Flying Backgrounds

These are the backgrounds we fly with:

Row 1:  Black and Imperial Blue
Row 2:  Blue-Teal and Plush Spruce
Row 3:  Green Felt and Peat Moss
Row 4:  Chocolate and Claret
Row 5:  Plush Purple and Periwinkle

Backgrounds - And Their Names

These are the backgrounds we drive with.

Row 1:  Black, Charcoal and Navy Blue
Row 2:  Imperial Blue, Caribe Blue and Blue-Teal
Row 3:  Teal, Plush Spruce and Green Felt
Row 4:  Sage, Peat Moss and Bark
Row 5:  Chocolate, Paprika and Claret
Row 6:  Burgundy, Magenta and Plush Purple
Row 7:  Purple and Periwinkle

The Cat Who Launched My Career . . . is Gone.

 

     This morning, at about 4:30, Ken and I said goodbye to our beloved 15 year old Blue British Shorthair, Earendil Sky.   August 5, 1997 - December 23, 2012.  Long thought of as the healthiest of our four kitties, Sky's decline was mercifully quick.  For the previous day or so she had begun telling me by degrees that she was ready to go, becoming progressively listless with labored breathing, not eating and unable to sleep or even find a comfortable position to rest.  Her extremities were cold.   At 2:30 this morning she woke us up, first trying to settle onto the covers between us, then moving to various spots around the bedroom trying to find a place of solace.  I told Ken that she seemed to be trying to tell us to help her out of her misery and then, when she let out a loud baleful cry, I was certain of it.  We took her to a 24 -hour emergency clinic near us and the Vet, after examining her, confirmed what I knew intuitively.  She was about half her healthy weight, her lungs were "wet" and she had a temperature of only 93 degrees.   It was time to say goodbye.  And we did.

     We brought Sky's body home and laid her out on a towel in the den so Nox (our 15 year old Black Earendil Brit who is a week younger than Sky) and Zak and Quin, our 10 year old Maine Coons, could sniff her and come to some instinctive understanding that she was no longer a part of their family.   We've been told that this is a good thing to do for them.  We buried her in our backyard this morning when the sun came up.  We discovered that there is a healing closure to this time-honored ritual that having the Vet deal with the remains does not provide.

     I say that Sky launched my (our) cat photography career for a few reasons.  I had always enjoyed taking photos of our cats, trying, with more aspiration than technical skill in those early days, to capture some of the beauty I saw in them.  After losing Miss Kitty, Ken's mixed breed cat when I came to live with him, to FIP, we chose to get a British Shorthair kitten because we liked the way this breed looks.  And we chose to get a Blue (gray) Brit because we love the way that light can limn their gray fur in a fringe of silver.   In a cruel irony, this beautiful kitten, who we named Smudge, was also doomed, along with all of his littermates, to a very early death from the FIP virus he brought with him from his cattery.

     After once more thoroughly disinfecting our house and again waiting the recommended 90 days to be certain we would not have to go through this again, we got Sky and Nox from Thora Hart in Southern California.  While Thora's Earendil Cattery was well known for her many show-winning cats, we were only interested in getting a healthy pet quality kitten.  Thora did not have a blue male but she made us an attractive offer on a blue female along with a black male from a different litter that was only a week apart.

     When we picked up these kittens from air cargo at the Dallas/Fort Worth airport and I peeked into the front door of the carrier in which they were shipped to us, I was instantly smitten.  I said, “Oh, Ken, you should see her face!”  Now, all kittens are cute and cuddly, but even with the perspective of over 12 years photographing and handling cats of every breed, we remain convinced that no breed embodies more of these cherished qualities of kitten-ness than young British Shorthairs do.  And just looking at this heart-breakingly precious example of the breed who was coming to live with us made me grin from ear to ear.

     From that first day and even after she began to lose her characteristic roundness and the plushness of her coat over the past year or so, I could not look at Sky, curled up asleep in a soft ball of gray fur, without smiling and being flooded with a warm, comforting sensation of  . . . what?  “Hearth and home”?  A feeling that “all's right with the world”?   I realize I am reduced to cliches here, but out of anything I could lay my eyes on in our house, nothing made it look – and feel – like “home” and the right place for me to be - than seeing this special cat of ours in repose.   

