Vintage Photo: Cookie Owns the Sunpuddle, 2004
Cookie owns the sunpuddle on the landing at the top of the stairs.
I moved in here in November 1990 and realized even then that this sunny landing was a prized spot, especially this spot, right next to the wall that separated the stairway from my bedroom. The sun, magnified by shining through the old wavy glass of the tall narrow casement on the landing, shone very warm on that wall warmed, heat which reflected out onto the landing, creating a little hot spot where the sun collected.
Through the years this spot collected each of the cats in the house at one time or another, sometimes many of them at once, so it holds a lot of memories from all 36 years here, and I’ve lost count of how many cats. This film photo was taken sometime between March and May 2004, the time when the sun’s angle rose and the landing had more sun for more hours. Watching that now I’m reminded of all the cats who settled there at one time or another.
On sunny days, if Cookie wasn’t at my elbow as my guardian, a role she founded and took seriously, I could find her in this spot, just a little batch of speckles at the bottom corner where the wall and the floor met.
~~~
I began sharing “Vintage Photos” on Sundays in 2012 when I’d set up my studio and at least gotten all my film photos in one place, though not necessarily in order. But I’ve found months on end in 2014 to 2018 when I didn’t post any at all, or very scattered, as I tried to organize them at the same time as the press of business paperwork kept getting in my way.
I like to create a new Vintage Photo post by pulling up one from the previous year, always chosen from the approximate time of year of the current month, so you can scroll down and see photos from the same time period through the years. But I had to go back 12 years to find a Vintage Photo at the beginning of May for today!Â
I’m going through my film photos to create a photo bank of more than just the ones I want to use right now once I find the negative scanner that works best with my system, so you may be seeing more vintage photos more often in the future.
Vintage Photos from Previous Years
Pussy Willow, 2012
I rarely remember my dreams so when I do I take note, but they are rarely prophetic, just give me something to think about the next day. Namir appeared in my dream last night. The Five were with me as I got ready for bed, but in my dream I realized I hadn’t seen Namir since dinner, and could even picture him. In truth, I haven’t seen him since July 2009, and I’m not sure what brought him to the present in my mind except that the coming of spring, the forget-me-nots, the garden, always make me think of him. I remembered this photo, one of my favorites of him and generally, just as a photo, kind of abstract, light and dark, reflections and reality, object and shadow, kind of like a dream.
I have this photo hanging in my kitchen and though I see it every day, there are days when it fully captures my attention. I study it, and each time I see more in it.
It’s from the time when I first began to consider my photos “good”, perhaps to consider them “photographs” that I might display and sell as prints and framed items, instead of just “pictures”. This was some time in the late 90s. “Pussy Willow” was taken earlier than that but had stayed on my mind and it was one of the first that made me take another look at my other photos.
What I like most is the abstraction, the light and shadow playing on the objects and the walls, both the pussy willow and the cat turning from positive objects to negative space as the sun and shadow move across them.
I would not have taken the photo without Namir, though. I do like the pussy willow on its own and always have it somewhere around the house where I can enjoy its stark figures. When he got bored with me and walked way I took a photo of just the pussy willow, and it’s nice, but not something I’d frame and hang on the wall.
I always associated Namir with pussy willow too, something about the texture of his fur, and his white oval paws reminding me of the catkins. I turned around, there he sat, that lovely warm spring sunshine washing over the scene, it was as if it was waiting for me to photograph with the old fully manual film-based Pentax K1000.
It was also taken on a day very much like today, a sunny late afternoon in late April or early May. Below is a version of it that I desaturated in PhotoShop and I like the semi-sepia look, but it doesn’t capture that original inspiration, the warm April sunshine literally pouring in the window, coating everything it touched with gold.
You may have photos like this as well, this is partly why I explained all my reasoning.
An article that tells a little more about Namir and how he came into my life is “Who Was That Namir, Anyway?”, and about his life in my household, “Not a Bad Deal on a Pre-Owned Cat”.
You’ll find Namir mentioned in plenty of articles on The Creative Cat, and don’t forget to look at the header image, which features him in another of his contemplative moments in the sun.
Photos From the Archives and Vintage Photos
Photos pulled “From the Archives” were taken by one or another digital camera of mine between 2002 and, well, yesterday, but usually they are older than that, and I had never had the chance to feature them. Vintage Photos are from my film archives back to 1983 when I purchased my Pentax K-1000 camera. They’re a fun way to “introduce” other members of my feline family who came and went before I began blogging, and to illustrate my feline family in general from days gone by.
Gifts Featuring Cats You Know!
Originals and Prints from Portraits of Animals!
My little sunflower worships the morning sun at that same door. Read more and purchase.
Copyright
All images and text used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission, although links to your site are more than welcome and are shared. Please ask if you are interested in using and image or story in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of an image or a product including it, check my animal and nature website Portraits of Animals 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.
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Cookie was beautiful. I love pussy willows. We have several trees and give away arrangements every year.
She was so friendly and outgoing, I loved her expressions. I grew up with a pussy willow and this was from my neighbor’s on the border of our yards. It faded over the space of years and is gone now, but I miss it.