Daily Photo Reprise: Family Portrait

Well, this was the best I could do without a tripod, and this photo is better than nine others I took that day! I’ll have to try this again when they’re all in the mood to model, and when the sun isn’t reflecting off the house across the street…Below I have a slideshow of the series of photos that led to this one, and it’s not ironic that the very last one was the best of the lot. The piece of furniture they are sitting on is the cherry mahogany triple dresser that my mother had bought in the 40s and I grew up with. It’s downstairs in my office because it won’t fit up the stairs, but it adds a touch of class to the place.

We were organized like this because a couple of weeks ago I was interviewed by a local reporter about purchasing pet medications from sources other than my veterinarian, which I’ve done a number of times for chronic conditions for the past decade and more. My veterinarian doesn’t keep a large pharmacy because she is mobile, but will suggest other resources and will call in the prescription when you tell her the source; she never writes a prescription on paper.

I do regularly purchase medications through her but for the chronic conditions through the years, beginning with Stanley’s methimazole (Tapazole) for hyperthyroidism in 2002 and especially for nearly five years Namir’s four daily heart medications—the same ones my mother took for the same condition, ironically—she called the prescription in to my pharmacy after I confirmed they could provide the medication and dosage she had prescribed. I got a better deal through my pharmacy than I would have online with shipping, and thought the pharmacists weren’t veterinarians they do know their medications and remembered Namir even though he’d passed in 2009. I have had hypothyroid disease since 2000 and with several cats with hyperthyroids we’d always joked about taking the right medications, and while Namir was on the diuretic furosemide (Lasix) for years my doctor gave me a prescription for it recently and the pharmacist asked, “Now, is this for you?” and remembered filling Namir Kazmarski’s prescriptions.

The reporter had wanted a photo of me with my five black cats because he wanted me with “a lot of cats”. We did have our photo taken but it wasn’t used in the article. I had one paragraph in it, but that’s okay, my friends saw it. Here’s the article.

Here they are in the order I too, the ten photos I took for this one!

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What other photos did I post on or around this date?

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Caturday Art Photo: Portrait of Bean

Bean shows his profile. Not always the silly boy.

Bean quietly contemplated the sunny landscape outside the second-story window, looking here and there, looking at me and looking at the ceiling, as I took photos of each move. I decided to try out the photo filters built in to my Smartphone as I did. I usually like to take a photo without any features and play with it in Photoshop so that it’s as flexible as can be, and while most of the filters are pretty bad (oil pastel? really? did the designer of that filter ever see an oil pastel let alone a drawing?) “Vignette” works well, which is what I’ve used on Bean. All of them can be done better in Photoshop, but the other filter I like is “Tint” which adds areas of soft red, yellow and turquoise areas to a photo. I can only use one filter at a time on this phone and I happened to take this photo with Vignette, so I manually brushed in similar colors and then changed the contrast a bit.

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How Did You Find Me?, 2014

Mewsette peeks at me through the arm of the mahogany rocker, unaware that she is clearly visible when I look at her from any other angle! No, Mewsette, I won’t tell your brothers where you are.

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The Afterparty, 2014

We play for a bit each night after dinner time, which means I take a basket of all their small toys, especially small bizzy balls and ping pong balls and also fuzzy mice and wine corks, and toss each one up the steps, some of which bounce back down, and cats run up and down the steps after them. Then I go to the top of the steps and toss each one down as I come down the steps, which makes cats run up and down the steps again. Then I stand on the landing and toss them all over the floor and toys are chased all over the room. Then we get the homemade feather toy with big durable goose and turkey feathers I picked up on the trail, and they make a lot of noise as it flies around the room and everyone has a chance to catch it. Then I pick up all the toys and sprinkle some catnip on their scratchers. Good kitties are so exhausted they can hardly even have a good bath before they drop off to sleep.

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The Afterparty, 2014

All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in using one in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of this image or a product including this image, check my Etsy shop or Fine Art America profile to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit Ordering Custom Artwork for more information on a custom greeting card, print or other item.

© 2015 | www.TheCreativeCat.net | Published by Bernadette E. Kazmarski

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Weekly schedule of features:
Sunday: Essays, Pet Loss, Poetry, The Artist’s Life
Monday: Adoptable Cats, TNR & Shelters
Tuesday: Rescue Stories
Wednesday: Commissioned Portrait or Featured Artwork
Thursday: New Merchandise
Friday: Book Review, Health and Welfare, Advocacy
Saturday: Your Backyard Wildlife Habitat, Living Green With Pets, Creating With Cats
And sometimes, I just throw my hands in the air and have fun!

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