      Sky was good at looking good.  And Ken and I soon found out that we were not the only ones who thought so when we decided to have the experience of showing her and Nox.  While we quickly discovered that our lovable Nox, decidedly the more affectionate pet of this pair, was indeed confirmed to be the “pet quality” cat we were sold  – Ken used to say of Nox's brief show career that he couldn't get arrested in the show ring – Sky's reception was quite the opposite.  She quickly became an 8-ring Grand Champion in CFA's Premier class for alters and then went on to achieve Supreme Grand Alter status in TICA.  Beyond burying us in rosettes and spoiling us with “beginner's luck,” showing Sky gave us a feeling for cat shows and the perspective of exhibitors – the people who would soon become our primary customers. 
    
     Back at home, it was Sky's immensely photogenic qualities more than anything that kept me trying to get better at capturing on film (remember film?) what I saw in her.  And it was the advent of the digital camera – the freedom to experiment and learn from my mistakes that its zero cost images and instant feedback provided – along with the technical guidance and encouragement of Ken, who supported my passion with ever more capable cameras, staging gear and studio lighting, that enabled me to amass a sufficient portfolio of portraits of our cats and those of a few friends that earned us an invitation to shoot our first show in May of 2000.

     Beyond motivating my photography career, there are so many ways that we cherished Sky and as many personal and private reasons why she will be profoundly missed and long remembered.

The Bengal Banner for The International Cat Association (TICA)

This image includes the call names of the cats used.  We were commissioned by TICA to create two banners, seven feet tall that retract into a case at the bottom to bring attention to the TICA area in NYC at Meet The Breeds.  What follows is what we term "The Bengal Banner."  The Maine Coon Banner is below this post.

 

Maine Coon Banner to represent TICA at Meet The Breeds 2012

This image includes the call names of the cats used.  We were commissioned by TICA to create two banners, seven feet tall that retract into a case at the bottom to bring attention to the TICA area in NYC at Meet The Breeds.  What follows is what we term "The Maine Coon Banner."  Most all of the sixteen cat images at the bottom are repeated for the The Bengal Banner which I will post later.

Birmans Submitted to Cat Fancy

Cat Fancy magazine is profiling the Birman in its April 2012 issue. Below are my Birman images that I sent in for consideration. What they select from these images, is, of course, up to them. But if you see your cat amount the images I submitted, I just want you to know that I thought it was a fine candidate for publication.

Cat Angels

All images Copyright 2010, 2011 Cat Angels Pet Adoptions. All Rights Reserved

BACKSTORY
We first met Darrell Massengill and Diane Olson a few years ago when we were shooting at a cat show in Raleigh, North Carolina. They live in the area and had asked if they could sit in on a few photo sessions at the cat show and observe our techniques. They were also a cat photographer/cat wrangler team but, unlike Ken and I, who do this for a livelihood, their motivation is a far nobler calling: they do it to save lives. Diane and Darrell are part of a cat and kitten rescue group in Cary, North Carolina, called "Cat Angels." They photograph each rescue cat and kitten that comes in and post the images to the Cat Angels website to give each kitty a better chance for adoption.

http://www.catangelsnc.org/

Diane and Darrell understand that winsome portraits of their subjects are more likely to attract people to adopt them, so they were very interested in seeing our shooting, wrangling, and lighting methods as well as asking us questions about our equipment.

A year or two later, when they asked to sit in on some more shoots the next time we were in Raleigh, we were glad to see Darrell and Diane again. They are so friendly, gracious, and appreciative that we were happy to help. It was apparent that they were putting into practice what they were learning from us.

Diane Olson, Helmi and Darrell Massengill at Irregardless (Ken took the picture)

After the cat show, they took us to dinner at Irregardless, a great local restaurant, where we enjoyed spending time with them and swapping "war stories" about trying to coax decent portraits out of uncooperative kitties. Compared to their challenges, struggling to get appealing poses from freaked-out feral kittens/cats, we decided that we had it much easier with show cats who are generally easy to deal with.

Earlier this year, Diane sent us a calendar of her and Darrell's work, which Cat Angels published and sells to help subsidize the organizations operating expenses.

Accompanying each month's featured kitten is a little story about it.

This piece is quite obviously a labor of love -- as is everything that all those very special people in cat rescue do -- and we found it to be thoroughly charming.

Recently, Diane sent us the cover image for next year's calendar (below) that she and Darrell are currently working on.

Copyright Cat Angels Pet Adoptions

THE POINT OF THIS STORY
More recently, Diane wrote and asked if we could help her rescue group with a favor. That's what this story is all about. Their Cat Angels rescue group has lost the lease on their current facility, which the landlord now wants to occupy to expand his own business, so the rescue group has to move. And they want to double the size of their present space in order to double their adoption rate.

To help cover the additional expenses that this move will entail, Darrell and Diane have entered the Pepsi Refresh Grant Competition by producing this 59 second video:

www.refresheverything.com/catangels

WILL YOU HELP ME HELP THEM?

