Black Cat on a Rainy Day

Vintage toned Black cat looking out the window at the rain and staring at the rain drops running down the glass.  View from the outside looking in.

This image is available for licensing / royalty free stock.  Learn more

Click on the cat to purchase a print.

Starling © Copyright Bob Orsillo

Starlings are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Sturnidae. The name “Sturnidae” comes from the Latin word for starling, sturnus. Starlings occur naturally in the Old World, from Europe, Asia and Africa, to northern Australia and the islands of the tropical Pacific. Several European and Asian species have been introduced to these areas as well as North America, Hawaii and New Zealand, where they generally compete for habitat with native birds and are considered to be invasive species. The starling species familiar to most people in Europe and North America is the European Starling, and throughout much of Asia and the Pacific the Common Myna is indeed common.

Starlings have strong feet, their flight is strong and direct, and they are very gregarious. Their preferred habitat is fairly open country, and they eat insects and fruit. Several species live around human habitation, and are effectively omnivores. Many species search for food by opening the bill after probing it into dense vegetation; this behavior is called “open-bill probing” or is referred to by the German word “zirkeln”

Airplane © Bob Orsillo

Vintage Airplane  Copyright © Bob Orsillo.

Here the client ( a book publisher) needed a wrap around cover picture and promotional photographs for a historical book on vintage airplanes.  Two days of shooting produced all the needed color and black and white art for the project. The shot selected for the cover, was photographed from an open biplane flying alongside the subject plane.

Camera: Canon 7D @ Canon 60mm f2.8 / If you would like a print, click on the photograph.

Candy! Just 25 Cents © Bob Orsillo

A look inside the old glass candy dispenser.  Copyright ©Bob Orsillo

Candy, specifically sugar candy, is a confection made from a concentrated solution of sugar in water, to which flavorings and colorants are added. Candies come in numerous colors and varieties and have a long history in popular culture.

Sweat Basil © Bob Orsillo

Camera: Olympus E3 @ 12-60 Zuiko f2.8

There are many varieties of basil. That which is used in Italian food is typically called sweet basil, as opposed to Thai basil, lemon basil and holy basil, which are used in Asia. While most common varieties of basil are treated as annuals, some are perennial in warm, tropical climates, including African Blue and Holy Thai basil.

Basil is originally native to Iran, India and other tropical regions of Asia, having been cultivated there for more than 5,000 years

Mother and Child © Bob Orsillo

A young mother carries her child on her back as she makes her way down the road.  Photograph © Bob Orsillo.  Camera: Olympus E3 @ 50-200 f2.8 Zuiko lens.

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The Man in the hat © Bob Orsillo

The Man in the hat. Black and white portrait Copyright © Bob Orsillo.

Equipment: Olympus E3 @ Olympus Zuiko 12-60 iSO 100

A hat consists of four main parts:

Crown, The portion of a hat covering the top of the head
open crown, center crease, (modified) cattleman (-crown), tapered crown, un-tapered crown, teardrop crown, telescope crown, off-kilter telescope, pecan top (porkpie), flat crown/straight crown (e.g. like biberhut), etc.
Peak (British English), visor (American English), or bill, a stiff projection at the front, to shade or shield the eyes from sun and rain
Brim, an optional projection of stiff material from the bottom of the hat’s crown horizontally all around the circumference of the hat
wide brim, dimension brim (dimensional brim), curled brim, rolled sides, etc.
Puggaree (British) or sweatband or hatband (American), a ribbon or band that runs around the bottom of the torso of the hat. The sweatband may be adjustable with a cord at the top and is on the inside of the hat touching the skin while the hatband and puggaree are around the outside. The band worn with various military hats, such as the Australian slouch hat and the pith helmet, is referred to as a puggaree.

Winter Train © Bob Orsillo

Winter in Maine. A freight train crosses over the waterfalls and Androscoggin River traveling from Auburn into Lewiston, Maine. Photograph © Bob Orsillo.

