Cat Napping

I found our black cat Minoit sleeping in a chair by the window. The natural light streaming in through the window provided plenty of natural light and produced a ton of contrast between her black fur and the white blanket she was laying on. Because of her dark black fur its difficult for the cameras auto exposure system to produce a "properly exposed" image and I also knew the high contrast of the scene and the back lighting of the windows wasn't going to make it any easy either. So, I switched the camera into manual mode in order to get the exposure I wanted. I found I had to under expose two stops below what evaluative metering suggested in order get the exposure I wanted.

I'm pleased with the results, but she wasn't too happy that I woke her up from her cat nap.

All images copyright Daniel Ray Photography.

Made the Magazine

As I stated in the Friday, November 18, 2011 post, one of my photographs was recently selected as the winner of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine's 2011 photo contest in the People/Activity category and was to be featured in the January 2012 print issue of the magazine. 

The January issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine arrived and I quickly flipped through the pages looking for the article about the photo contest and there it was on page 14. 

It is very gratifying to have one of your images selected as the winner of a photo contest and then to be published in a print magazine is just over the top.... I'm so happy!

All images copyright Daniel Ray Photography.

Reminder of my Childhood

This toy tractor and trailer truck is a fond reminder of my childhood.  Not so much for playing with the truck, which I did, but more about how I acquired it and what it meant to me then and now. 

My twin brother and I were raised for the majority of our childhood by our single mother.  While my mother worked hard to provide for us we still didn't have a lot of money which meant that new toys were mostly received at Christmas or on birthdays. 

As I recall, when I was about six or seven years old  I received 25 cents a week allowance.  I saved all my allowance money and any other money I received for months until I had about $6.00 in my piggy bank.  I don't recall if my brother and I asked our mother or she offered, but we went to the near by five and dime TG&Y store which had the best toy department in town so we could spend the money we had saved up for so long. 

I can still remember the feeling of standing in the aisle of the toy department and looking at all the shelves filled with toys and knowing I had enough money to buy just about any toy I wanted. The feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment that I felt at that moment has stayed with me my entire life.  That simple and seemingly uneventful moment in my youth taught me that saving for future needs or wants is a good thing and I have my mother to thank for that.

As I grew older and found other interests I naturally played less and less with the truck but I could never bring myself to part with it.  My mother suggested that I put it away and one day, in the future when I had children they could play with it.  The truck has sat packed away in a cardboard box at my mother's house for over 30 years.  Recently while visiting her I asked about the truck and she pulled it from the closet and we unpacked it and I brought it home for my children to play with it as I did so many years ago.  Today my children play with it and I've told them this story in hopes that they understand what this toy represents to me and maybe some day their children will play with it as well.

All images copyright Daniel Ray Photography.

Winning...

I just found out this photograph I took during a plein air painting outing at Brazos Bend State Park was selected as the overall winner for the People/Activity category in this years Texas Parks and Wildlife (TPW) Magazine photo contest. Photo contest winners from each category will be featured in the January 2012 issue of the TPW magazine.

In the photograph is Award winning plein air painter Tim Schneider (http://www.timthepainter.com/) as he works along the shore of new horseshoe lake in the Brazos Bend Texas state park.

All images copyright Daniel Ray Photography.

My Companion

I spend a lot of time in front of my computer editing photographs, writing my blog, keeping up with friends and family on Facebook and reading photography related blogs. I typically have my companion a tuxedo cat named Gypsy sitting on my lap or curled up on the floor near me.

I recently purchased a new Canon PowerShot S100 camera and I used Gypsy as my test subject. This is the first image from my new camera.

All images copyright Daniel Ray Photography.