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Friday: My First Cat Photo

My first non-human animal photograph was of a dog.  My first cat picture was of a neighborhood stray who wandered into our yard in South Tacoma on Sheridan Avenue just north of 56th Street.   We put water out for it and I think there were times when my dad fed it.  The cat was pretty scruffy and would also show up with various wounds from time to time.  The cat was around for only a brief time.

I am not sure what appealed to me about the cat, but there is some residual fondness when I look at the photograph.  I have similar affection for our oldest Bombay, Askani. 

I date the picture to around 1954.  It was taken with a borrowed Kodak Pony 35 or possibly my original Praktiflex FX.  If it was a slide, it was probably on Anscochrome.

I thought that the print I had was from a slide, but I can’t find it.  This image is recovered from a Kodacolor print that has experienced considerable deterioration.   Using an H-P Scanjet, I scanned the print into a full-color 600spi TIFF file with cropping (to 2” by 3”) and preservation of all the range I could find.  The final corrections were made with Nikon Capture NX 2 where I could work on brightness, contrast, range, and correction to the neutral points in the image.  I should do this with other images where I only have prints before their color deteriorates further.

Labels: cats, Golden Geek, photography

 
Comments:

 
Wow, 56th and Sheridan. I rented a house at 5420 S. Prospect in 1980 for a while, and used to jog across I-5 on 56th to that neighborhood. Small world again.

# posted by  Doug: 23 January, 2009 15:18

 

 
A lovely picture and great memory. I have a stack of old negatives taken by my mother, some on 120 film from a LONG time ago. It's great to restore them and put them on the net where they can live for as long as the electricity is still on on planet earth.

# posted by  Dan: 23 January, 2009 22:54

 

 
Dennis, I have just read some of the Geek history and think it would be fun to compare notes. As your "baby" sister, I used to follow you around and my memories have more to do with the envirnonment that the equipment. We were all in some way involved in your hobbies from trains to photography and even this cat. The torn ear is on the not in the photo side as he was quite the battle scared feline. Never allowed in the house, Mom is the one who gave him a hand-out meal every once in awhile when he would cry at the door. I am amazed you have the photo. Your sister , Carol

# posted by  Carol H: 24 January, 2009 20:59

 

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