Flash Illuminates the Cat.....XingXing (Temporarily) Goes to the Dark Side

Its amazing what an extra flash will do. If there was one thing that stuck in my head from the Flash Workshop I took at ICP a couple of weekends ago it was the instructor Lestor saying (screaming?) "Get the *%$&^*@ flash off your camera!". So like a good dutiful student I went out and bought a second flash (twist my arm) and started playing around with the 2 flash combo this weekend (one on the camera to bounce of the ceiling and act as master to the off-camera "slave" flash). The first is certainly the spookiest photo yet on AMACA2C. More to come from this weekend's shoot later, but it is late so off to bed!

XingXing Has No Need for Digital Media

Cats and books, how can you love one and not the other? And how can a cat not love books? This is what XingXing is always asking FuFu, who shows no interest in reading whatsoever. XingXing, on the other hand, is quite the nocturnal reader. One of the many advantages about being a cat is the ability to read in virtually any kind of light. It is always interesting to wake up in the morning and see what XingXing has been reading the night before.


Not surprisingly, XingXing is quite passionate about reading anything he can get his paws on about cat photography.


I must admit I was sort of surprised when I caught XingXing was reading the Whiskey book two nights in a row.

XingXing's Blue Period

Looking forward to a relaxing weekend coming up to work on a bunch of photo projects, the fruits of which I will post next week. In the meantime, here are a couple of pics of XingXing on blue.......

Horde of Human Teenagers Force Cats to Flee to Closet

Last weekend our niece had a dozen or so friends over to celebrate her 16th birthday. The cats did not appreciate the commotion and spent most of the day in the closet on top of my backpack. XingXing can especially be high-strung about the presence of strangers (or about anything in general!), so FuFu tried to calm him down by giving him a nice and thorough grooming.

Airborne Kitty!

OK, now that XingXing has your attention......I took a flash photography course at ICP (Internatonal Center of Photography) this weekend that was really enjoyable & I think it will help my photography going forward. Up to now I realized that some of my best images were ones that had some amount of flash (not surprising for a photographer of indoor cats), but I didn't really have a lot of control of the process and it was rather random if I came up with usable images. Now I am pretty confident that I understand what is going on with the flash. I also came away from the course with a healthy list of additional equipment I need to buy! Although photography can be an expensive hobby, every time I pluck down $$$ on camera related classes, gear, software, books, etc., I try to comfort myself that I'm not into cars, golf, or any number of hobbies that potentially could be even more expensive!




These leaping bookshelf photos were really fun. The key to keep XingXing motivated was the furry white thing on a string. It is his favorite toy, I think it is real rabbit fur or fur from some other animal ($1.99 at Petco!) and he is obsessed with it to the point that he is only allowed to play with it under supervised conditions because if unattended he tends to eventually tear it apart, eat it and vomit it out. For this shoot I would put the toy on the top shelf, and XingXing would jump up to grab it, and then I would photograph him leaping down with the toy in his mouth. XingXing would then run out into the hallway with the toy and I would have to go out there, take it away from him, and repeat the process. I was bouncing my Canon Speedlite off of the ceiling and had a cheap Vivitar slave flash from either the bottom or the side. I realized that I need another Canon that is compatible with my other flash so I can control the exposure better. Although the focus is decent, I don't think I "nailed" it so next time I'll use a tripod and manually focus on the point where the cat is expected to fly through to try and get more exact. Fun stuff!