Kitty Cat Diary 2014

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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This Christmas set was Kitty Cat's idea. She rarely ever requests photo sessions since I'm taking photos of her constantly already, so it was a bit of a surprise.

I walked by the kitchen and saw Kitty Cat sitting there enjoying the view in her little garden. I just had to grab the camera to take a some shots.

When Kitty Cat was first planning the landscaping of her backyard garden, I asked her, "Do you really think you're going to be sitting out there in the garden, drinking coffee or having an afternoon snack? You'll get eaten alive by the mosquitoes, and it'll be too much of a pain in the ass to put on insect repellent every time you go out there. Also, you'd have to wipe down the chair and table every time you go out since you're a clean freak." Well, it turned out exactly like I predicted; whenever she's in the garden is when she's actually working on the garden. This photo is one of the very rare instances where she actually did sit in the backyard to enjoy a meal or snack.

This is one of my favorite recent photos I've taken of Kitty Cat. I love the skin tone, the colors, the depth-of-field, what she's wearing, and her countenance.

These two shots look very similar, but were taken by two different camera systems. The left one was taken with the Canon 5D Mark III and EF 70-200mm F/2.8 L lens, @110mm | 1/30 | f/2.8 | ISO 250.

The right one was taken with the Olympus E-M1 and the M.Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro lens, @40mm | 1/100 | f/2.8 | ISO 12800.

I was simply testing out the E-M1 and not trying to do a scientific comparison of the two camera systems, otherwise I would have made sure the two shots had the same settings, as well as taken aperture equivalence of the Micro Four Thirds sensor into consideration.

From this point on, the E-M1 takes over all "going out" shooting, and the Galaxy Note 3's camera will rarely ever get used. The group of photos below is when the E-M1 began its service.

The main reason I got the E-M1 was because I needed a camera that was much smaller and lighter when I'm out and about. My Canon 5D Mark III is too large and heavy for casual walkaround shooting (although it's already much better than the canon 1D Mark II I used to have), and my Galaxy Note 3's phone camera is nowhere near good enough during low-light shooting or have fast and responsive enough for the kind of subject-tracking I do while shooting a moving subject.

I researched and tested out a few candidates such as the Sony RX100 MKIII, Canon G1X Mark II, Fuji X-T1, Sony A6000, etc, and ended up choosing the Olympus E-M1 due to its IBIS (In-Body Image Stablization), having both PDAF (Phase-Detection Autofocus) and CDAF (Contrast-Detection Atutofocus), which makes autofocusing tracking during video recording and subject tracking during continous shooting much better. I also liked that it has touchscreen autofocus/shutter, which has become essential for me when doing more casual shooting.

I was very tempted by the Panasonic GH4 when it came out shortly after I got the E-M1, but it was more expensive by about $400, and it was mainly the fully articulated LCD that tempted me, since the 4K video isn't that important to me. I did try the GH4 when it was released, but was disappointed by its image stabilization during video, despite the much better video quality. Its lens-based stabilization wasn't nearly as effective as the E-M1's sensor stabilization combined with in-camera digital correction. so I kept the E-M1.

As a side-note, I recently printed a photo-collection book as a gift for Kitty Cat, and used the above photo as the cover. Here are a few photos of it:

These two shots are from the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, back when I was still using it as my "going out" camera. It's kind of rare to get great shots like these from the Note 3, since the sensor is so tiny and the dynamic range is terrible. Eventually I got sick and tired of the limitations of smartphone cameras, and decided to get the Olympus E-M1 as my outdoor camera.

This was taken right next to the Legion of Honor in San Francisco, where we went to see an Anders Zorn exhibition (for me, he's up there with John Singer Sargent) at the Fine Arts Museum. They also had a nice collection of Rodin sculptures, and it was in their permanent collection, so they allowed photography, which means I definitely took a lot photos.