March 31, 2005
Barishnikat: The Graceful, Dancing Feline
Barishnikat, named for his dancing abilities as a kitten, is a 13 year-old orange tabby with severe health problems including asthma and a heart defect. He defied the odds and has lived well beyond his expected years. he has been a wonderful companion and excellent photographic subject over the years.
Posted by Lana at 2:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
The Elder Statesman
The elder statesman. . . . a 17 year-old tabby named Lacy (we thought he was a girl when he was a kitten, hence the name). There is something regal about an aging cat. They become more mello, yet project a sense of self-confidence that I find rather striking.
On of his more mellow moments. . . .
Posted by Lana at 2:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 30, 2005
Critter Pics
Every photographer starts out taking endless pictures of *something* -- and it is, often times, the kids or pets that suffer the most in the early years. These photos are a few years old.... but they were good practice for me and helped sharpen my composition. I found that flowers made idea subjects when i didn't have to worry about "decisive moment" photography -- unless it was windy outside, I didn't have to worry much about the movement of my subject. That helped me learn how to gradually work with slower shutter speeds.
Posted by Lana at 5:02 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Washington Boulevard Bridge
Finally, I saw a press release indicating that this bridge is going to be replaced. It rated as one of the worst in the State of Virginia. . . . Apparently not everything is going as planned though. Initially the new plans called for a bike path and that has been nixed. I should add that getting involved with your local civic association gives you an opportunity to stay up on what changes are transpiring in your community and that can give you some good ideas on what to photograph before it gets torn down or replaced. . . .
Posted by Lana at 10:19 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Dream House
Well this former dream house is really just a dream now. It was our dream house -- until the county bought it and began to tear it down to make way for a new community center. It was quaint and just the right size and the porch, oh the porch was fabulous..... A wonderful yard with lots of trees (ok, well a lot for Arlington)....
The interesting thing about this house is the way in which they are demolishing it. Piece by piece and each bit that can be re-used will be re-used. Any toxic materials will be disposed of properly. Environmentally friendly contractors are all that Arlington County will hire. Pretty cool, eh? Well, I guess we'll be staying with our critters in our lovely condo with a nice deck and back yard for a while longer .....
Posted by Lana at 10:06 AM | Comments (0)
Blog Hosting Comparisons
I've been checking out a variety of sites to hopefully find the final home for my photoblog. I've tried four venues that I'll briefly list here with some of the pro's and con's that I discovered:
Expressions -- good site, but many limits on the user controls and site design. I currently have a blog there that I will be moving shortly. The average user with little experience or time to fuss with html and CSS might find it to be a terrific service. Uploading one image at a time gets old after about the third one.... [update: it appears as though they have corrected this issue with a recent software upgrade that was just released]. It is a nice artists community and the price is excellent for the service that you get.
Moveble Type installed on own hosting: What a headache for the uninitiated. I'm a working photog who doesn't have a lot of time to fuss with installing software and learning code. I liked having it on my own hosting service, though. needs a gallery built into the program, but then again if six apart did that, they would probably have fewer TypePad sales. . . . there are, fortunately, hosting services that have the software preinstalled and charge a small monthly fee for usage (such as livingdot.com) and that saves a lot of time and trouble. MT is a powerful blogware, but it is a little expensive and not much different than other blogware that you can use for free.
WordPress: excellent blogware but a little difficult if you want to run a photoblog, imho.... needs a gallery built into the program. . . . some of the same limitations as MT, but the interface is as every bit as good, if not better in some ways. Lots of free templates out there for people to chose from as well.
Typepad: Somewhat complicated, but easier than the MT installed on the server route and far better, IMHO, than Expressions. Many more options for file uploads, etc. Larger learning curve required than for Expressions, but it just take some time.... Can upload multiple images at a time, which is a huge plus for a busy photographer. Post script: Image loading time seems slow the past few days. I hope this won't be an ongoing problem..... The major problem that I saw with the service was a poor integration with the gallery and blog software. There needed to be more choices for how you wanted images to appear in your main blog.
Posted by Lana at 9:33 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 29, 2005
"Jazz" The Hearing Dog
Here's a photo of my new dog. He was my mother's dog until she passed away this past year. He is a two-year old Papillion (butterfly ear) and he is just as smart as a whip. He's been trained to aid people with certain disabilities. Specifically, people with hearing impairments, however he can easily retreive help for people with a host of medical conditions when he is given a cue or when he observes an obvious problem (such as fainting). When he is in service to a person iwth a hearing impairment, he can notify the person to unusual sounds, alert when the phone/TTY rings, doorbell, or if there is a crying child in the house. His ability to learn tasks related to "alerts" seems limitless, and he often just picks things up on his own based on his human's response to a given sound. As with all trained service animals, he behaves in public places, goes to the bathroom on command (o.k, well not always), and rides well on public tranportation. One of the things that I have noticed while taking him in public is that people do not believe that a service/assistance dog can come in such a small package. People usually associate service animals with larger dogs that are used for mobility, however small breeds make excellent medical alert and hearing dogs. Jazz gets to play a lot -- he doesn't always have to be "on duty". . . .
Posted by Lana at 6:18 PM | Comments (0)
A peaceful evening on Capitol Hill
Second Street on Capitol Hill behind the Supreme Court on a Spring evening. This photo seems appropriate given the security changes that have ocurred since 9/11. . . .