Friday, March 29, 2024
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Vintage Photos: Abstract Light and Shadow, 2005

cat on stool with apron n evening sun
Evening Patterns

Namir settles on the stool by the kitchen cabinet in the evening sun. I happened to have left an apron on the stool and any self-respecting kitty would loaf on that, but the tie on the apron happened to be a sheer batiste fabric, and instead of casting a full shadow it’s a muted shadow. And the sun is coming in at an angle through the window, with leaves just outside, casting patterned shadows and tinting some of the gold evening tones with green. All the shadows are dramatically angled. I intentionally softened my focus on Namir and turned to the shadows next to him.

Below, I focus on him, and desaturate the photo to resemble a sepia.

cat on stool with shadow
Desaturated version of another view

Namir may not have been too exotic looking with his gray tabby and white, but he certainly made an exotic model. Some of the more abstract photos I’ve taken have been of Namir doing something pretty normal for a cat, but somehow the scene looks magical, like Pussy Willow or Geometry. I had to use my old Pentax to capture the subtleties and intricacies that appeared in images of him, so even though this is 2005 and I had a digital camera and I know I photographed this with it, these are on film. If another cat had been in this scene or any of the others, I know it would have turned out completely differently.  There was something magical about him, and his tourmaline green eyes.

Below, I have captured just his exaggerated shadow, and I see some of the tourmaline creeping into his silhouette.

shadow of cat with apron and stool
Just the shadow…

I remember Namir each day, but today is the day his big heart finally let go, and Namir’s creative and loving spirit lifted away. Every day from his diagnosis was a gift. He had fought, with good-humored vengeance, his HCM and congestive heart failure for four years, and he wasn’t going one moment, not one second, before he was done here, and in fact didn’t even give the pain or discomfort that came with his illness, and the volume of medications he needed to take, a moment’s notice. He arrived with a mission, and I’m honored to have been part of it. I know it was that unique spirit that makes many of his photos unique.

I’ve been anticipating this date, and been reviewing the photos from those last few weeks in 2009, him and Cookie and me out in the garden. But this photo was taken about a month before his diagnosis in August 2005, and quite likely was taken on this very date, July 1. For years I thought I’d lost these somehow, but there they were one day as I was looking for other photos. Knowing that Namir was involved, I’m certain there was magic.

Read more about Namir in Not a Bad Deal on a Pre-owned Cat where he returned to me and Cookie in the back yard as a hummingbird, Perhaps the Storm is Finally Over, Who Was That Namir, Anyway?and see more photos and posts about in by browsing the category Namir.


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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.


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Bernadette

From health and welfare to rescue and adoption stories, advocacy and art, factual articles and fictional stories, "The Creative Cat" offers both visual and verbal education and entertainment about cats for people who love cats, pets and animals of all species.

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