Camera: Olympus E3 @ 12-60m f2.8 Zuiko lens

The Androscoggin River is a river in the US states of Maine and New Hampshire, in northern New England. It is 178 miles (287 km) long and joins the Kennebec River at Merrymeeting Bay in Maine before its water empties into the Gulf of Maine on the Atlantic Ocean. Its drainage basin is 3,530 square miles (9,100 km2) in area.

The Androscoggin begins in Errol, New Hampshire, where the Magalloway River joins the outlet of Umbagog Lake. The river flows generally south but with numerous bends past the towns of Errol and Milan and the city of Berlin before turning east at the town of Gorham, New Hampshire to cut across the northern end of the White Mountains and enter Maine. Continuing east, the river passes the towns of Bethel, Rumford, and Dixfield before turning south at the town of Livermore Falls and leaving the mountains behind. The river passes through the twin cities of Lewiston and Auburn, turns southeast, passes the community of Lisbon Falls and reaches tidewater just below the final falls in the town of Brunswick. Merrymeeting Bay is a 10-mile (16 km) long freshwater estuary where the Androscoggin meets the Kennebec River nearly 20 miles (32 km) inland from the Atlantic Ocean.

Wall Socket Noir © Bob Orsillo

A simple  electrical wall socket takes on a air of mystery as the city night lights spill into a dark room.  Camera:Olympus E3 @ 50mm f2 lens.

Wall sockets (sometimes also known as power points, power sockets, electric receptacles, or electrical outlets) are female electrical connectors that have slots or holes which accept and deliver current to the prongs of inserted plugs. To reduce the risk of injury or death by electric shock, some plug and socket systems incorporate various safety features. Sockets are designed to accept only matching plugs and reject all others.

Unemployed Factory Worker © Bob Orsillo

Unemployed Factory Worker a photograph by Bob Orsillo.
Camera: Olympus E 3 12-60 f2.8 Olympus Zuiko lens

Social commentary on the loss of jobs and rising long term unemployment

"Man of the streets" Copyright © Bob Orsillo

Man of the streets. Black and White portrait on a cold winters day. Photographer with Olympus E3 and Zuiko 12 – 60 f2.8 lens. Iso 100. Photograph © Bob Orsillo.  Prints available / click on the image

Thumbscrew Compass ©Copyright Bob Orsillo

Vintage brass Thumbscrew Compass and pencil. Studio photograph by Bob Orsillo. Camera: Olympus E 3 with Zuiko 50mm f2  @ f22. Photograph created for a client who manufacturers drafting equipment.  Prints are available / click on image.

Just what is a thumbscrew compass?
A compass or pair of compasses is a technical drawing instrument that can be used for inscribing circles or arcs. As dividers, they can also be used as a tool to measure distances, in particular on maps. Compasses can be used for mathematics, drafting, navigation, and other purposes.

Compasses are usually made of metal, and consist of two parts connected by a hinge which can be adjusted. Typically one part has a spike at its end, and the other part a pencil, or sometimes a pen. Circles can be made by fastening one leg of the compasses into the paper with the spike, putting the pencil on the paper, and moving the pencil around while keeping the hinge on the same angle. The radius of the circle can be adjusted by changing the angle of the hinge.

Distances can be measured on a map using compasses with two spikes, also called a dividing compass. The hinge is set in such a way that the distance between the spikes on the map represents a certain distance in reality, and by measuring how many times the compasses fit between two points on the map the distance between those points can be calculated.

Compass and straightedge construction is used to illustrate principles of plane geometry. Although a real pair of compasses is used to draft visible illustrations, the ideal compass used in proofs is an abstract creator of perfect circles. The most rigorous definition of this abstract tool is the “collapsing compass”; having drawn a circle from a given point with a given radius, it disappears; it cannot simply be moved to another point and used to draw another circle of equal radius (unlike a real pair of compasses). Euclid showed in his second proposition (Book I of the Elements) that such a collapsing compass could be used to transfer a distance, proving that a collapsing compass could do anything a real compass can do.

Pocket Watch © Bob Orsillo

Black and white photograph of the inner workings of pocket watch. This black and white photograph was made through the glass cover of the watch using the Olympus E3 and Zuiko 50mm f2 Macro lens mounted on a Benbo tripod. Exposure 3 seconds @ f11.