going mobile
by raish

Comment by Bear_Music:
That kitchen's going places. Got any shots of the finished product?

Doll
by raish

Comment by tnun:
This would have been more to my taste if you had ironed her veil. It is too distracting. Sorry, IMO.

a parlement of cattes
by raish

Comment by tnun:
better than elephants I think

- and winter sunlight -
by raish

Comment by tnun:
I was one of your sevens. Meant to get back. This is one of those moments when nobody is looking, a certain slant of light, an absence of human activity, but not of its evidence, inhabited but not manipulated. the fuzzy warm but sublimely indifferent cat soul.

- and winter sunlight -
by raish

Comment by Bear_Music:
My kinda house, Peter. Love the tangle on top of the light globe. The lurking espresso pot. The casual deshabille of the whole scene, and, yes, the LIGHT!

- and winter sunlight -
by raish

Comment by Melethia:
Warm, inviting, comfortable, and just plain delightful to take in. I can sit here and visit for ages, if you don't mind.

- and winter sunlight -
by raish

Comment by Ja-9:
not sure what I think about cats on the counter...hmmm (I'll get over it...lol) they do look happy

- and winter sunlight -
by raish

Comment by ubique:
This is my top choice for the Free Study, which surprises me in that it's not at all my usual tipple.

It's gloriously understated in so many ways. It is very difficult to take a memorable photograph that gets its power from no particular thing in terms of a subject, concept or photographic technique, and yet you have done it. It's the difference between great classical music and Guns 'n Roses' "Welcome to the Jungle" ΓΆ€“ the former is about the complex whole being eased incrementally into your soul, while the latter is about a single idea being pounded repeatedly into your head. Your beautiful photograph takes the Mozart option.

It's just occurred to me that I haven't said exactly why I like your photograph so much, only that I do like it. Here's why:

Susan Sontag observed that in the early days of photography, photographs were expected to be idealized images, and that that remains the aim of most amateur photographers, for whom a beautiful photograph is a photograph of something beautiful, like a woman or a sunset.

She wrote that over 30 years ago, before the digital age. It remains true, but now I'd add to it the further amateur aim of producing startling, technology-enabled, 'wow'-type images. Incredible macros, astonishing stop-action, gravity-defying digital gimmickry, often exploiting the heretofore undreamed of capacity to produce and process hundreds of 'takes' looking for that one crowd pleasing fluke shot where the water drop takes the form of Elvis's profile, or whatever. These images have in common a reliance on a single, simple idea expressed in unequivocal terms. Everything that's not the idea is a 'distraction', even unto having no background at all, no secondary elements, no compositional originality, and certainly no requirement for more that a moment's thought by the viewer. Images designed to fit within the attention span and aesthetic horizons of a digital-age audience.

Which brings me to your photograph. It's probably not a great photograph (I'm not sure that I'd know that) but it is very, very good, and certainly transcends the limited and banal amateur ideals by a nice margin.

So what I am saying is that I appreciate your photograph not only for what it is, but for what it is not. It's a very fine example of both. Thank you.

- and winter sunlight -
by raish

Comment by grahamgator:
I keep coming back to this one. It is so intimate and the lighting is wonderful. Just a fleeting moment in time. (voted earlier)

- and winter sunlight -
by raish

Comment by posthumous:
I feel terribly biased by this photograph, so I won't vote on it. But it is a wonderful portrait of cat-beings and also a portrait of a home.