Project 365: Best of…Caturday.

I couldn’t ignore the first Caturday of 2014!

So here is the first part of my Project 365 Retrospective: The Best of Caturday.

Part of me felt a little like I was ‘cheating’ by posting cat pictures each Saturday, and maybe I was at first, but then I tried to take it as a challenge to get more creative with my snaps of my furry little girls. And of course, some weeks I featured cats other than Zelda and Mrs.Parker. Ultimately it doesn’t matter; even if it was cheating, it was still fun and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Here are my favorites from 2013:

“Get the hell outta here, I’m tryna drink some freakin’ water, already!”

“Hey! You heard the lady! Scram! Vamoose! Before I have to convince your face with my paw!”

I dubbed him Mr.Fluffy. Original, no?

After

 

Day 365: The end of an era.

It’s hard to believe this is my last post of 2013’s Project 365. I was planning a post with the ‘Best of…’ slide show, but I then I decided against it. I’d rather just post a final picture with little fanfare and give myself a few days to reflect on the Project, choose my favorites of the year for the slide show, and finish any withdrawal symptoms I may suffer.

For now, I leave you with one last new image. Or in this case, a different version of an image I’ve already posted. Here’s the set up:

Do we remember that I had two cameras with me at the Vanderbilt Mansion?

In the background above, you can see part of the scene I shot with the C330:

I also took a shot with the Konstruktor:

So now we have three views of those trees and the house on the river: first in digital taken with a cell phone, second in medium format taken with a massive 50-year-old TLR, and finally in 35mm taken with a novelty do-it-yourself plastic toy camera.

At the start of this project, I never would have thought I’d be making such a comparison, but there it is. Modern, then Dinosaur, then somewhere in between. How apropos!

These are some of the ideas I have to chew on over the next few days. How has this project changed my photography? Where has it led me? What have I learned, not only technically but philosophically?

While I’m chewing and digesting, I will also be wishing all of you a most wonderful start to the new year. I appreciate the company on this journey of mine, and hope you stick around to see where we go in 2014.

Happy New Year!

Day 364: Close-ups.

Here are two more from the Mamiya to see how it does close up. It focuses quite close for a TLR but this gets trickier to frame. Luckily the camera has a parallax* correction indicator to show how my frame changes as I focus closer or farther away. This lens sure is sharp.

*Parallax – the difference in what you can see through the viewfinder and what the lens of the camera can ‘see.’

*****

It’s hard to believe that there is only one more day in my 365 Project. I’m not entirely sure how I am going to handle its completion. I might be going through a bit of withdrawal. I’ve got a few ideas for next year, but it won’t be another 365. I’ve enjoyed it very much and it has absolutely helped me improve my photography, but two years in a row is too much!

Not only have I enjoyed being more immersed in photography than I have in a long time, but I’ve also found a community online. I’ve added a few blogs to the blog roll over there on the right of the screen.

Dave Vaughn Photography – Student and talented photographer.

Hypomanic Impression – Expressing life with bipolar disorder through photography

Lew Lorton Photography – Traveler, street photographer, and all-around interesting guy

Photos and Stuff – Don’t let the casual title fool you. It should be “Thoughtful, intelligent musings on photography.”

Sounds of a Shutter – An unexpected spirit sister across the ocean. Writing on misophonia and photography.

This Old Camera – Satisfying my desire to learn about tinkering and fixing cameras myself.

Mara Eastern’s Personal Blog – Another brave soul who posts every day in words or pictures, who shares my love of words and cats.

Life, Edinburgh – Amateur photographer and film devotee in Scotland.

BKS Pictures – Analogue photographer in Sweden. Beautiful black and whites and great information about techniques.

Not new but worth mentioning again: John Pickles Photography and of course, Buzz’s site, Filmosaur.

Go over there and check some of them out!

Day 363: 6×6 goodness.

The Mamiya has been tested and it is good.

This was taken from the bank of the Hudson River on the grounds of the Vanderbilt Mansion in Hyde Park, NY.

The columns, the wide vistas…the Mamiya was just eating them all up!

I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.