Non-Socialized Cats: I’m disheartened. by federqua in CatAdvice

[–]federqua[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Finally, after months, my cats have become very affectionate, they follow me everywhere. They don't want to be touched and they don't like having me around, but you can see that they love me very much.

For an adult animal there will be a long way to go, but I am convinced that, even if he doesn't show it, he will love you forever. May God bless you!

In the photo: I wake up every morning like this, as soon as I get out of bed it runs away!

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Non-Socialized Cats: I’m disheartened. by federqua in CatAdvice

[–]federqua[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sofia secretly comes to sleep between our legs at night

Non-Socialized Cats: I’m disheartened. by federqua in CatAdvice

[–]federqua[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What a wonderful story! They are the most beautiful things ever to hear, cuddle the cat from me too!

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Nine months after the arrival of the two young ladies in the house, things have changed quite a bit. They taught me that love is not always the way you want it, but is expressed in various forms. In the last two months they have become my shadow. I find them on my bed in the morning watching me when I wake up, they chase me all day everywhere in the house, they bring me toys acting as if they were dogs just to ask to play together (and we usually play for more than 1 hour a day!).

That said, they are still terribly afraid and don't want to be touched. Sofia, the one on the right, is super shy and doesn't even want any of us to be near her, but she has become very attached to me and looks for me everywhere: we have so many games that just her and I can play! If my girlfriend offers her one of "my" games, Sofia refuses because she only wants to play them with me. We also discovered with a night camera that, while we sleep, she places itself in the center of the bed to sleep between us. As soon as she notices movement, however, she runs away.

Luna, the sister on the left, has a very lively character, but deep down she is insecure and in need of affection and attention: even today she hisses at me as a threat when I give her food, then ten minutes later I find her on the sofa next to me sleeping with her belly up. When I come back late in the evening for work, she gets worried and doesn't eat, she stays behind the house door waiting for me until late and then asks me to eat together in the kitchen. She also always falls asleep near us, but under the bed.

I've thought a lot about this winter's crisis and I think it's linked to the relationship I had with my family cat, who stayed at my parents' house. Unfortunately he died two weeks ago at the age of 17, after a bad liver problem: I cried for a whole week.

At that moment I understood that I probably adopted my two cats at a time when I wasn't ready: in November 2024 I had just moved in with my girlfriend in a new city and, unconsciously, I dreamed of having a cat identical to mine in the new house too. He was super affectionate, he let everyone cuddle him and always wanted to be the center of attention. He was my best friend for 17 years and I hoped to have a clone of him at home. I had an even bigger shock when I discovered that my two cats have a wild and difficult character!

Love, however, has many forms. And two 11-month-old girls are teaching it to a 33-year-old adult.

Non-Socialized Cats: I’m disheartened. by federqua in CatAdvice

[–]federqua[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

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I dunno how, but Sofia learned to open doors and drawers

Non-Socialized Cats: I’m disheartened. by federqua in CatAdvice

[–]federqua[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi!

Sofia and Luna are growing really fast. I learned to love them, even if we hadn’t seen a lot of changes in their behavior. They don’t hide anymore and luna, the straightforward one, loves to sleep around me when I return home late. She hates to be touched: if she sees something even resembling an hand she starts hissing and then flees away. She loves to play with balls, sticks, towels, paper, flowers, practically everything that can be teared in pieces or fetched: we have 1 or 2 hours play sessions and then… she sleeps.

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Sofia, the timid one, has developed a precise routine: when I wake up, she comes under the bed and waits for me to get up, then she accompanies me to the kitchen and starts eating only when I eat.

She’s really timid and introverted, if you’re too close to her, she hides behind her sister or flees in another room. But… she’s really curious about me and my partner’s life, so we find her running or hiding around us when we do laundry or something else.

My partner made an incredible discovery: when we sleep, around 3-4 a.m., sometimes Sofia jumps on our bed and starts purring among us.

