Lifestyle | 19 Cats and Counting
Every once in awhile I feel the need to photograph something challenging, fun, and utterly adorable. For me, that’s cats every single time. Cats are temperamental beyond belief, completely unpredictable, and unlike dogs who you can usually guilt into behaving, cats could care less. If you’re a cat lover and a wedding photographer this is an excellent exercise in capturing things as they occur! However, I definitely learned a few things along the way:
Don’t expect to get a “money shot.”
I shot six cat sessions and not once did I get a perfectly posed, everyone looking pleasantly at the camera moment. Since I learned quite quickly this wasn’t going to happen I choose to focus on capturing their personalities and interactions with their owners. Luckily, since this is my style anyway all the clients I worked with seemed perfectly happy with the results.Other people’s cats are not going to treat you like your own.
Being a photographer, I handle and photograph my cats constantly. All five are used to my cameras and easy to handle. This is not true for most as I quickly learned. Expect to be met with a lot of hissing, running, and maybe even a few battle scars. (Lookin’ at you Jude.) For these particular mini sessions I offered 30 minutes of coverage, but all sessions took at least 45 minutes to shoot, with the exception of one (Bless you, Peppa.) This was because it would take at least 10 to 15 minutes to get the kitties used to me and my camera, which I didn’t take into account.Find a source of motivation
I had all my clients play with their cats favorite toys while shooting; cat nip, a feather toy, a string, a laser pointer, etc. This allowed for a tiny source of control when wanting a cat to look or move in a certain way. It takes trial and error, but most every cat seemed to be fairly relaxed by the end of the shoots.
Overall this was a super fun project to take on! If you didn’t see it advertised, you’re not alone. I offered these sessions to my personal Facebook friends only. If I get enough interest I may offer them again in a more expanded means! I also may have exaggerated just a bit when implying I’d photographed 19 cats; I may have included my five kitties plus my mother’s three cats as well…. Whatever.
