Photo Session Blog: Spidey in Seattle

April 6, 2013January 14, 20162 Comments

I thought I’d post a wee kiddie session that was fun and colorful that I did just recently…

To raise some funds for my Walk MS efforts (the walk is in a week!!), I have been offering mini sessions. I think this was our first truly warm and sunny Spring Day here in Seattle; if you’re from here, you know that means while we have clear skies and sun, it could well be just in the 60’s, and suddenly everyone and their grandmother is out in shorts and T-shirts, and busting out the SPF.

For some 4 year-old’s pics, we went over to Queen Anne to Bhy Kracke Park (yes, really), where there’s a small playground with a path that leads up to another area where you have insane views of Seattle – from Lake Union to downtown to the Space Needle and West of that. That’s quite the panorama. Our Spiderman did some wall-balancing with the skyline behind him, and then we went to Wallingford for some wicked bunny mural shots (appropriately it was Easter Sunday) by Archie McPhee. It’s just about the coolest store ever, where you can find everything from unicorn masks to yodeling pickles and toupee tattoos. Sadly the holiday meant it was closed but I at least didn’t have to drag my son in there (he’s always worried that the freaky Halloween decorations will still be everywhere) or have to drag him out (because there are way too many sweets and plastic toys to tempt him with).

I’m still fundraising for the walk, so if you do want to stop by my fundraising page and sponsor my TENTH year of doing it, please do!! Raising money for the National MS Society is a super important cause for me, and every dollar helps; my story and why I keep on doing the walk is all on my page. I truly appreciate the support.

Must go and edit baby photos; hoping to do cat photos next week! Busy and tired but must keep on…

xo ~ K

“A bee is never as busy as it seems; it’s just that it can’t buzz any slower.” ~ Kin Hubbard

Feline Zen | Seattle Cat Photography

July 30, 2012January 14, 20161 Comment

I’ve been feeling lot of stress and anxiety around certain things lately (Saturn retrograde?!) so I’m sharing a bright and sparkly moment in order to try and channel some of that feline Zen. I think my neurotic terrier has been rubbing off on me too much…

I must get on top my editing tonight; too many recent nights up late with the Olympics; have you caught the Olympic bug yet?

xo ~ K

“I put down my book, The Meaning of Zen, and see the cat smiling into her fur as she delicately combs it with her rough pink tongue.
Cat, I would lend you this book to study but it appears you have already read it.
She looks up and gives me her full gaze.
Don’t be ridiculous, she purrs, I wrote it.”
– from “Miao” by Dilys Laing

Sadness & Light in Seattle | Reflections

June 11, 2012January 14, 20163 Comments

Over the last few weeks I’ve had quite a few reasons to count my blessings and to feel fortunate. I think many of you who have stumbled upon my post, are aware of the horrible shootings that happened in Seattle recently. I feel anguish for those who have lost people they love. I feel sadness that much of it happened in a neighborhood (and city) that I have spent years living in, one that holds many memories for me and I hold a fondness for. I feel angry that present gun laws and untreated mental illness create a perfect storm for such tragedies to happen so frequently. I feel frustration that this world is so cruel sometimes and I can’t fix it.

The blessings and fortune I speak of are about a few different things. My little boy and the man I love were at one of our favorite parks just 2 blocks away from the cafe that day; cops were everywhere as they were looking for the gunman. That’s too close, but I’m thankful they weren’t closer. A couple of days after that, my boy smacked the back of his head straight into a tree trunk while on a tree swing being pushed by his sister; he came crying into the house with blood streaming down the back of his shirt. I envisioned all kinds of brain injury scenarios during the painfully slow (Friday night rush hour) albeit short trip to the ER. But my boy just had an abrasion and left the hospital with a red popsicle…again, I’m thankful.

Then last Wednesday marked a seven-year anniversary of the passing of someone I loved deeply. So much that the depths of my grief for a long time after his death, which felt so dark and hopeless, made me imagine that nothing and no one would ever bring light into my life ever again. I eventually emerged from that darkest hole to find that I saw life in a whole new way afterwards, and if there’s anything to be thankful for despite losing a love like that, it’s that. And I do have both love and light in my life again.

I took these on June 6th (on that anniversary) and though the day started out grey and felt somber and lonely to me, the sun did come out and there were beautiful sights all around that evening. I hope Seattle will heal from these awful tragedies and that much is learned. I also wish for light and love to come in place of the darkness and loss; Seattle is a beautiful, resilient city full of amazing people, and to see the flowers that cover the sidewalk outside Cafe Racer (photo required, I know!), you can’t help but be moved by the love here.

Now that I have put all that out there to the blogosphere, I have gig and birthday party photos to edit!

xo ~ K

Each day of human life contains joy and anger, pain and pleasure, darkness and light, growth and decay. Each moment is etched with nature’s grand design – do not try to deny or oppose the cosmic order of things. ~Morihei Ueshiba

Does the caterpillar know she will be a beautiful butterfly one day?

