Portfolio 4 – Halifax cats

The highly photogenic cats featured in Portfolio 4:

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Portfolio 4 – Reflective moments

This final photograph in Portfolio 4 shows a cat in a window watching the world go by on a downtown Halifax street. What drew my eye was the speckled reflection on the glass of the flowering tree, which nicely bordered the cat. It seemed emblematic of the coming spring season at the time of this photograph. Immediately, I felt relaxed and happy in the spring sunshine just like this cat, although as you can tell from its squinting eyes, it clearly was wondering just what I was doing there with a camera!

Portfolio 4 – Exploring

The same cat which was hiding under the shrubbery in the last image realized that I was a familiar person, in fact someone on a good petting acquaintance. So the cat stepped out into the sunshine to continue exploring our front yard. Its open face seems to indicate an eagerness and excitement for some adventure on that bright day.  (I found it very interesting that its mouth and the inside of its ears also had a similar infrared reflective colour to its eyes.)

(A long haitus has interrupted this portfolio series due to a whole load of travelling for field research. I should be able to get  back into the swing of things quite soon. )

Portfolio 4 – Shy cat peeking out

Our neighbours recently adopted two cats in response to increased mouse populations in the area. Both cats have their distinct personalities, with the brown tabby practically owning our backyard along with theirs. The little black-and-white cat is a bit shy yet very inquisitive, and has been quietly exploring the area around our front door. One bright day, I stepped out and realized something was watching me with big eyes. Squinting in the sun, I tried to find the eyes, and realized those belonged to this cat hiding under the shrubbery. I had my infrared camera with me and moved quickly to capture this image.  Again, you can see how this cat’s eyes are highly reflective in infrared, with a distinct colour similar to that of the grey tabby in the first two images in this portfolio. I liked how the conifer branches and the grass reflected brilliant white bordering the shaded area, framing the cat nicely.

Portfolio 4 – Cats think they are royalty

I’ve been focusing heavily on infrared photography this spring and have not picked up my colour camera very often. This is an exception. Cosmoboy and I were going for a long walk to a nearby lake when this cat suddenly emerged from the shrubbery between a house and the trail.  Its haughty demeanour hid a strong curiosity about the people walking along the trail so this cat alternated between holding its head high, surveying the trail and running along the trail following people in a friendly way.  At one point, Cosmoboy and I stopped to investigate an interesting rock when the cat came over to look at us.  I was crouched down looking at some lichen on the rock when I looked up and saw the cat suddenly transform into an miniature puma, a lovely pose against the green conifers which matched its eyes.

Portfolio 4 – Paws for Thought

Cats are very much a part of the urban ecosystems especially in our neighbourhood and cannot be ignored even by the most avid natural photographers and ecologists. Also, while stuck in the city, cats also provide a useful photography subject for me because their quickness and their wariness of strangers brandishing cameras provides a great opportunity to keep my wildlife photography skills polished.  After a lengthy work-induced hiatus from the Portfolio 26 project, I’m really glad to get back into this with the Portfolio 4 – Paws for Thought. Cosmoboy with his fondness for puns has suggested the name as I’ve been pausing quite a bit in the streets looking at cats and thinking about photography!

Today’s image is of a neighbourhood grey tabby around the corner.  One surprising thing I discovered was that most cats’ eyes have a very distinctive infrared reflection, resulting in a lovely yellow-green false colour tint in an otherwise monochromatic image.  This infra-red image of a very focused cat really highlights this property and truly emphasizes the beautiful eyes of this cat. This little surprise inspired me to track down cats with eye colours of all kinds and to put together the theme of this portfolio.

Portfolio 3 – leaving Moncton on a bright day

After spending the weekend in Moncton (and having fun exploring infrared possibilities in “surreal” approaches to street photography), it was time for us to return to Halifax.  The route between Moncton and Halifax goes through the Tantramar Marshes of the Isthmus of Chignecto connecting Nova Scotia to the rest of Canada. It is a flat windy place surrounded by beautiful wetlands and historical sites, not to mention the famous CBC Radio Canada International short-wave radio towers and of course, the wind farm with its 15 turbines.  It’s an amazing place, but unfortunately, we had to race through the Tantramar Marshes to get home.