To win this competition and get the grant, Cat Angels needs to get the most votes for their video, and Diane told me today that they are in 2nd place, but the competition is fierce with positions changing daily among the top contenders. So I'm posting this to my Blog to encourage all of you readers to vote for their video. Ken and I are voting every day, but we need your help, too!

You can vote every day in May by three different ways:

• 
  
  Through Facebook


• 
  
  By getting a free Pepsi Refresh Account


• 
  
  By texting 106148 to 73774 (PEPSI)

If you are reading this on Facebook or on my Blog, it's quite likely that, like me, you are a cat lover. And for one reason or another you may not be able to be directly involved in cat rescue like Diane and Darrell and so many other dedicated people who do this are. But you can make a difference by helping these big-hearted volunteers save the lives of more homeless cats and kittens. The $50,000 grant prize they can win -- with your help -- could save a lot of kitties!

Please take a moment to click on the above link to the Cat Angels video and vote for it, then vote again each day for the rest of this month. And share the link with your friends on Facebook! Thank you!

I will let you know how this turns out, but YOU can influence the outcome.

Kelly's Art Glass -- et cetera!

Kelly Crouch is a customer of mine from the first year I started cat photography. She bred Oriental Shorthairs and Maine Coons. Lately, she has branched out into glass and she has named her new company Glasstasy. Ken and I shot eleven pieces of her art glass she created. Below are my favorites:

This is my most favorite piece. It is almost a half round. Kelly has named it "Glacier." I want one.

This is a view of the inside of "Glacier" ... again, stunning.

Kelly used a very expensive material called dichroic glass on this piece. "Dichroic glass is glass containing multiple micro-layers of metal oxides which give the glass dichroic optical properties," reference from Wikipedia. We photographed this same piece on a white background and the dichroic properties did not appear, but on a black background, it is obvious!

Yellow and lime green six-sided candy bowl.

Here is a side view of the same bowl.

Pinwheel candy dish.

This is a very elaborate piece -- note that Kelly handpainted ivy leaves on the piece in gold. The edges are ruffled (not sure of the terminology here). I'd be happy to update this post with the correct terminology if anyone wants to enlighten me.

This is a rectangular bowl with a quilt like pattern. Graphically very simple and pleasing.

The brown piece, pictured above, is very large, about the size of a large tray. Reminds me of a quilt top I made some years ago. Kelly referred to it as the Brown Dart Board!

Green and white round candy dish.

This piece looked much better photographed on white (which will not come across well on my blog, since my background is black). It needs light to show it off as it is nicely translucent.

A candy dish, pink and purple. Photographed against black, you cannot see that the center of the dish is a deep purple as are the dark pinwheels. Another piece that showed up better against the white background.

If you are interested in any of these pieces, please email Kelly at glasstasy@austin.rr.com I am waiting for her to have an exhibition of her work! She should probably have a few more pieces before she has a show, but if she has one, we're going!

All pieces photographed using a Canon EOS 5D Mark II against a black background.

A Short Vacation to Florida

I hate to miss a sunset. Since we were still on the road to the condo, I got the sunset in the side mirror while Ken was driving.

Then Ken pulled over to the side of the road to get the Choctawhatchee Bay. It is SO much better to take a photo when the car isn't moving, especially when it's dark outside!

Monday morning, this was the sunrise from the balcony of our condo.

And there was a crane or waterfowl of some sort, waiting for his/her breakfast to appear on the morning tide.

This is the view to the West after the sun was starting to rise.

Our good friends, Agi and Bill Vetter (who were in our wedding 12 years ago) washing the sand off their feet. You can see how white the sand is and it's extremely fine. Your feet squeak when you walk on it!

The walkway to the beach ... I love the look of this with the cobblestone walk to the wood of the stairs and the free standing shower. A serene and quiet place with the roar of the surf ever present. A great way to drift off to sleep in the arms of Morpheus, hearing the rhythm of the waves crashing on the beach.

It rained on Wednesday and half of Thursday, but the Pelicans still made their forays down the coast.

And our "goodbye" sunset was tonight with this unbelieveable display of color. So we drive back home to Dallas/Fort Worth and start madly packing for the trip to Japan on Tuesday. Recharged for another cat show!

A Little Love Letter to Ken

Anniversary Tulips from Ken

I am very lucky to be married to a romantic man. He remembers our anniversary, birthdays and Valentine's Day much better than I do. We married late in life and I've only been married to him for twelve years but we've crammed a lifetime into those years!

