Kitty Cat Diary 2010

Kitty Cat Diary | 貓咪日記

The Kitty Cat Diary is a photo diary of my adorkable wife, and it's what happens when a photographer marries a woman who doesn't mind having a camera pointed at her during everyday life. Elena (A.K.A. Kitty Cat, because my nicknames for her all revolve around the theme of a cat.) is my favorite subject to photograph--there's just something very theraputic about grabbing a camera and capturing the person you love the most in the world, while combining that with creativity and aesthetic sensibility. This interaction has brought us a lot of joy over the years and captured a lot of precious memories. If you want to get to know Elena better, her bio is the best place to start.

Since these are spur-of-the-moment snapshots, it's best to enjoy them simply as casual fun instead of serious photography (you can find more serious photography in other areas of my site). A wide range of camera were used to shoot these photos--from professional cameras to casual compacts and smartphones. You can find out what photography gear I shoot with in the FAQ section.

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The next 14 photos were taken with the Panasonic Lumix LX5, hence the difference in image quality.

Kitty Cat at Shangri-La, one of Fuzhou's best 4-star hotels. They have a pretty good buffet there, and is one of the very few (maybe even the only) place where you can get decent western food (besides McDonald's or KFC).

Kitty Cat taking care of business at the bank. She gets embarrassed when I snap photos of her when there are other people around.

The next 2 photos were taken with the Fujifilm F30, hence the difference in image quality.

Kitty Cat on a money run. It's interesting to compare these 4 photos directly to the ones below, since you can clearly see how much better the Lumix LX5 is when it comes to dynamic range and clarity (due to image stabilization).

The next 6 photos were taken with the Panasonic Lumix LX5, hence the difference in image quality.

Like I previously mentioned, the Panasonic Lumix LX5 gets noisy at ISO 800 and above, and it's best to keep the auto ISO at 400. The auto white balance is also unreliable, so it's better to use manual white balance when possible.

Kitty Cat cut her hair and started sporting a slightly wavy look. I always find it fascinating how sometimes she has this doe-eyed look about her, but I can't predict when it'll happen or why it happens, as it has nothing to do with whether she's wearing makeup or the time of the day. It's like all of a sudden her eyes just light up and she looks like an innocent little bambi. Sometimes I feel like I'm married to two different women--one is the mature, serious woman, and the other is the adorable and cute little girl who blushes easily and smiles shyly. She only turns into a blushing little girl around me though, so maybe I'm the catalyst?

The next 19 photos were taken with the Panasonic Lumix LX5, hence the difference in image quality.

This is Kitty Cat's older, elegant look, as opposed to the "I think I'm still twenty-five" look. What's interesting is that before she met me, she always dressed far older than her actual age. Ever since she started working as a teenager, she always dressed older so others would take her more seriously in business situations, but it somehow carried over to her personal life as well. As soon as we started dating I began to work on that problem. The concept of dressing to look youthful never even occured to her, and I actually had to explain to her the advantages of dressing younger than your actual age--IF you can get away with it. So it wasn't until she was thirty-one that she started to dress her actual age or younger. Now she loves it and totally regrets dressing like an old lady when she was in her youth. In the past nine years or so she's really made up for lost time though, but she's about to turn forty, so her days of dressing like a twenty-five year old are numbered.

This was the business call that ended up being the straw that broke the camel's back (or the cat's back). Her business partners and employees have disappointed her so much that she decided to just quit her job and remain a silent partner. She was totally fed up with all the issues out of her control that makes it impossible for the company to evolve into a better business. So now Kitty Cat just stays home and enjoy our semi-retirement together.

I was actually in the middle of taking some casual snap of her with the new Panasonic Lumix LX5 when the phone call happened, and she tried to be a good sport after the call and posed for a few more snaps, but I could tell she was still fuming over the phone call and she just looked unhappy.

These were taken when I first got the Panasonic Lumix LX5 and was putting it through its paces. You can see the full review and test photos in this blog entry.

Overall, as long as the LX5 is kept to no higher than ISO 400, the image quality is actually quite good for a compact camera, but as soon as you go up to ISO 800 you'll start to deal with significantly more image noise.

The LX5's automatic white balance can get really out of whack if you're not careful. This kind of severe yellow cast is very common when shooting under tungsten lighting, and you're much better off if you set the white balance manually.

I have this thing for headbands. They just really bring out the femininity for some reason.

Just the other day, some young guy selling walnuts on the street refused to believe that Kitty Cat is already 39. She does look young for her age though, especially when she dresses young.

This particular spot by the balcony door is where a lot of photos of Kitty Cat are taken. Usually she's dressed and on her way out, and I'd snaps a few photos before letting her leave.

We sometimes joke around and wonder if she's getting too old for these types of clothes, but the truth is, if you can get away with it, why not?

The first thing Kitty Cat does when she comes home is to change into comfy indoor clothes. We're a bit of clean freaks so we'd never wear the same clothes we just wore outdoors and sit on our couch or bed, or wear outdoor shoes indoors (Asians are known for this). We also always shower and wash our hair before going to bed so that we don't roll around in a whole day's worth of dust, grime, dead skin cells, sweat, oil, and other bodily secretions. Whenever we watch movies or TV shows where the characters jump into bed wearing the same clothes they wore while out there running around in the streets, and often with their outdoor shoes still on, it just makes us cringe. Seriously, that's just disgusting.

The side effect of Kitty Cat wearing little skirts at home is having a camera chasing her around wherever she goes.

I'm still unsure about these women's clothes that are cut off so short on top. They work sometimes, but other times they look a bit awkward.

I'm always surprised by how different clothes can add or subtract weight visually. Kitty Cat looks slimmer than usual in this outfit.