Yesterday’s kitty must be related to Skit (not her real name but chosen for skittish behavior). Perhaps they’re littermates, or today’s furball is the kitten; she’s not exactly the biggest beast on the block. Their […]
Tag: Fuji X-T1
The Cats of University Heights: Lurks
Sometimes the best cat pic isn’t the one you want but what you can get. Yesterday afternoon, I walked through a new part of the neighborhood, around Arch and Meade streets, looking for furballs to […]
The Cats of University Heights: Scout
On a March 22, 2016 Campus and North Avenues Cat Walk, I spotted Scout—well, my nickname for him. I’ve looked for, but not seen, the furball since. I shot both photos at 6:12 p.m. PDT using the Fujifilm X-T1 and Fujinon XF35mmF2 R WR lens. Another capture was botched, despite best composition of the three, because the focal point fell on the grass instead of the animal.
My guess, looking at the colorization of the images, I used the camera’s Classic Chrome Film Simulation mode, which is a delight. If I rightly recall, Fuji introduced the filter first for the X100T, which I owned before buying the X-T1 in July 2015.
The Cats of University Heights: Looker
On the evening of March 24, 2016, I set out on a Cat Walk, carrying along Fujifilm X-T1 and Fujinon XF35mmF2 R WR lens. I spotted several felines along North Ave., including this one that gets my nickname […]
The Cats of University Heights: Jumper
There nights ago, I spotted a neighborhood feline that’s new to me, lounging in an apartment building parking lot on Campus near Meade. While the kitty goes there often, she apparently resides in a house behind. I nickname her Jumper, because she repeatedly leaped in the air chasing something—presumably bugs. Hehe. Naturally, I missed capturing the activity.
The Featured Image is the last of 20. Lying down, Jumper presents a good view of her coloring. I captured the moment at 6:12 p.m. PDT—about 20 minutes after sunset—on Nov. 3, 2016. Before embarking on the photo Cat Walk, I attached the Fujinon XF35mmF2 R WR lens to the Fuji X-T1, anticipating low-light shooting.
The Cats of University Heights: Fess
My favorite neighborhood cat is an old-timer. Fess (his real name) is at least 12 years-old (that’s how long he has been with his owners). At one time, the Tom Cat roamed a wide territory around Cleveland Ave. and parallel street Maryland. In his youth, he was known to scale fences to poach from other animals’ food dishes.
Now he stays fairly close to home. I often see him, in the driveway of the apartment where he lives, waiting for the master to come home. The gent drives a pick-up truck, and Fess jumps up into the cab when the door opens.
The Cats of University Heights: Blue Too
My wife Anne and I took a “cat walk” early evening Oct. 29, 2016—with Fujifilm X-T1 and Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS lens in tow. My hope: For her to see Chipper outside the apartment building where Copper once lived. We walked down Campus from the canyon side towards Madison. Sure enough, he was there and scurried out to the sidewalk for attention. I also could see Blue, curled up in a pet bed.
A few minutes after the petting and head-rubbing shoes started, another Blue cat approached from the apartment building across the way. I backed up into the street to shoot the Featured Image, at sunset, 5:58 p.m. PDT. Vitals: f/8, ISO 5000, 1/60 sec, 55mm. The aperture setting was accidental, left from the last time I used the camera. The photo is a JPEG converted from RAW using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.
The Cats of University Heights: Mates
Sunday night, Oct. 23, 2016, I crossed Monroe at Maryland, where the street makes a horseshoe that comes back to Maryland at Meade. A few houses down, two cats—almost certainly littermates—accosted me for attention. Were these two ever eager, meowing and rubbing on anything close; including me.
The cross-eyed one leaped to the sidewalk, rolling about and demanding pets fervently. The other did likewise, but never leaving the ledge and rubbing the bush repeatedly with her head. I shot more than 20 photos, using the Fujifilm X-T1 with Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS lens, but selected just two from among the last of them.
The Cats of University Heights: Stretch
Seven months have passed since I introduced you to Stretch (my made-up name) and his littermate in March 22, 2016 post “Here, Kitty, Kitty“, documenting several feline sightings on North Ave.—if I rightly recall between […]
The Cats of University Heights: The Colonel
Easily the handsomest street roamer in my neighborhood is The Colonel—and, yes, that’s his name. I spotted the furball six weeks or so ago, meeting his husband-and-wife owners at the same time. East Coasters, like me. Even better: New Yorkers. That NYC attitude and frankness is so refreshing! Love it! They’re also renters, but a house with their first lawn ever.
Back East, The Colonel was an indoor pet, who spends more time outdoors now that he is a Californian. (Year is long enough to establish residency, right?) The cat doesn’t roam too far from home but moves about enough to have lost weight.
Cat Cuddles
Rarely do Cali and Neko sleep together like this, but the Tortoiseshell is having an off 7 days or so. She seems unsettled. Yesterday, the petite feline watched the Apple TV Aerial screensaver for the longest time. I do mean attentively watched.
Perhaps she longs for the outdoors, which was a major part of her habitat before joining our household in October 2014. On June 5 of the same year, Cali adopted our daughter. I met Molly’s new companion the previous evening on the street.
Momma Hummer
This hummingbird is better entertainment for our cats than TV is for humans. She faithfully sits in her nest, on a tree in the middle of our apartment building’s courtyard, with clear view from a window we leave open year around for Cali and Neko. The felines are mesmerized during the night.
The featured photo is the original, shot using Fujifilm X-T1 and Fujinon XF35mmF2 R WR lens. The image is converted JPEG from Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. The second is an edited crop. Vitals: f/4, ISO 200, 1/60 sec, 50mm.