Lucky Licorice has found a home! | Seattle Cat Photography

August 1, 2013January 30, 2016Leave a comment

Licorice. Copyright K.A.Moore Photography.

My heart is happy tonight for this sweet little guy, Licorice. He was my foster kitten in the Fall of 2011, and was then adopted out a couple of months afterwards. But he came back to us, apparently too ‘hissy’ and bonding more with the family’s other cat, than with the people. He was at the rescue yet again but then in a the lucky foster home, where his new guardians fell in love with him! I have thought of this little sweetie since those days of snuggling under my neck when he was just a teeny little thing, and have hoped and hoped to hear this. Finally a furever home!!

I love you buddy!!! xo ~ K

End-of-life Photos of a Special Cat | Seattle Cat Photography

July 2, 2013February 1, 20165 Comments

I took some photos of my mum’s cat Louie on my recent trip back home to England; a beautiful white cat – even with him being ear-less, he still was handsome (lost his ears to skin cancer some years ago). Yet I knew these would be the last photos I would take of him. After twenty years, his body was ready to shut down, and I could see that in his every move and his tired but still-magical eyes. I would watch him slowly make his way up and down the stairs, with much effort thanks to arthritis. He couldn’t see properly anymore; high blood pressure had made his retinas detach and caused blindness. And he couldn’t hear anymore either. Sometimes he would sit basking in the sun, looking happy as most cats do when doing just that, but he usually seemed restless, not knowing how to be comfortable.

A loved companion animal has a gift in terms of a loving human caretaker knowing when it is time to end the suffering by choosing euthanasia. Most animals know death and illness far more cruel, or have never even felt loved before. But it’s the hardest decision to make, even when you know it’s what is best; to end the suffering and give that animal peace, after giving so much of themselves to you. Twenty years is a long time, so much can happen in two decades. There’s so much love and attachment that happens in that time; they become part (and so often, become the spirit) of your home. It’s very hard to let go…

I’m glad I was able to get some end-of-life photos of Louie, particularly to give my mum and stepdad. Photos don’t replace memories, but they are a way for us to freeze time and hold those special moments close. So as much as I love taking photos of all sorts of things that embody life – new babies, children, parties, of animals looking for a new life (and family) of their own – I actually hope I can capture more special and precious memories like these, of companion animals before they pass on.

You fought hard to stay alive, my friend.
In the end, though, you couldn’t conquer death.
But neither did death conquer you.
Death cures all diseases, mends all broken bones,
Breaks all chains.
And made you free at last.” ~ Anon

Rest in Peace, little Louie. xo ~ K

Louie, May 2013
Copyright K.A.Moore Photography. All Rights Reserved

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Photo Session Blog: Growth

June 26, 2013January 14, 20164 Comments

I have finally wrapped up my biggest session yet that involved both the growth of a lovely family, as well as growth in terms of myself as a photographer, and I’d love to share.

What started with a grandmother-to-be of a friend asking me to take some candid baby shower photos, this ‘session’ turned into a several months-long photography journey for me, following the family from the baby shower through to photos of twin boys at a few months old. Basically a total of five separate sessions, which covered the shower, a maternity session, a couple’s session and two separate baby sessions of twin boys. And among all that I also took photos of their 4 cats and their dog!! The journey allowed me to explore my strengths as a photographer and presented me with new challenges and types of photography that I had hoped to explore. I also discovered the areas where I need to learn more and improve. Ultimately I feel so grateful to have had this opportunity, and I feel so proud to now have all the prints and products to turn over to the new parents.

When a photographer is invited in to take photos during times like this, it’s not just an experience for the client or family, it is also a journey for the photog. I’ve seen (and personally experienced) the joy and hope that comes with expecting a baby; it was enlightening to see it all from the outside, as I documented it all. I still regret not having my own maternity photos done when I was expecting (or a proper newborn session), so this story unfolding gave me much to reflect on, and it became very important to me to make sure I treated it with the same care and hope as if it were my own photos being done. When I went through my own pregnancy and labor/delivery, I also didn’t have the fortune of having family here, so I was also in awe of this loving, supportive family being a part of it all (and thank goodness, since it’s twin boys!).

A few things that I think are worth sharing:

Having maternity photos done is an intimate experience, and one where you are asking the expectant mama to share herself with you and the camera, to capture a time in her life that may only happen one time. I found it to be more fulfilling than I expected, and I appreciated the openness of someone willing to let me in to experience that. It’s a time when you feel vulnerable but there is something so beautiful and amazing about it, it’s just hard for that beauty to not show through in the photos. Plus this was the part where all the animals ended up being models too!! Their intuition about the changes to come was pretty obvious!
Taking photos of a loving happy couple about to have a baby (wait, two!!) brings an infectious enthusiasm for life and was a reminder to me of how precious that time is for a couple together before babies take over! The love they have for each other just shone through. Being that I have sadly few couple’s photos of my own (pre-baby and otherwise), I can’t think of a better time to capture that connection and excitement and love on camera.
Taking photos of twins babies is quite the bigger challenge than taking them of one, but can be twice as cute. Quite predictably, when one baby was asleep, the other was wide awake, crying or feeding (and then repeat with other baby!). This also was partly why I scheduled two sessions to do baby photos (with one being about a month later) so as to get enough of each twin being a happy, quiet, sleeping baby as opposed to being crying and fussy. As you know, we do like to pretend that they are always quiet little angels and preserve our memories of them like that! The twins are fraternal, so this also means they look different and are quite feasibly running on separate clock, and they also conspired to have ‘baby acne’ at different times to make my editing work ‘interesting’. It made for long sessions and required a lot of patience, but hearing mama ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ over the proofs has already made it worth it. Just wait until she sees her finished prints, wraps and large collage standouts for their walls! Patches (the dog) made sure he continued to be in the baby photos…as if they could possibly show him up, eh?!
Extra notes: thank goodness the internet makes global communication easy these days. We were able to stay in constant contact about editing and ordering choices while I was overseas in England. Although the process may have gone quicker without a vacation, illness, indecision over which images are favorites, being busy with the twins now that they were born (that’s a lot of work!), but since hundreds of photos were taken over all these sessions, I think extra time made the anticipation greater, my work more thorough, and I think I feel more accomplished with the results.

