The Eyes of Ruby

"Even though I'm resting I'm watching you..."
Olympus E-1 with Sigma 30mm 1:1.4
1/30s, f/1.6, ISO 100

One of the consequences of travel for long periods is that the animals get anxious that I'm not around. When I return, the younger ones like Ruby stick to me like velcro for a few days until their confidence that I'm home finally returns. So Ruby follows me around the house and out the door into the yard and back in again. Wherever I stop, she takes up a position on the floor or part of the furniture and stays there watching until I move again.

Photograph was taken with the Sigma 30mm opened to f/1.6. This is as close to wide open as I feel comfortable using. I have tried wide open with this lens at f/1.4, but I have never been satisfied with the results. Nothing appears to be in sharp enough focus wide open. When I say sharp enough, I'm not talking resolution so much as acutance. There's enough around Ruby's eyes to give a decent spot for the observer's eyes to easily rest on.

This is probably the last photo I'll take with this E-1. I'm shipping it up to my younger daughter for her to use in her final semester as an undergraduate art student. I'm going to miss the E-1. I'm in the process of looking for a replacement, in the same condition I got this one. But it's being donated to a good cause; a young kid with a budding talent that's miles ahead of her old man's. Maybe this time she'll do better than me, and not give up like I did when I was her age. She's a good kid; both my girls are good kids.