How I work with cats.
How I manage to get feline portraits.
One of the first things you should know about me is that I grew up in a household that was unofficially the local shelter....meaning that my parents took in every single waif and stray going…..those that were starving, malnourished, abandoned, sick and even dying. They received full vet care and a loving home until they were ready to be adopted out to a new and loving family. I basically grew up with every type of cat and personality imaginable from the big bully Tom cats who had a thing or two to prove, to the shy wall flowers hiding in the background. I have done courses in animal behaviour and psychology and believe that with literally 5 decades on this earth as a cat person, has meant I can read and respond pretty well to cats. I’ve also done some cat rescue and fostering myself and pretty much always have a multi-cat household, where I do a lot of work to make sure everyone get’s along swimmingly.
That said, from the point of view of photographing your beloved feline and how I go about capturing photos you will treasure for many many years to come…here are some of the ways I work:
I keep a very calm studio environment. I try to keep thing tidy and with little in terms of surprises for the cats…what they see is what they get.
I play some very calm music in the background, but at a low level to keep a chilled out environment.
This is really important….I will never chase your cat for cuddles and interaction….as much as I’d love the above….I’m there first and foremost to calm then down and win their trust, so that I can then do my job.
I always allow extra time for your cats when they arrive in the studio to just explore, without humans going after them or asking anything from them. They’re free to explore and make sure they feel safe.
I will always work on persuasion with your cat….so before the photo shoot, I will chat with you to find out what drives your cat. Are they mostly food motivated and if so, what are their favourite treats? I’ll ask you to bring some high value treats, but I always have some in the studio too.
I work with a large variety of toys of all shapes and types to get your cat’s interest and direct them to where I want to photograph them.
I will never ever force your cat into a position, but will always use persuasion and work with your animals personality and at their pace.
Lastly, I have very good and well adapted equipment, that I can use at super fast speeds to capture your kitty’s actions and antics before they know what’s happening. I deliberately chose my camera to have a very high shutter repeat rate….my lenses are “fast” lenses, meaning they focus incredibly quickly and take in the most light, so no time wasted waiting to focus. Finally, I have top of the range studio lights that are capable of high speed sync, meaning there’s no excuse to turn things around quickly.
I look forward to meeting you and your cat in the studio, and as a certain psychologist said:
“Time spent with cats is never wasted.” – Sigmund Freud.
In the photos shown below as examples, I was directing this white snow Bengal kitten’s attention using a fishing rod toy with a bright green feather (just off camera). She went mad for this toy and was quite happy for me to click away with my camera, as long as I kept her entertained.