Monday, February 23, 2015

Lil' Ms Sunshine

This is Rosie, I thought it only fair that she also got a blog entry, since Freya got one recently, and it's not hard to ramble about cats when you're a crazy cat lady (try and stop me!), so, here goes.

Rosie is the queen of our house. She expects to be treated like royalty, and she'll tell you if there's something she wants - like when she wants some fine dining. None of our cat quite have the power of persuasion she has, I simply cannot resist her when she runs, round and round in small circles around my legs, purring and miaoing in her special way.

You see, she has a very unusual way of "speaking" - it's more like a nasal "meeee meeee meeee" and let me tell you, it's adorable! If you ever try to imitate it, she'll respond very strongly to you - whenever Mr or I do it, she comes running, all happy and purring.
She's very special that way.

Rosie is also a bit of a scaredy cat. She's afraid of a multitude of strange things, ranging from Mr's black coat to anything that makes rustling sounds. When we first moved to our house, she moved into one room at a time, gradually getting used to the new smells and sounds.

Her favorite toys are hair bands, and they are especially interesting when they can be found on her mistress' head. It has come to the point when I cannot have them anyplace where she's able to reach them, because, with her nose, which will put the even best bloodhound to shame, she'll go sniff sniff sniff, and find them faster than I can say mischief.

I love my little queen, long may she reign, and may her days be filled with treats and scrunchies!

/MrsHjort

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

An Unexpected Victory, and Me and Worth

Sometimes things can really surprise you, like the last contest I entered at W1K. I entered three pictures, just for fun. You see, I haven't entered in a while and the theme - "Bugs" - actually fit something in my beloved shoe box! So, I happily entered, without a though of weather I would win or not - sometimes it's fun to play just for the thrill itself. Because believe me, no matter if you are actually close to the top or not, checking that leader board is really addictive!

I did not feel this relaxed and comfortable about my photography in the beginning, no, not at all! Back in 2012, as I joined W1K, it was so much more personal. I imagine it's like that for many of us when we're rookies. The step, to actually participating from just lurking is really quite a large one. You see, I've actually been lurking at W1K for many many years, on and off. A friend of mine told me of the site, and the first time I checked it out I was completely awestruck! The things you can find there are just... there are no words to fit the awesomeness of it, and to dare to become a part of that is a bit daunting.

I don't know what finally pushed me to competing myself. Maybe it was the university, and the fact that I really needed a creative outlet in my life back then. You see, learning about math can be quite dry at times (believe it or not haha). Or maybe it was the new camera that finally gave me the inspiration - DSLR cameras are so much more flexible than compacts. Or maybe it was a very lucky combination of both.

Anyway, competing is very much connected to the ego in the beginning. You take things very personally when someone gives you a comment that is not 100% positive. It takes a while to let those feelings of vanity go, and actually look at your own pieces with objective eyes. Worthians (people at W1K) are very good at giving you helpful comments, and once you learned to see behind the stinging surface, you'll really begin to learn, and you'll learn a lot.

My first entries, were no beauties, let me tell you! It's a long process to learn how to compose, use light, and post-process. But the fun of W1K is all the help you can find there, and all the helpful generous people. You'll find a lot of great tutorials on just about anything, and, if you want to, you can ask for help in the forum, or even get critique on specific photograph. They also have a great mentor program, that is completely free! I promise, if you keep the ego monster away, it will really jump start your journey towards becoming better. I learned so much from my mentor, and it's so much fun to get to know people from around the globe too.

Oops, sorry, I've rambled a lot now, lets get back to my original intent. So, I was very pleasantly surprised by the outcome of this last contest. The top picture actually actually made first place! But not only that, it is now my highest scoring entry ever! It got so very close to that "magical barrier"; the mean was 7.935 and I've set a goal to score an entry over 8. You see, all entries with a mean over 8 gets added to a special collection, and I would be so honored to be added to that group of select artists that have made it. But hey, I've passed a lot of my goals over the years - my first medal, my first gold medal, graduating to the advanced arena, winning a gold trophy, and finally, winning a master's gold trophy!

So, even though I've not quite made all my goals, I's nice to still have something to strive for, and I'm proud to have come this close!

Thank you for listening!

/MrsHjort

Thursday, February 12, 2015

My Furry Best Friend

This is Freya, the apple of my eye and rascal of my home. She has been my loyal companion, ever since I held her tight against my chest as we traveled home with her for the very first time.

She was very small back then, only a few months old, and the car ride home from Halmstad was very very scary to her. I'd like to see the person who can keep a terrified crying kitten inside a cage for a 2 hour drive without caving. She was in there for only a few minutes before I could not resist her anymore - I put her inside my jacket instead. That made her stop, and instead she purred all the way home, sweetheart that she is. It has been pure love ever since.

Freya has always had a special bond to me, our other two cats sort of have a thing for Mr, but Freya is all mine. She sleeps right next to my pillow every night, and sometimes, when she thinks I sleep too long, she gently pokes me with her paw, as if saying "Hey! I'm here, I want to snuggle!"

Sometimes Freya loves to fetch me a toy mouse. There's nothing cuter than when she pitter-patters proudly and miaows loudly to announce her entrance, she then drops the mouse at my feet and sits proudly, stretching her neck, as I praise her hunting skills. She does not want me to throw it for her, believe me I've tried! Nope, she want's to impress me, and show me why there are never any real mice in our house ;). How could there be, when a great huntress like her is around?

I love all Freya's little peculiarities, cats really have unique personalities and she has certainly managed to steal my heart.

/MrsHjort




Monday, February 9, 2015

Little Birdie

I know it's been a while now. I have had the misfortune of getting the flu, and let me tell you, it's been worse this year than it has been for a long long time - I've been completely out for about 6 days, and today is the first day that I've been able to function relatively normally again. So, alas, there's a lot of catching up to do, both here and at work. Luckily I have a week off though, so I might actually get caught up, if I can find the discipline that is haha. (yeah, yeah, I know, I know, I probably will, that's both my blessing, and my curse).

Having had to stay indoors for a while now, I have to confess I'm really aching for some out doors time with my camera. No amount of watching sci-fi or playing Dragon Age can make up for the thrill of shooting. Now, if only my scratchy throat will get better I might actually take a stroll. But for now this photo will have to do.

I shot this about a year ago, but I haven't known what to do with it in post-ed until now. It was very grey to start with and I just couldn't make it interesting enough - when manipulating the levels, the sky somehow always turned out too bright. Today it hit me though - why not embrace the sky's hopelessness and really overdo the highlights instead? So I turned this originally very grey photo into a high key shot instead. I hope you like it :)

/MrsHjort

My Father, a Tribute to a Kind Man

This blog post is going to be longer than usual, and even so, how can one summarize one's feelings and memories of a person within the p...