to do the things that go against the ” I’m not feeling it , just keep it real” mentality that’s used today as an excuse for not doing the hard things. I am not pointing fingers because when I do there are three pointing back but I want to let others know that if you don’t post to your (fill in your favorite means of social sharing here) or visit mine or others sites everyday that’s cool. Sometimes we have to do the hard stuff, even if that stuff is mundane and boring, it has to be done. Now notice I never said you have to grow-up but we do have the responsibility of being the adults in the room more than not. Sometimes that means I don’t get to take a walkabout our place but it means I make time to be with the one who makes it our place just not my place. It means I have a job and truthfully opportunities others take for granted, while others wish they had. I will post some pics soon but until then count your blessings and call someone who you haven’t called lately and let know they matter. Find space to breath. Now dance like no one watching. Peace~ John
I love old barns. Just do and always have. I really do not know why but I do know barns, though they may look the same, have a different mental feel to me that differentiates one from another. Now maybe you can track with the title of this post. So here are two barns or two flavors of the same.
……but it does not mean something is no longer useful. An example I gleaned from nature is when a flower,bush or plants blooms fade they still provide something to the environment. Here is a Chicory bloom that has faded ,and is about join earth’s very successful recycle program, still proving fuel to a pollinator. So do not worry when beauty fades ones usefulness does not.
As a budget- restrained individual I try to buy the best I can afford but still not break the bank. I try always to buy local first but sometimes the cost difference does not allow it and I have to order stuff online. An exception is lenses for my camera. I have to try it out first and that dictates it must be local. Well after many attempts using craigslist , most have not been less than positive, I had my faith in youth, humanity and the ability to buy local on craigslist restored this evening in one fell swoop! The young man I contacted actually responded to my inquiry and followed through with what he said he would do. He was one time, that is something new, and was polite and the lenses were as advertised, something new as well. Since I did not get home in time to take a few pics tonight I had to look in the-way-back-files and find something to share. Here is one from last August, I think, taken with my Olympus SP-350 and that much I do actually know. So here is to something new and a little dew too!
I love live music and the more intimate and simple the space and set up is the better. Saturday night we attended a house concert and BBQ that fit the bill for that. The rain is every present in our area right now, it’s a good thing not a bad thing, so the musicians had to set up in a small portable gazebo. Here is to keepin’ it simple.
Daffodil Hill Photography 