Kitty Cat Diary 2012

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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Kitty Cat enjoying the suffering of being in a massage chair while being sore all over from our unpacking at the new home.

Kitty Cat in our new home in Lincoln, California. We were waiting for our shipment to arrive from China, so we had to temporarily set up on the dining table in the family room.

Kitty Cat in a hotel. We had packed up everything in our old home and were awaiting customs to sign off on the inspections before shipping them to our new home in California, so we had to stay at a hotel for a while. The wait was excruciating, because every time we had to deal with China's customs, it's always been a nightmare (bureaucracy, corruption, asinine laws, incompetent idiots, etc). Afte going through one complication after another (as usual), our shipment was finally able to leave the port. I don't ever want to deal with any goverment officials in China again for as long as I live.

The next 2 photos were taken with the iPhone 4, hence the difference in image quality.

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

It's really annoying when you accidentally set the camera's ISO settings wrong. This one looks like it was taken by some crappy cellphone camera from many years ago, because the ISO setting was bumped up way too high by accident:

The next 11 photos were taken with the iPhone 4, hence the difference in image quality.

Kitty Cat at a printing shop in Fuzhou, where we printed almost a hundred prints (of some of my favorite paintings from other artists, and my own photography) to be framed and hung in our new home in California.

Kitty Cat riding the bus. Although cab rides were cheap in Fuzhou, it could be nearly impossible to find any during shift-change hours, where cab drivers refused customers while on their way to hand over the cab to the next shift's driver. During times like that, Kitty Cat and I would take the bus, which can be both hilarious (the wacky people you don't normally see) as well as annoying (extreme halitosis and foul body odor is very common in China, since it's still a developing country and personal hygiene is often a big problem among the population. People talking at deafening volume is also a big problem in China, and people in Fuzhou are especially loud--it's just the style of the dialect and local culture).

The next photo was taken with the iPhone 4, hence the difference in image quality.

Tracking a moving subject is one of the hardest things to do in candid photography, and sometimes, you just fail at it, such as the more blurry photos in this set demonstrates. The continuous focus of the 5D Mark III is quite good, but it isn't infallible, and sometimes the subject's movements are just to erratic, such as when Kitty Cat is in a playful mood.

I'm not sure at what age it's no longer okay to be "cute," but if Kitty Cat can still pull it off at 41, all the more power to her.

Kitty cat during one of our daily strolls when we lived briefly in our temporary apartment in Sacramento. We avoided the ghetto side of the neighborhood and kept to the nicer area, since guys in wife-beater with full sleeves of tattoo and "I'm gonna fuck your shit up" expressions tend to make her a little nervous.

The best thing about buying her nice little chemises is that I get to see her being a domestic Goddess while looking very nice. (She's got so many of them in her wardrobe since I keep buying them.)

Our temporary apartment in Sacramento was a bit ghetto, but even then, it still cost over $1,000 a month. We moved the dining table and sat facing each other at our "central hub" in the living room. The neighborhood was a bit run-down on one side, and nice on the other side, and we were right on the border. The apartments nearby were loud and often blasted music during late-night parties, and the damn kids would kick soccer balls against our fence--it drove us nuts. I had to be the grumpy adult yelling "If you keep doing that, I'm going to call the cops" a few times when they didn't listen the first few times I asked nicely. The air conditioning in the unit was loud and ineffective, coughing and panting as it struggled to make cool air--and failed at it. The ten weeks we stayed there were quite "memorable."

The speakers are the Audioengine A2's. Very high quality small speakers that sound better than many much larger and more expensive ones. You can read the review I wrote here.

The next 2 photos were taken with the Panasonic Lumix LX5, hence the difference in image quality.

Kitty Cat loves coffee and tea, but she can't drink them past early afternoon, or they'll keep her up at night. I'm all about simply water, but I do get cravings for diet sodas now and then.

The bright kitchen in the temporary apartment we stayed at in Sacramento was a big problem, since that's generally not a good thing for working on the computer (we had to put cardboards up to block one of the windows), but it was great for taking photos of Kitty Cat.

Kitty Cat cutting up roast chicken from the supermarket. These are great when you're too lazy to cook.

The next 6 photos were taken with the iPhone 4, hence the difference in image quality.

The next photo was taken with the Panasonic Lumix LX5, hence the difference in image quality.

The next photo was taken with the iPhone 4, hence the difference in image quality.

Part of Kitty Cat's anti-aging regiment. I'd say it's working pretty well--she doesn't look 41 at all.

These were still photos I took during the a video test I was shooting to assess the Canon 5D Mark III's video capabilities. You can see the video sessions I shot with the 5D Mark III here.

I shot the following batch below while trying to put the newly acquired 5D Mark III through its paces--to see if it'll hold up in the typical shooting situations most common for me. I was particularly interested in seeing how the camera would perform in low-light situations, and to my delight, it walked all over the 1D Mark II in that regard. A lot the shots went as high as ISO 25600, and you probably won't be able to tell which ones. You can read my detailed review of the 5D Mark III here.

Trying out the low light capability of the 5D Mark III. ISO 3200 on the 1D Mark II would have been really pushing it, while the 5D Mark III doesn't even blink when you push it to ISO 12800. Only when you push it to ISO 25600 does it raise an eyebrow. I don't push it past that, even though it can go all the way up to ISO 102,800. Even for someone like me, who shoots in very low light all the time, there doesn't seem to be a need to go past ISO 25600, since any situation that is too dark for ISO 25600 would likely be too dark to focus on anything reliably anyway.

During April of 2012, I upgraded to the Canon 5D Mark III as my main camera, and starting from here, all photos above this point are taken with the 5D Mark III. The 1D Mark II that had served as my main camera, and was used for the majority of the Kitty Cat Diary entries since 2004, has now been officially retired. It is still in perfect working condition, and has only used up about 23,150 shutter clicks--which is just a bit more than 10% of its specified shutter life (which is rated at 200,000 shutter clicks, and that is considered a modest estimation according to Canon). The 1D Mark II will be sold, and whoever gets it will be very happy that I took excellent care of it during the last eight years. I even still have all the original accessories, pamphlets, warranty, user's manual, software CD, plastic wrappings, etc. I hope it finds a nice new home, and the new owner will experience the same joy in photography I felt when I shot with it.

Kitty Cat in bed reading. It has become our ritual to read together in bed before going to sleep. But sometimes, I turn and look at her, and she's more captivating than the book I'm reading, so out come the camera.

Kitty Cat trying on a hat. I've always been mystified by how she seems to fluctuate between looking like a doe-eyed girl, to an elegant woman, and to a simple housewife. It sometimes feel like I'm married to three different looking women of different ages.