Exterminator Cats to the Rescue

With Spring, out comes the green, the flowers, and yes.....the bugs. But not to fear, for XingXing and FuFu are on the task. They both rushed in to intercept this one, but FuFu quickly backed off when they remembered their training - one cat has to stand guard while the other takes care of the problem.

Happy Mother's Day Penelope!

When we adopted XingXing and FuFu they were still in a cage with their mother Penelope at KittyKind. This is the only time I have seen a mother with kittens together there. This photo was taken with my cell phone when we had XingXing and FuFu outside of the cage. She was an affectionate and protective mother; when XX and FF were returned to the cage she would groom them vigorously.

I found this today after googling a bit, its from the KittyKind blog from 2009: "Penelope's two grey-and-white kittens were adopted together. As much as we hate to witness the separation anxiety (she's still grooming them and allowing them to nurse although they are 10 weeks), they're going to a wonderful home." I guess XX and FF were mama's boys from the start!
We felt better about separating XX and FF from their mama after reading this "happy ending" story on the KittyKind blog several months after we adopted them (there is also a better pic of Penelope) click here for link. It looks like they take after their mother (especially XingXing!) with regard to being vocal, greeting you and following you around the apartment.

Twist and Meow

Been a while since the last post.......a little vacation in Grenada, which was great but during that week and a bit before and after XXFF spent 17 days with their in-laws and out of my protective care and tutelage. Happy to report that if anything, they are even more attentive and human-loving after this time apart than before!

Anyway, about these photos: the cats love this chair! Its from Pier One, and its so soft that I think they like that they can climb all over it and if they are about to fall off the can simply sink their claws into it and perform a "self-arrest" that any mountaineer would be proud of. Most of the time FuFu claims this chair by jumping up on it in the morning and chirping loudly, but this time I caught XingXing frolicking and showing off his curves:


I like how in this pic due to the perspective and the torque of XX's body it looks like the hindquarters don't belong to XingXing!

Warning: These Cats May Be Occasionally "Enhanced" with Photoshop Going Forward

.......yeap, I just completed a Photoshop course. My original purpose in taking the class was to learn how to create a B&W photo of XX and FF with only the eyes colored (see below). The excellent 10-week class with consummate Photoshop expert and author Lou Benjamin at ICP (International Center of Photography) was a bit overwhelming at first, but then exhilarating after I started to get the hang of it. With Photoshop, you can do anything, so the only limit is knowing what you want to do (usually the hardest part) and then figuring out how to do it. And in Photoshop there are many, many different ways to reach the same result, some easier and some more frustrating and time-consuming than others. It's kind of like learning a foreign language as an adult - you can make progress, but you never really master it and it can be a life-long journey. Anyways, here are two examples, and you will see many many more here at AMACA2C in the future.

I'm especially interested in some of the manipulations that give photographs a "painterly" look. As a start, here is a "blend" of a photo of FuFu that has appeared here at AMACA2C before and a cool texture that I found here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rubyblossom/5024994007

What Do These Cats Do All Day?

So last weekend I had a rare lazy Saturday hanging out at home reading by a sunny window, but I didn't get as much reading done as I wanted because XX and FF were busy cavorting, wrestling, fighting, frolicing, you name it, they were doing it. Do they do this every day while I am at work? I can only imagine...........

The three panels would make for a progression of a steamy and tumultuous love affair - if they weren't brothers!
I also think FuFu needs to work on his combat technique - you can see in the lower left panel he keeps his haunches firmly planted on the floor, while XingXing rises up to get a height advantage.....

Flash Illuminates the Cat - Vol 3

Finally for the last installment in our flash series we have two photos where flash was (not terribly obviously) used to fill-in the natural ambient light coming from the windows.
The title of this is "The King on His Throne":


And then we have The Foreign Minister FuFu hanging out on a lower tier of the throne complex:

Flash Illuminates the Cat - Vol. 2

This post is getting out a couple of days late - I had a witty, informative post all laid out Sunday night but I don't think the new Internet Explorer version 9 that I downloaded likes Blogger (a Google - Microsoft grudge?) so when I went to post it, it was completely blank! I quickly deleted the blank post and went to bed - my apologies to my legions of email subscribers if you received an email notifying you of a post that didn't exist. And if you are not an email, RSS, etc. subscriber - go ahead and sign up on the right! Anyway, back to the latest developments in feline photography in the greater NYC area........
........continuing on with the flash theme, I have this series of photos. Let me share a little secret - if you want some clues about the lighting set-up a photographer used, look to the reflections ("catchlight") in the eyes. As you can clearly see in this first one, there are huge white squares in Fufu's eyes, which tells you that he is just a couple of feet away from a softbox (with flash inside). I also bounced a flash off the ceiling as a second source of light to shine where the softbox wouldn't.

Doesn't this next photo look like a campaign photograph for Fufu? That's right, Fufu for president! I guess he'll have to run as a Republican since Obama has the Democratic nomination wrapped up. Look at the grim determination and resolve in his expression, this is a cat that is willing to lead the nation to solve its most intractable problems.....including fighting the feline obesity epidemic with better labeling for cat food that clearly shows the carbohydrate content.......

Finally here is XingXing, I hope he learns to tolerate the flash but as you can see here he was looking to escape after I turned his favorite (illegal) scratching chair into a makeshift studio.