Lighter Than Air

Leospride Easy Street of Wild Beach "Easy,"

a 4 month old Brown Spotted Tabby bred by Robin Chamberlain and owned by Melissa Bruise of Wild Beach Bengals.

Once in a run of photo shoots, you have that lucky shot when you review your images and you see the unusual. In the photo above, "Easy" gave me that shot. Only one of his paws is touching the ground and it's his left front paw on the box. The other nice thing about this image is that with a Bengal, photography showing off the coat is mandatory, so the more stretch you can get out of the cat, the better -- as stretching will show off the shape of the rosettes (in this case) and the pattern, acreage, contrast of the coat, as well as the musculature of the cat and the dynamics of action.

"Easy" was photographed at the 2009 TICA Annual in Orlando, Florida, USA.

Thanks, "Easy!"

Background for Easy: Peat Moss.

Congratulations to Bengals Illustrated

Congratulations to Brigitte McMinn, Editor of Bengals Illustrated, for winning two awards from the Cat Writers Association (CWA) recently! I am thoroughly impressed with Brigitte's work as the graphic design and reproduction quality of her magazine won out over many mainstream magazines from the CWA. You can read more about this at http://www.catwriters.org/

And thanks to Jan Harrell for bringing me Induna, above, to photograph for her 2008 Christmas Card at the Waxahachie Show last November. Jan brought the "wild" Christmas ornaments and I placed the ribbon on Induna, who was such a good boy and held the pose while I walked back from the shooting table to my area with my camera and took the shot.

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and Seasons Greetings to all our friends and Gentle Readers out there!

Background used for Induna in this shot: Claret.

Cats Know When You're Sick

My sweet husband and sweet Brit, Nox, sleeping through Ken's fever yesterday afternoon.

Cats know when you don't feel well. The proof is right here. Nox is not sleepy yet is making sure he is comforting Ken who is in his third day of an upper respiratory infection. The fever broke this same afternoon and, although weak as a puppy, Ken was much better last night. This morning, no fever, but I'll keep an eye on him! I'm relentless in making sure my Cat Wrangler gets well!

Thanks to all of you for your good wishes for Ken's speedy recovery. Our cats are making sure that happens!

The Trifecta, and Gratitude

When Ken and I were driving back from Florida, we spent the night at my sister's house in New Orleans. The next morning, we stopped for cafe au lait and beignets at Morning Call. It's a ritual with us since we both had lived in New Orleans at different times in our lives.

Next to the Morning Call, in Metairie, is a little newsstand. It's been there years and years. I mentioned to Ken that I'd like to see if they had the latest issue of Cat Fancy magazine as well as the latest issue of Cats USA. I needed an extra issue of Cats USA for my archived magazine covers. This is what I saw when we went into the bowels of the store:

A few years ago, one of my goals was to have the cover of an Annual. An annual is either Cats USA or Kittens USA. The annuals stay on the stands a year so the exposure is twelve times that of Cat Fancy magazine. It took me until 2008 to get the cover of an Annual: Cats USA 2008. So when I saw these three magazines together, I had to take the shot. I asked the proprietor of the newsstand for permission, which he gave. Then I photographed it, bought the 2010 issue of Cats USA, gave my business card to the proprietor, and left smiling. Ken called this "the Trifecta" ... three in one.

I have to admit I'm still like a little kid when I get a cover. It is still hard to believe that less than ten years ago, I was just starting out, photographing cats for a living.

As Thanksgiving is just next week, I feel a need to express my appreciation and gratitude. I am grateful for the friends I've made in the cat fancy, in photography and the relationships of people in publishing who have all turned out so enjoyable. My life is enriched -- and it began, and continues, with cats.

Sunrise, Sunset

Sunrise, Tuesday, 3 November 2009, looking straight out from the beach.

Sunset, Tuesday, 3 November 2009. Standing on walkway to beach. Clouds make all the difference!

Sunset, 2 Nov 2009. Preston on steps preparing to set up his tripod to photograph the sunset.

Sunset, Monday, 2 November 2009, Blue Mountain Beach, Florida.

One of my favorite shots of Preston photographing the sunrise at Blue Mountain Beach.

Ahh, this was absolutely lovely. This was sunrise at the lake at Grayton State Park on Wednesday, 4 November 2009. We stood on the bridge and photographed the tall pines. This shot was taken before the sun rose and was dark, but turned out to be more than what I originally thought.

Looking West away from the sunrise at the lake in Grayton State Park. We were fortunate to have a full moon for this trip.

Ken doesn't drink beer often, but the first evening we arrived, he enjoyed one. You can see the sunset in the background, reflected in the glass doors.

So that's the end of the First Annual Cat Photographers Creativity Workshop and Retreat!

Anticipation

Double click on image for a larger view:

The stairway to the Gulf from the condo, taken by Ken and me and Kirk and Preston to photograph sunrises, sunsets, and go for walks on the beach. This shot puts a smile on my face. I fed the seagulls from the bottom landing yesterday. What joy. I could almost fly then, myself.

Room with a View

We went to Florida for our Anniversary! Here is the view of the ocean, the Gulf, actually, from our balcony. What a restful, serene place.

And from inside the common room, or living room, looking out the sliding glass doors to the patio. Preston Smith joined us, flew into Fort Walton Airport late Sunday night where we picked him up and brought him back to the condo.

Here's Preston, setting up his tripod, preparing to shoot the sunset from the beach. More to follow, later.