Sunrise poured light through the window, prompting Rosencrantz to rise, shine and model for me.
Category: Modeling
The Kanji Look
Guildenstern studying Kanji, wanting to know “where the beef” is, and stretching out one fine morning.
Vida Loca
Around 4:00 PM, Di Anne came back with her lunch of fried platanos that she had picked up from one of the street vendors, and told me that there was a guy on the street with a snake I should photograph. I went out and found one of the street vendors who prints hats and T-shirts and makes jewelry packing up for the day. I asked if he had a snake and he said “yes” and motioned to his friend who brought out a healthy Ball Python. His artwork has a nice local flavor at very reasonable prices. He told me he is out selling his goods on Central Avenue most days.
Cat Help in the Catio
Work continues on the catio. We started preparing the old cement slab for resurfacing on Saturday, but then we discovered we needed to rent a high pressure sprayer to clean it before we put on the resurfacing cement, plus the temperatures are supposed to stay above 50º F for 8 hours after the new surface is applied. Since the temperature only got into the 40’s over the weekend we decided to prepare surfaces for painting.
The first photo is Laurie preparing to wire brush the French windows so I could paint them. In the second photo, she is telling Rosencrantz and Guildenstern what they could do to help. The third photo shows Guildenstern supervising Laurie. He had a lot to say about our work, so much so, that it wore him out and he had to take a break (fourth photo). The French windows and door had not been painted in 22 years. The ivy had grown up on them which marked and pulled off paint in various places, so I spent a good part of the day painting the windows and doors with a very good, “stain killer” primer. The last photo shows Laurie standing by the freshly primed windows.
As I have mentioned before, we live in a cold spot — the reason Laurie was dressed in layers of warm clothes to work on the catio. We went to a dinner party last night in Albuquerque. When we left the party at a little after 10:00 PM, the car showed the outside temperature was 47º F. When we got home 20 minutes later, the temperature at our house was 26º F. We live about 10 miles north and west as the crow flies, and about 700 feet lower than the part of Albuquerque we attended the dinner party, yet we were 21degrees colder.
Cats in Winter
What do our cats do in winter? Romeo was not sure about me taking yet another photo of him. Rosencrantz made like a kitty statue, while Guildenstern relaxed on a Viking book to see if he could soak up some Old Norse. Mama Manx dozed on a “cat magnet” blanket, and Diné got warm lying on the heater vent.
Free Photo Van
There was a free photo van parked in front of our office all morning. It’s part of a 1% for the arts project where people can have their portraits taken, and the portraits are going to be all put together in a mural, I believe. It’s an interesting project.
Wild, Wild Life
In David Byrne’s movie “True Stories” there’s a music video to the song “Wild, Wild Life.” Chad’s gravity defying stunts and Liz’s jumps made me think of Wild, Wild Life. The problem with stunts in the limited space of our dance room/photo studio is that both Chad and Liz jumped so high that they got above where I was framing the photos in several shots.
Liz & Chad, Chad & Liz
One of our Christmas gifts to Liz and Chad was a photo shoot. The photo session happened this afternoon, and while it got quite wild with dancing, jumping, and gravity defying poses, I’m posting serious photos for a proper introduction. Liz is Laurie’s youngest sister and Chad is her husband. They were married in August.
Breakfast with Beaker
Laurie has to share her cereal and coffee with Beaker most mornings. Guildenstern thinks we have things all wrong — “one should have birds for breakfast, not have breakfast with birds” he meows — but he knows Beaker and René are formidable adversaries and stays clear of both of them. René is slowly getting better at flying and I’m slowly getting better at sneaking in better lighting to catch him in flight.
Smile for the Camera
I find it interesting how digital cameras, and using cell phones to do photos, has changed the way people photograph each other, the attractions they visit, and themselves. I took most of these photos of people photographing each other, or taking a break from photographing each other, at the Musée d’Orsay. I like the photos in B&W because they have a 60’s look with people using modern digital cameras and phones to do their photos and then check out the results.
Off Center & Not Even 