Recently I had my first cat photography experience after many years of photographing dogs!
My youngest niece is mad on cats, and she has always wanted one of her own; however, with three dogs already living with the family, my sister always said the house was too small, and she would have to wait until they moved somewhere bigger.
Well, in January of this year they finally moved into their new home, and my niece asked when the cat was arriving! So in April, Edelweiss joined the family and was slowly introduced to the dogs (so far, all is going swimmingly well).
It's a tradition that the family dogs get a photoshoot with me when they join the family as puppies, so clearly it was time to branch out and try a little kitten photography!
I once heard cat photography described as being a bit like wildlife photography - you sit with your camera ready and hope, at some point, the animal will wander across the scene into the right place. However, we hoped with kittens it might be a little easier to direct.
We began with the posed studio setting and used the flirt stick to help draw Edelweiss' attention and encourage him into the right position. To begin with, it all worked perfectly, until he realised this was a great game AND the backdrop was like a set of curtains that he could climb!
One shot I was particularly pleased to capture was the reflection shot. It was based on a shot by the wonderful Linda Johnstone, who I trained with when I first became a dog photographer, which was a puppy taken on a sheet of black perspex to create the reflection. I've had a sheet of perspex for years but never quite had the opportunity to recreate the shot - until Edelweiss's session!
After the posed photos, we spent some time relaxing in the house and took some natural photos of the kitten exploring his new home. My niece is also into music, so we put Edelweiss on her keyboard to try to capture some music-themed photos as well.
All in all my first foray into cat photography was a success - now to see what happens when Edelweiss grows up!