Catching rays, my muse | Seattle Cat Photography

March 16, 2012January 14, 20162 Comments

Today I was happily out and about to a couple of foster cat homes to take some photos; both kitties (Bee and Velvet) I had met before at the rescue but now are in great foster homes, and so have a less stressful, more comfortable slice of life. It’s great to see rescue cats blossom once they are in ‘foster care’ and in their new forever homes; the individual attention they receive away from the stress of the many cats and hustle and bustle of a busy rescue, allows the shy, submissive, previously sick or neglected cats, to come out of their proverbial shells. They find their voices, they discover that there are humans out there that provide love, shelter, compassion and a warm bed, and they don’t have to be scared anymore.

I haven’t had the chance to go through Bee and Velvet’s photos from today yet, and I will likely have to go back for some more from Velvet (very shy but strikingly beautiful), so I am posting some of my cat Jeffers catching some rays on our dining table. He could easily be used as a reflector, his white fur just gleams in the sun. I adopted Jeffers from animaltalkrescue.org (where I do the volunteer photography for); he never was shy though, and he is so at home here.These sunny shots taken during some of the brief Seattle sun we have had lately, warm me up for just a moment…

So today I hear that a friend found some of my images in use on some random sites in a search she did online, and of course, they are uncredited to me. I know that in this Internet age there are just so many photos flying around in cyberspace but as far as copyrighting goes, the moment you take that photo, it’s yours…it’s copyrighted. My hope is that anyone reading and following my blog will be a good ‘web neighbor’ and not take my photos without permission, and give credit where it is due. Photographers share their photos within this crazy medium, in order to share their art and to communicate a message or story (and by all means share if it’s going to get a cat adopted!), but stealing is stealing. Everyone appreciates getting credit for their work and a simple link back or a simple request to use a photo, would be a much-appreciated act. I was discussing with a friend the other day how my mum always tried to drum it into me that ‘imitation is the highest form of flattery’. Maybe so, but not when you don’t give credit to the person you are imitating, and with this stuff, it’s considered outright theft! I don’t claim my photos as being anywhere near perfect but they’re mine, that’s all. If anyone sees my images being used elsewhere without them being linked back to me or without due credit, please let me know. Thank you! Lots of kitty karma your way!

I’m off to finish watching some Kubrick genius (‘The Shining’) and hoping there are more glimpses of Spring to be seen this weekend. I am also hoping for a less migraine-filled couple of days.

xo ~ K

“Photography is more than a medium for factual communication of ideas. It is a creative art.” ~ Ansel Adams

Sadness in the Seattle sun | Reflections

February 8, 2012January 14, 20164 Comments

Today was another glorious day in Seattle. For the last few days it has felt like spring has hit us early and everyone is enjoying the sunny weather; if you know Seattle, you know that we lap it up…suddenly you see people in sunglasses and shorts, yet it’s still technically winter. We tend to associate the sun with happiness and that feeling of warmth both inside and out, with vacations and summer, with family get-togethers and BBQs, with light and life. But sad and tragic things happen every single day, no matter the weather; life doesn’t stop because it hits a whopping 60 degrees Fahrenheit in February.

Today is…was, the birthday of someone I loved very much, and he would have been the same age today that I was the year he died, almost 7 years ago. The day he died was a sunny day too. Birthdays are when we celebrate a person’s life, yet when someone dies, birthdays, anniversaries and just about every holiday season, it is hard not to think of the person that is now gone. Now that I’m a parent, I can’t help imagining how a (his) mother feels on the birthday of a child you have lost. I do know the grief I have felt and feel at the loss of a partner… And that grief was unbearable, and I felt as though I went to hell and back after he died.

I felt the need to visit a cemetery today; there is no grave site for me to visit and I have always sat with my thoughts and feelings alone, but a place of rest and peace was where I wanted to be. We went to Lake View Cemetery, up by Volunteer Park; Roman and I wandered through the tombstones and grave sites of all these people we didn’t know but who other people have lost and loved. There I was telling my 4-year-old boy to not jump on the graves, to walk around them, to help me look for Bruce Lee’s grave (as if he knew where it was…), and I tried to explain in preschooler terms, what all those grave stones represent.

There’s a lot of sadness in my heart when I think of who I have lost, yet a lot happens in 7 years. Whole lifetimes happen and happiness can be rediscovered. I didn’t see just see just a cemetery today, I saw my little boy and his whole life ahead of him, one that shouldn’t end before mine. I never want to know that loss. And I no longer hold the belief that we ‘should live each day as if it were our last’ but that we should appreciate all we have now while we still have it. Life as we know it can change in an instant.