Maya in the Mirror

Day 180 – Squeaky

The same day I bought the catnip toy I also bought another toy that I thought would be a sure-fire winner with the cats. It’s a lightweight ball with a mouse in it. The mouse squeaks when the ball is shaken or bounced along the floor. I thought the cats would dig it. Eh, not so much.

Nina, on the other hand, can’t get enough of it.

Day 176 – I’d rather post these

I’ve been up to my eyeballs working on the photo gallery for the baby shower I went to yesterday. The gallery is here, if you’d like to take a peek. The father-to-be is our nephew, so this was a family affair and then some.

Therefore, I haven’t had a chance to go out with the camera, and rather than post something less than, I’m going to post some more photos I took yesterday. Hope you don’t mind.

Jezebel. I was playing with aperture priority and set my camera to f/5.6 at 100 ISO. The camera set the shutter speed to 1/15s. I also had the flash on, so Jezzie came out blurry except for her eyes. I kind of like it!

Nina – giving me her “look.”

Grandma and Grandson (My mother-in-law and our nephew) at yesterday’s shower.

Mother and Son at yesterday’s shower.

Roses for Michelle, from Matt.

Day 163 – Toy

I may have mentioned previously one of my cats, Jezebel, is a talker. I mean she’s really a talker. She will wander from room to room meowing and meowing. I’ve tried distracting her with the laser pointer, but that only lasts for the length of time I am willing to play. So today I went to the pet store for cat food and to search for something that would engage Jezzie’s mind.

This toy has a well in the middle to add loose catnip. The cats can’t get it, but the odor wafts out to them while they play with the ball that rolls around the outer circle. At first they were far more interested in the catnip than they were in the ball.

First Jezzie had a turn . . .

Then Maya . . .

Then Jezzie again . . . Once she got used to the eau de catnip, she started playing with the ball. She returned over and over again to the toy throughout the evening.

This toy may have done the trick, her meowing seems to have abated a bit, and instead of being asleep on the back of one of our sofas, right now she is sleeping next to the toy on the floor.

Day 162 – Black & White Doggie

Nina poses quite a challenge when being photographed, not the least of which is her propensity to bolt at a second’s notice. Her energy notwithstanding, the challenge is actually her black coat which can come out quite flat or as just a black blob if she isn’t lit well. And so, with a little help from my off-camera flash with soft box attachment, I set myself to the task.

At the front door . . .

Looking sweet on the sofa . . .

With her big dawg bone . . .

From above . . .

And one in color . . .

Day 158 – Dawgs

In the backyard this evening . . . playing with the dogs and off-camera flash.

Buddy can be such a silly boy.

And somehow I lucked out and caught both of them, at the same time, standing still.

Day 154 – Playtime

I just played with my camera today, mostly shooting in the backyard.

Here’s a great one I got of Nina stalking the wild lizards in the backyard. They like to hang out in the lilac bushes and Nina walks her patrol hoping one will slip out.

Whee!!!

After supper I played with second-curtain sync on my flash. Nina again.

Day 153 – Discovery

I got my five-year service award bonus check in the mail today, and while perusing the reviews for the Speedlite 580EX II, I discovered that the EOS 7D pop-up flash can act as the master to my current 430 EX Speedlite. Actually, I know that many DSLRs have this capability, but I did not have it with my EOS T1i and so it slipped my mind that I should have it with the 7D.

So I played grabbed my flash manual and the 7D manual and did me some learnin’ tonight. I set the pop up flash to the lowest intensity so that if it were the only flash firing it did not expose anything. All I wanted was enough light to fire my off-camera 430 EX. It worked! And then I had to practice.

Once again, the cats were cooperative.

Jezebel lit with flash to camera right and bouncing off the ceiling.