Ken was the one who encouraged my photography. He got me a digital camera for HIS birthday! This was back in 1999. What a difference it made ... I could instantly see what I was doing wrong and could correct it, right there. Before then, I was using film and would be lucky to get one good image out of three rolls of film. Ken would ask me, "What was your f-stop? What was the exposure setting? Speed? Look at this image and tell me what is in focus?" I was clueless. But when digital came out, all the settings were there. And because of Ken, I became a Cat Photographer.

Now we are able to travel together, work together, play together, live a full life, with cats -- together. All because of cat photography. Sure, there are rough patches, but they don't last long. And it's usually me that gets bent out of shape or acts like a drama queen! But we end up laughing about it and remembering what, in the long run, is important.

Remembering Dancer by Ken Flick

It will be a long time before Helmi and I forget a little Bengal kitten called "Dancer," who we had the pleasure of photographing last Sunday at the Wichita, Kansas, show. I could feel her trembling from the moment her owner placed her on our shooting stage, so I asked, pretty sure of the answer I'd get, "Is this Dancer's first show?" We were told that, yes, this was her first show and, more than that, this was only her second day away from the home where she was born six months ago. So this little kitten was in a strange place, surrounded by the sights and sounds of a hundred strange cats, in the care of her new owner who was essentially a stranger to her, and now being handled by a strange man -- me -- in a room full of bright flashing lights. No wonder Dancer was trembling. And I'm not sure she ever stopped trembling during the entire photo session.

But I'll tell you what: this scared little kitten was so courageous and so ready to please that she let me put her through all the paces and coax her into all the poses that I would expect of the most cooperative veteran show cat. And Dancer's performance was especially welcome to us, since we had had a number of tough subjects earlier that day.

Unlike cat show judges, whose criteria for evaluating cats are strictly those of a beauty contest without the talent or personality component, Helmi and I judge the cats we shoot based upon their willingness and ability to perform for the camera. Our feline subjects earn our admiration if they are cooperative, poised, playful, good natured and photogenic.

Our job is to produce the best possible portraits of the cats our customers bring us, yet we cannot deliver on this if the cat is shy, ill at ease, cowering, camera-phobic, frozen stiff or freaked out and bent on escape. Most Oriental breeds tend to be this way and despite our best efforts and all the patience we can muster, we are seldom satisfied with what we are able to get from these cats -- and always surprised when their owners are. At the other extreme are Maine Coons, who are such easy going, eager to please, rewarding to shoot subjects that Helmi and I decided early on to get two of our own.

So, yes, we judge the cats we shoot at every show, too. And often, in the evening after the show is over or on the drive home the next morning, we will talk about the cats we shot and tell each other which ones were our favorites. And on the drive home from Wichita on Monday, it became clear that Dancer, the little Bengal kitten with the big heart, had stolen both of our hearts. Despite her understandable insecurity at being wrenched away from the only home she had ever known, she stepped up to the plate and performed at a level that a number of our Wichita cats never attempted. We don't give out rosettes, but Dancer was a big winner in our eyes. She gave the kind of photogenic performance that enabled us to win -- she made our job look easy to our customer and enabled us to deliver images the customer would like.

It is always heartbreaking news to hear that a cat we have known has died, especially when it is a kitten who has left so soon before its time. And it was even more tragic to learn this about a kitten who had so recently won our respect and affection and was still very much on our minds. But this is what happened on Thursday (yesterday) when we learned that little Dancer, who had not eaten for days and had spent the previous couple of days in the care of a vet, was diagnosed with terminal feline leukemia and put to rest. It's enough to make a grown man cry. And that's not just a figure of speech.

It will be a long time before Helmi and I forget Dancer, the brave little Bengal kitten with the big heart. The world has lost a real winner.

Bus Ads

2010 TICA Annual Cat Show Bus Ad: Persian

2010 TICA Annual Cat Show Bus Ad: Ragdoll

2010 TICA Annual Cat Show Bus Ad: Siberian

2010 TICA Annual Cat Show Bus Ad: Maine Coon

2010 TICA Annual Cat Show Bus Ad: Bengal

2010 CFA Santa Monica Cat Show Bus Ad: Ocicat

2009 CFA Santa Monica Cat Show Bus Ad: Oriental Shorthair.

This is probably my favorite bus ad because it is very eyecatching. Art Graafmans did a wonderful job of making the best use of the cat image while giving pertinent information.

If you're in California, you'll be able to see Bus Ads promoting the CFA Santa Monica Cat Show in Los Angeles, and ads promoting the TICA Annual in Santa Clara. Ken created all the ads for the TICA Annual in Santa Clara and we supplied the cat images for the CFA Santa Monica Cat Show.