The wind turbines were on my side of the car (rest easy, Cosmoboy was driving while I was taking this image), so I was admiring how they stood out against the sky.  The large advertising billboard appeared very small beside the turbines on the vast landscape. I quickly opened the window and timed the camera in an effort to capture the scale of the billboard and the turbines. The propellers on the cluster of turbines and the advertising poster on the billboard face opposite directions, providing a sense of detachment to the image taken at over 100 km per hour.  Furthermore, the reflective blue of the advertising billboard poster has come through in infrared, providing an unexpected splash of colour in a monochromatic image. This also provides a counter-balance to the starting image in this portfolio, also taken at high speeds from a car.  The difference is that the sun is so high that there are no observable shadows — the entire landscape is full of light.

Light & Shadow Road Trip.

Tree shadows and windows.

Icy shadows & reflections.

Dancing sprites.

Half in, Half out.

Portfolio 3 – Half out, half in.

After warming up with a nice cup of coffee and lunch with Cosmoboy who joined me at the Tide And Boar Pub,  we continued our walk.  We next went to visit a Francophone art gallery, which was unfortunately closed. On our quest, we walked by the Bell-Aliant Radio Tower which is apparently the tallest in Atlantic Canada. Its shadow steadily sweeps the city with the sun each day and like with the light sprites in a dark alley, good timing is of essence when capturing this effect in a photo.

From the sidewalk, I saw how the tower’s shadow slashed a tree and a lovely church in half.  The sun exposed the infrared reflections in bright white on the left.  The radio tower shaded half of the tree and church, which went dark grey in infrared. Only further right do you see infrared reflections being activated by the sun once again.  This sudden changes in reflection and inverted contrast patterns reminded me of half-and-half silhouette art projects I used to do in elementary school years ago.

Previous images in the “Light and Shadow Road Trip” portfolio:

Light & Shadow Road Trip.

Tree shadows and windows.

Icy shadows & reflections.

Dancing sprites.

Portfolio 3 – Dancing sprites in the shade

The fourth image in the Light & Shadow Road Trip series is a bit different in that I am looking at light patterns in shadow, not shadows in bright light. While I was walking around downtown Moncton, the morning sun was steadily climbing in the sky.  As I passed this dark alley, the whole place suddenly lit up. The sun had just got in the right angle in the sky to create refractions bouncing off the building’s windows behind me (you can see those windows in the reflections). This created lovely refracted images along the alley. The refractions were diffused across the sharp lines of the building, so the sharpness of the various objects in the image is in direct contrast with each other.  I waited a few moments for sun to get a bit higher in the sky, so the refractions would move down the building. That way, I could frame those sprites within the garage door in parallel with the building structures.  All of this happened rapidly within minutes – if I hadn’t been walking by the alley at that exact time, I would have missed this moment. For something so ephemeral, the timing is precise.

Afterwards, my hands were very cold despite wearing gloves, so I headed towards a lovely cafe adjoining the “Tide And Boar” pub – highly recommended!

Previous images in the “Light and Shadow Road Trip” portfolio:

Light & Shadow Road Trip.

Tree shadows and windows.

Icy shadows & reflections.

Portfolio 3 – Icy shadows & reflections

The next image in the Portfolio 3: Light & Shadow Road Trip series is of a skating rink in downtown Moncton.  I enjoyed this image for the interlacing of tree shadows on the front part of the rink and the tree reflections on the back.  The ice surface has a similar colour as the sky in this infrared image. The big conifer next to the house certainly grabs attention, but if my gaze lingers, I begin to see all the patterns on the icy surface itself.  The lacy cuts from skates weave in and out with the tree reflections and shadows on a bright day. And my own shadow as I take this photograph provides a dynamic tension with the parallel tree shadow and the big conifer.

Previous images in Portfolio 3 series

Light & Shadow Road Trip.

Tree shadows and windows.