I’m going to give it to you straight. I am not really a cat person. My wife might dispute this and tell you that deep down in the depths of my heart I am definitely a cat person. But I will refute that to the day I die.

So, you may be thinking, if you are not a cat person why are you writing a blog post about cats? I’ll take a minute to explain myself to you.

I don’t hate cats. Really I don’t hate any animals. I actually like cats very much. I just don’t want to live with cats. Growing up my fascination and love of wildlife in large part stemmed from my love of the big cats like lions, tigers, and cheetahs.

So in that respect I am a cat lover. I love and respect cats for the amazing creatures they are. Cats are fascinating and beautiful animals. They just are not my choice of companion for cohabitation. Maybe if you brought me an actual tiger I would change my mind.

I am writing about cats today because despite my feelings for living with them cats are stunning creatures that make great photography subjects. If I have the opportunity to photograph big cats in the wild it would be one of my dreams come true regardless of how the photographs even turned out. I have enjoyed photographing a variety of cat species at various zoos. It always provides a great opportunity to learn more about the animals and my photography.

House cats

Then you have house cats. Those inscrutable masters of their domain. I don’t pretend to have any idea of what my cats think of me or my photography, but they do at least put up with me.

Cats are one of the most ever present animals in our lives. And they are great photography subjects. Cats can be incorporated into photography in a lot of different ways.

I think more than other animals can show more dimensions to themselves. The facial expressions that seem to appear on the face of a cat, especially a particularly expressive one, can show such a wide range.

You may find your cats just about anywhere in the house. And cats may be engaged in a wide variety of behaviors from the adorable to the enraging. And that provides a lot of opportunities for photography.

In my photography with our cats I generally focus on a more portraiture style of photography. There are a few things about our cats that make this really work well for me. Our cats often like to sit in the same place. That means if I want to photograph them I can generally look for them in their regular hide outs and find them. Then there is our cat Paisley who can be found sprawled out just about anywhere like she owns the place. This lends some variety to the portraits.

Indoor cats

Our cats are indoor cats. This means I need to have additional lighting to create good images. I have been using a lot of off camera lighting recently. This has allowed me to experiment with a lot of lighting and helped me create what I feel like is some more interesting photographs.

It is also helpful that in general our cats are pretty laid back and tolerant of my bothersome photography pursuits. They will often sit still and let me take a lot of photographs before they decide they have had enough of me.

If you share your home with cats and have not yet explored photographing your cats, give it a shot. There is a lot of fun to be had there.

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