Where in Reedsburg?

Part of the Where in Reedsburg? series in the Reedsburg Independent.

Hey Reedsburgers, can you guess what this is? This photo inspired a short-lived series in the Indy where Jeff and I would take photos and have readers call in and guess what the item was. There wasn't a prize, just the glory of knowing you got the right answer. We had fun with it, at least.

Give up? These are stacked egg crates at the egg factory down the street from Grede Foundaries. When I was a kid, I didn't even know we had an egg factory in town until a boiler at the factory across the street blew up. I remember reading in the paper that even though the egg factory is directly across the street, not one egg was broken when it happened.

One of These Things...

is not like the other one. My hamster, Pancakes, playing possum in my parents' backyard.

Life is simply not complete without a hamster. Moose is rolling around the apartment right now in his ball, three cats trailing close behind. They have their own agendas, waking up late in the night to run in their wheels toward an unknown destination, only to fall asleep for 18 more hours, wake up and do it all over again. They eat, sleep, and exercise, and that's about it. Moose also has an impressive nest where he hoards all manner of things. And both he and Pancakes are extremely tame. Moose is even trained so that I can hand feed him treats. What a life, right?

Pancakes was extremely photogenic, almost posing for photos as in the picture above taken during one of his backyard adventures. Moose has never been outside, and he has all black fur, making it harder to get a good shot. One of these days.  :)

Peony

From my parents' garden this summer.

Sometimes I feel like taking macro shots of flowers is like shooting fish in a barrel. It's almost way too easy to capture something that looks gorgeous, like it could be on a calendar or something. But I'd like to think I can take some of the credit.

I love the sharp, random edges of the petals in the foreground, how the focus slowly fades as your eye travels to the upper left of the photo. And the stark white on the all black background. Not sure how I achieved that. :)

My parents and their neighbor have always had random peonies growing in their yards  Someone must have planted them there a long time ago and they come back year after year on their own because they don't hardly do anything to encourage them. They're in all different colors - this white, light pink, dark pink. And they're usually horribly covered in ants. I took a chance this summer and shook them out as best as I could before bringing a few dozen back to Madison. They smelled gorgeous.  :)

Self.

Taken in my apartment parking lot at 7:30 this morning with the plain old front facing camera on the iPhone4.

A good self portrait is hard to find. There are few I've taken that I've ever been happy with. The photo above is unedited except for some creative cropping to get rid of an unfortunately placed light post. I think the early morning light was hitting me just right, casting a golden glow and making cool shadows. Everyone looks beautiful in the right light.

The sun has been rising later and later here in Wisconsin. It's depressing. I love the fall weather but I can't take the decreased daylight, waking up on Mondays when it's still dark out to head to the Indy. And it's like fall came without warning this year - all of a sudden its been chilly and dark and all the leaves are turning. I'm not complaining about sweater and scarf weather one bit, just everything else that comes with it.

Time to bust out the crock pot for our constant winter mulled apple cider and rum.

Pure Attitude

Nikki MadCat, taken on my lunchbreak today.

This picture of Nikki says pure attitude to me. I took it on my lunchbreak, doing more snap snapping than sitting, as I should have been. Camera in one hand, Hot Pocket in the other. So worth it.

Lucy wasn't so cooperative today, focused more on munching the last of the summer grass before the frost tonight. Sometimes she does a great job posing, other times she's face down in the grass, or else rubbing on me and getting right in my camera.

Nikki has never been so comfortable with me. She always strikes a great pose when I'm too far away, and then she runs when I get too close. I was glad to get this shot this afternoon. It expresses her personality perfectly.

We've been thinking lately at the store that the cat hierarchy has changed - Morty used to be on top, but he hasn't anymore. We're not sure of the cause, whether it was a fight between he and Nikki or what have you. But I think this picture is physical proof of exactly how Nikki thinks of herself. It very much says, Oh yeah. I'm the boss. I make the rules. And don't you forget it.

All the Fixins

Chicago dog with all the fixins, prepared by the masters at Jimmy's To-Go, Reedsburg, Wisconsin.

A Chicago Dog has specific condiments in a specific order. We're not just talking ketchup and mustard here. No ketchup at all, in fact. An all beef Vienna dog on a poppy seed bun with mustard, tomato, onion, neon green relish, pickle, sport peppers and celery salt.

And my parents make em better than anyone around.

Looking Down

Fiona looks down from the top of her cat scratcher. Inspired by another picture I took of Tabby, Em's cat.

I didn't start off knowing what I was doing taking pet pictures, and I still don't. But I've learned a few things shooting various cats - my own, Emily's, the MadCats. Lesson one - cats (and pets in general) always look better in natural light, hands down. No flash, no worries about weird looking fur or glowing eyes.

Lesson two - always take photos at eye level. Well, almost always. This pose of Fiona's was too good to resist. It's like the classic cat pose - infinitely curious about humans yet always looking down on them.

My cats are not afraid of my camera anymore, nor the shutter noise it makes when snap snapping away. But I always forget that they are conditioned to that sound until I take pictures of other cats.  Dottie got used to it the other day, though it made her nervous at first. And sometimes they don't like a big lens shoved in their faces.

With every "photo shoot" I do, I learn more and more. Techniques, what works, what doesn't, and how to make my subjects more comfortable. But I hope I'm getting better.  :)