Kitty Cat Diary 2013

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.

2001-2003 -- 2004 -- 2005 -- 2006 -- 2007 -- 2008 -- 2009 -- 2010 -- 2011 -- 2012 -- 2013 -- 2014 -- 2015 -- 2016 -- 2017 -- 2018 -- Latest Update

Kitty Cat wanted to see the International Peace Rose Garden in Sacramento, but when we walked by the Cesar Chavez Plaza Park, she wanted to check out the farmer's market there too. I was shooting a video of her with the Canon 5D Mark III while she was browsing the fruit and vegetable stands, when a gruff looking vendor asked me, "What is she, some kind of a princess or something?" I took a lot of great photos on that day, and I'll be posting more of them in the future.

Kitty Cat often forgets to wear an apron when cooking, thus staining her clothes frequently. I finally had to put my foot down and tell her that's got to stop. I jumped on Amazon and found ridiculously cute aprons and then bought six of them. These are two of the six we bought--the other four will make appearances later.

This summer was like a private cosplay show, with Kitty cat strutting around the house in lots of fun outfits. My camera and I were in heaven.

Kitty Cat owns clothes that she'd never go out in, but they're great for having some fun at home. She doesn't go swimming or to the beach anymore--not since we moved out of Malaysia in 2004. The bikini is just eye-candy for my benefit.

Yep, she could still pull off the cute school girl look at age 42. It can't last much longer though, because if she doesn't start aging a lot more soon, I will have to suspect some kind of witchcraft and start digging in the backyard for carcasses of animals she's been sacrificing in secrecy.

Kitty Cat was watching some sad TV show and shedding tears. I happened to walk by with the camera and told her to turn and face the camera. Thus the sad-faced kitty photo.

The late afternoon sun makes for some of the nicest natural lighting, creating a nice glowing halo around the subject when back-lit.

Often, while brushing our teeth before going to sleep, I catch Kitty Cat playing with her hair in front of the bathroom mirror, trying to figure out new styles to try. Sometimes I say to her, "You know I can do realistic looking mockups in Photoshop to show you how you'd look with any hairstyle you want, right?" But I think it's more fun to for her to play with her hair than watching me work in Photoshop.

Kitty Cat asked me how her soft tummy looked for someone her age (she was 42 in 2013). Common wisdom says that when a man is asked such questions by a woman, he must tell her what she wants to hear if he wants to keep the peace. I think that only applies to people who don't believe that love and truth can coexist. Neither of us are the fitness type (obviously), and I don't feel that a woman must have sculpted rock-hard abs forged in the fire of workout routines in order to look beautiful. Sometimes a certain level of softness is actually a good thing.

Kitty Cat's got plenty of fun summer clothes she wears only at home, purely for my enjoyment. My camera gets delirious during those hot months.

Kitty Cat did all the landscaping of her garden herself, and it took about six months to complete. You can find out the details of her landscaping adventure in this blog entry.

Color or black and white? This is something a lot of photographers struggle with. Some photos obviously look better as one or the other, but sometimes you get stuck between the two choices.

These two photos above were the proverbial straws that broke the camel's back. For years, I had wondered why some of my shots would miss the focus even when I was sure I didn't mess up. The problem seemed to have gotten worse in 2013, and I was suspecting more and more it was the Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 lens that I used as my main workhorse lens. When I saw those two photos above, I was disgusted by how off the focus was, and I was sure it had to be the lens. I did some tests and sure enough, the Tamron's focus had become unreliable. I didn't want to bother with repairing it, so I went ahead and got the lens I always wanted -- the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II. Right away, I noticed how much more reliable the focus was, as well as vibrant and contrasty when shooting into the light. You can read the review I wrote for the lens here.

Often, when Kitty Cat is lounging around looking comfy and lazy, I would use odd adjectives and nouns to describe what I'm seeing. For example:

And she would retaliate with her own inventive adjectives and nouns to describe what she sees. This would go on for minutes at a time. Yep, two adults in their 40's.

That puddle of Kitty Cat above is setting a new precedent in the Kitty Cat Diary. In the past, we sometimes wondered where to draw the line in terms propriety for the Kitty Cat Diary. For a long time time the line was, "no showing of underwear," but eventually that seemed arbitrary, because a bikini is really not that different and we don't think twice about seeing women in bikinis, and we've shown Kitty Cat in bikini's before. So we've decided the line should be, "nothing vulgar, but sexy in a cute way is okay." We think it's the intent that makes up the general vibe, not the technicalities, so yes, undies is okay if it's not meant to be vulgar. We try to keep it classy (by our standards), and judging by the emails we've gotten over the years about the Kitty Cat Diary, I think we've had a really good track record.

Kitty Cat really messed up her hands when she overworked them while doing the landscaping in our backyard garden. She had to get cortisone shots for her joints, and every night before bed, she rubbed paint relief ointment into her hands and massage them, then wear a wrist brace (doctor's orders).

Kitty Cat doesn't find fountains particularly interesting, so she had holes drilled in the one in our front yard, and planted herbs and fruits in them instead.

Kitty Cat getting ready to go out. That is usually my cue to go and grab the camera. It's sort of become a ritual now, since we're total homebodies and rarely go out, so when she does get dressed to go out, it's a bit of an occassion (although it's almost always just going shopping or something equally mundane).

Kitty Cat looking a bit tired after being out all afternoon. In the last few years, going out seemed to just sap the energy out of us. We've become total introvert recluses. I've always been like that my whole life, but it's gotten even worse over the last decade because she's become like that too after marrying me, and being around each other compounds the severity of it. I was a lone wolf before marrying her, and now we're a wolf pack of two.

Kitty Cat before bedtime. It's getting increasing rare to see her with a book in bed, since the iPhone's taken over her bedtime reading (she's now almost always checking her Weibo before bedtime).

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