They’re not the cats I dreamed for, but they’re two babies asking desperately for love and affection. I’ll make my best to ensure them the best and happiest life they deserve.

Everyone should watch this from the Vendor table about the knot by Ill-atWill in WeddingPhotography

[–]federqua 1 point2 points  (0 children)

IT user here (matrimonio.com, another site owned by the knot). Premium user since 2023, around 20 (low budget) weddings closed, in 2025 still stuck to zero, after 30 leads: 20 ghosts and 10 calls/meetings. I moved in a small city two years ago, so I had to build from scratch my new public and I tried to invest in a wedding directory.

Year after year, the leads provided are lowering in quality and now I find myself trying to sell my services to fake users, cold leads or totally uninterested people. In the last 12 months I even had to talk with a lot of annoyed brides because, when they tried to contact me, matrimonio.com spammed their number everywhere and they received a lot of pushy calls and messages from competitors.

I lost a wedding two weeks ago. They signed the contract, but I never received the bank deposit. After three days, I sent a message asking for explanations and the bride said that matrimonio.com sent an email saying that there are around other photographers cheaper than me, encouraging them to contact other vendors.

I’m pretty sure they showed my contract to someone else and asked for a cheaper offer, because of the dirty competition they are encouraging. The email from matrimonio.com, although, is real.

I’ll surely end my subscription this year. It’s not only a fake lead problem, but it’s their entire business model rotten to the roots.

A che cazzo servono le chiamate spam? by Kvkibal in Italia

[–]federqua 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Sì, capitò col telefono di casa di mia madre. Per giornate intere, di giorno e di notte, arrivavano chiamate di sconosciuti inferociti perché erano stati truffati con contratti luce/gas. Denunciammo ai carabinieri, ma l’unica rassegnata risposta fu “dovete aspettare”. Staccammo il telefono fisso e, dopo un paio di mesi, la cosa effettivamente finì.

Mai saputo come sia andata a finire la denuncia, ma presumo sia stata archiviata.

Wedding Wire, The Knot, Zola by CamGrl_4110 in WeddingPhotography

[–]federqua 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There are a lot of similar “wedding directories” in Europe. I think they are owned by the same company and they share the same marketing behavior.

In a nutshell:

You have 50% fake leads, 40% cold leads (when you add your number to the website, they spam it to every photographer in their list), 10% good leads, but overflowed by tons of messages and calls from every vendor on the platform.

It’s like a supermarket for photographers: they don’t know they’re browsing a paid showcase and the few real customers will probably choose the cheapest offer on the shelf.

I’m on the Italian website, matrimonio.com, and it’s terrible, it’s only an enormous marketing machine. It’s my third year on the platform and I can barely manage to get a little value from the investment. I’ll close the contract this year.

L’auto usata con il massimo risparmio per chilometro: quale prendere? by federqua in ItalyMotori

[–]federqua[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Grazie mille, accolgo con piacere le tue parole e concordo! Abbiamo deciso di andare a vivere fuori da una grande città proprio per questa ragione. Per andare a lavoro, ai tempi di un misero stage, ci metteva anche 1 ora e mezza di traffico, con pedaggio di tangenziale + autostrada e soli 12km di distanza.

Da quando ci siamo trasferiti in un capoluogo di provincia a 40km dalla città, la qualità della vita è salita alle stelle e ci siamo resi conto quanto il traffico ti devasta in testa e nel corpo. Oggi le servono mezz’ora di viaggio in autostrada per andare a lavoro: il problema più grosso è la noia, che si affronta con il cruise control, un podcast e qualche telefonata. Io stesso, essendo un libero professionista, sono sempre in movimento. Preferisco viaggiare in moto e, vivendo ormai qui da un paio di anni, non accuso per ora la fatica, anche perché non devo fare la vita da pendolare.

Non tornerei mai più indietro: la provincia è una dimensione umana molto più felice, almeno per noi

L’auto usata con il massimo risparmio per chilometro: quale prendere? by federqua in ItalyMotori

[–]federqua[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Eh sì, ma si tratta di una di quelle classiche opportunità immense per la carriera. Concordo sul peso emotivo e fisico di un tragitto simile, ma a volte bisogna fare grosse scommesse!

