365 Days of Buhi-Nyan

Dasein likes to sleep all wrapped up in sheets.

There's a website called 365 Project; it's a photography site where people try to post a photo a day. The goal is to have pictures for every day of the year. I found out about this site recently, and I opened an account to keep photographic records of my daily life with my animal kids. 

It also works a bit like social network site, so you can look at other people's pictures, and follow particular photographers, and comment on their works. There are many really stunning and beautiful photographs. I get the feeling that the majority of the people there are pretty serious photographers unlike me, who's a pretty lousy photographer. My page at 365 Project is rather embarrassing, really, in comparison to people who really knows what they're doing with a camera.

I would like to learn more about photography, and get better, since almost all my pictures of my kids disappoint me. I wish I can capture their individuality, quirkiness, and all the funny, entertaining, and wonderful  moments, but most of the time my pictures are out of focus or blurry, and they just don't do justice to their subjects. 

These are some of the problems:

1) Most of the pictures are taken indoor, and the lighting is inadequate, yet using the flash does not provide a solution. 

2) My subjects (the furry-blurries) wouldn't sit still. And they are very fast when they move, unlike me, who is pretty slow. 

3) My hands are not that steady. 

4) The furry-blurries are low on the ground most of the time, and I would need to grovel on the floor to get to their sight line. 

A better camera with higher shutter speed may solve some of these problems, but with my limited photographic abilities, I'm not sure whether it's going to be worth the investment. It's a dilemma.

Tempo & Shingen, this morning (Jan. 27, 2007)

Portrait: Dasein (1)

Dasein has very expressive ears. 

This is continuation from yesterday.

So let me write about Dasein. I met her first at a pet shop in Brooklyn. Actually, I was interested in black pugs, and the search online told me that there was one available at a pet shop in Bayridge. I had no intention of buying a puppy, but it was raining that day, and I felt restless, so I made the trip to a part of Brooklyn that I've never been to before to see the puppy. No harm in seeing.... so I thought... hahaha.

Of course I should have known better. Back then I only had a vague knowledge of puppy mills, and their evil, and all the dirty secrets about the pet trade, but that is no excuse since I think of myself as a researcher, and I normally would have done much more research before I would make an important decision like bringing a new puppy into my life.

Well long story short -- Dasein was an impulse buy. I went to the store just to look at a black pug boy, but ended up with a boston terrier -- a breed that until that day, I've never even heard of.

A picture of Dasein couple of days after she first came home.

Dasein was already about 4 month old when I first met her. Usually pet store puppies get separated from their mothers as early as 8 weeks old, so now I surmise that she was either at the store or somewhere along the pet trade pipeline for couple of months. And now I also know that that's not a very good place for a puppy to be for so long. I will never know to what extent her birth circumstance and early life experiences have negatively impacted her development, but I am sure that it must have had a profound impact.

To be continued...

Second Post -- oh, uncertainty, oh, so soon...

Picture of Dasein , Wed. Morning, Jan. 25, 2012.

Since I've started this blog just this week, I think I should write something everyday, at least for a little while. But just on this second post, I'm already feeling discouraged. (Yes, you can assume, I am easily discouraged.)

I want to write a series of portraits of my companions, starting with Dasein. I can probably go on and on, about this girl. But today, I'm afraid I don't have enough time, other than to say that:

She's a Boston Terrier. And she's weird. 

To be continued...

About This Blog

Socrates, Shanti, and Dasein, aka badass trio, on Jan. 1, 2012.

This is my first blog, (well, the first blog in English), and I don't quite know what I'm doing. It would be mostly about my life with my cats & dogs. "Buhi" in the title refers to the Japanese nickname for flat-faced dogs, especially French Bulldogs. Actually its a onomatapoeia word based on the snorting, piggy noise that these dogs make. The "Nyan" part is also an onomatopoeia, "nyan" is the Japanese equivalent of "meow."

I don't really expect anyone to read this -- although  the reader is always posited. Of course it would be nice if the blog gets me rich and famous.. Buwahahahaha. But the odds, I believe is negligible. Any way, I just wanted somewhere to keep a record of my animal kids, and also a place to jot down some of my musings, hopefully amusing, but most likely not.