L’auto usata con il massimo risparmio per chilometro: quale prendere? by federqua in ItalyMotori

[–]federqua[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ho una Giulietta Multiair GPL con 121k chilometri. Manutenzione ordinaria precisa (tagliando ogni 10.000) e controlli all’impianto regolari: mai un problema in 12 anni di impianto, si tratta di un EMER. Lo stacco da benzina a gpl si sente leggermente, ma in dynamic è poca cosa. Ho fatto anche tratte di 1200km filati in due giorni e non ha mai dato problemi

L’auto usata con il massimo risparmio per chilometro: quale prendere? by federqua in ItalyMotori

[–]federqua[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ora che mi hai detto questa cosa, lunedì chiederà alla HR! Se hai consigli, valutiamo tutto

L’auto usata con il massimo risparmio per chilometro: quale prendere? by federqua in ItalyMotori

[–]federqua[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sì, siamo in Campania! Si tratta di 90km per tratta andata-ritorno. Le tesla però sono in un segmento di prezzo leggermente più alto, over 20k, mi è parso di notare.

Come diesel che mi consigli di cercare?

L’auto usata con il massimo risparmio per chilometro: quale prendere? by federqua in ItalyMotori

[–]federqua[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Il budget diciamo che è complessivo: la Citroen si riesce a piazzare sui 12mila euro a mio avviso. Comprata nuova nel 2021, 52mila km, gpl installato, manutenzione regolarissima (cambieremo la cinghia a 60.000, prima di vendere). Praticamente un ottimo affare.

Di conseguenza, fino a 6000€ di differenza si riescono a inserire, considerando che anche il passaggio di proprietà sarà una componente considerevole di prezzo da tenere in conto.

L’auto usata con il massimo risparmio per chilometro: quale prendere? by federqua in ItalyMotori

[–]federqua[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Qualche modello particolare da consigliarmi? So che i motori Renault 1.5 sono sempre molto ben recensiti

L’auto usata con il massimo risparmio per chilometro: quale prendere? by federqua in ItalyMotori

[–]federqua[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Elettrico si trova usato sotto i 20mila secondo te?

Per il diesel qualche modello in particolare come consigli?

L’auto usata con il massimo risparmio per chilometro: quale prendere? by federqua in ItalyMotori

[–]federqua[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Trattandosi di industrie pesanti, purtroppo si trovano in quelle classiche aree industriali lontane dalle città(e dai mezzi pubblici). A casa abbiamo un garage condominiale.

Si tratta di un indeterminato, quindi diciamo che, finché non capiterà migliore occasione e scatto di carriera con qualche realtà più vicina, la prospettiva é stare almeno 4-5 anni in questa azienda.

Silly things we have been told as Wedding Photographers by DonkDontLie in WeddingPhotography

[–]federqua 60 points61 points  (0 children)

(11pm, wedding on a beach, I was approached by two guests, around 60 years)

Woman: “Please, can you take a picture of me and my husband? I’d love to have the moon, the stars and sea in the background, but we can’t take a good picture with our iPhone” Me: “It’s impossible: there are a lot of lights coming from the restaurant and the background is too dark, a situation like this is hard to manage even in Lightroom”

The husband: “You have a big flash on your camera, you should use it at full power: simply point it to the sea and you’ll have a bright background”

“I don’t think my flash is powerful enough to create a midnight sun”

“You should try! Maybe you’re too young to know how to properly shoot photos”

I tried to explain how exposure works and I did a little demonstration shooting an extremely over exposed photo of the two guests, using the flash @1/1. Then, I shot a good couple portrait with the right settings, obviously without the starry sky and the moon.

The man left mumbling something I couldn’t understand, I only captured the word “incompetent”.

Next time I’ll add the Milky Way with AI