So tomorrow I get to hand deliver prints, a gallery wrap, a flash drive of images, a couple of 10×20 triptych standouts, two 16×20 collage standouts, plus a few surprises, all in some fun hot pink wrapping and I am just so excited. I have learned so much from this, both personally and professionally (and photographically), and I am grateful. Many many thanks to the Piha/Amato family! I can’t wait to hopefully take more images of the beautiful family again.

xo ~ K

“Growth is the only evidence of life.” ~ John Henry Newman

Father’s Day Post: Real Men Love Cats

June 16, 2013January 14, 20163 Comments

First post since I came back from England; I’m a naughty girl for not posting anything sooner since I’ve been stateside! I have been busy wrapping up a mega session; that will be another post…

First of all, for Father’s Day, I want to say a big thank you to all the men out there who love cats, give cats wonderful homes, and especially who have come into Animal Talk to adopt one of our cats; many of those cats are adults and needed a home for a long time. I also always feel grateful to all the cat-loving folks out there like myself, who love their cats (and other pets) and give them safe and loving homes.

But the central point of my post here is that I’m a believer of the concept that real men are the ones who love cats!! (How dare she say that?!) I think there is a common (and I think silly) perception out there that cats often just make great pets for women, as opposed to men: that women are ‘cat-people’ and that dogs are MAN’s best friend. There are all sorts of quotes and opinions out there that perpetuate and demonstrate that stereotype, that women go with cats (and are likened to them, plus who can ignore the moniker “crazy cat lady”?), and men with dogs (and are likened to them!). Here’s a smattering:

“Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.” ~ Robert A. Heinlein

“If man could be crossed with the cat, it would improve man but deteriorate the cat.” ~ Mark Twain

“I am not a cat man, but a dog man, and all felines can tell this at a glance – a sharp, vindictive glance.” ~James Thurber

“Cats are very independent animals. They’re very sexy, if you want. Dogs are different. They’re familiar. They’re obedient. You call a cat, you go, ‘Cat, come here.’ He doesn’t come to you unless you have something in your hand that he thinks might be food. They’re very free animals, and I like that.” ~ Antonio Banderas

“Guys are like dogs. They keep coming back. Ladies are like cats. Yell at a cat one time…they’re gone.” ~ Lenny Bruce

Some of you blokes out there do enjoy the company of kitties, despite the pervasive stereotypes that women are ‘cat-people’, and men are ‘dog-people’. Supposedly though, men like dogs because they are obedient and submissive (which makes them ‘easier to own’, so they say) and enjoy simple things like catching a ball; they are also generally not so graceful when it comes to ‘grooming habits’ or eating (case in point: compare a cat cleaning itself with a dog doing so – no contest here, I think). Cats are seen as more complicated, demanding, overly-sensitive, and how can you argue with the grace and beauty of felines? I also asked my test subject – my five year-old boy – if he thought dogs/cats were more like men/women, and he said “Men are like dogs. Girls are like cats.” Hmmm, maybe it is quite obvious then.
Despite the number of people who are afraid of dogs, there is quite the number of people who are ‘intimidated’ or freaked out by cats; isn’t it interesting how a cat usually spots the human in the room that is not a ‘cat person’ and tries to convert them?! This intelligence I tend to liken to female (feline) intuition. And why is there a ‘Cat Woman’ and then the werewolf (I’ve never heard much about female werewolves)? I think it’s even common place to call a cat you don’t know as being a ‘she’, and a dog is at first assumption a ‘he’.

Mark Twain’s cats “Wide Awake”
photo by Elmira photographer
Elisha M. VanAken, 1887
[Photos from the Dave Thomson collection]
“He would call (the cats) to “come up” on the chair, and they would all jump up on the seat. He would tell them to “go to sleep,” and instantly the group were all fast asleep, remaining so until he called “Wide awake!” when in a twinkling up would go their ears and wide open their eyes.”
– Anonymous article titled “The Funniest Writer on Earth. Some Anecdotes about Mark Twain,” The Rambler, Dec. 24, 1898.

So here’s a list for you of some brilliant and famous men who were known to have many cats and/or were/are cat-lovers (and not afraid to say so). And my guess, with the writers listed, is that their cats were often found lying on their papers and manuscripts. It’s quite the interesting list:

Winston Churchill Charles Dickens

Albert Einstein T.S. Elliot

Ernest Hemingway John Lennon

Freddie Mercury Isaac Newton (he even invented the modern-day cat-flap for doors)

Mark Twain Edgar Allen Poe

Confuscious Franklin Roosevelt

H.G.Wells Marlon Brando

James Franco Jack Kerouac

Joey Ramone Kurt Cobain

Bill Clinton Jackson Galaxy (cat whisperer, host of ‘My Cat from Hell’: a show you HAVE to see)

Coincidentally, there are quite a number of cats that look like Hitler ('Kitler') as if to say 'stuff it'; enough for there to be the website http://www.catsthatlooklikehitler.com/

Coincidentally, there are quite a number of cats that look like Hitler (‘Kitler’) as if to say ‘stuff it’; enough for there to be the website catsthatlooklikehitler.com

*Now is a good time to point out that Adolf Hitler was well-known to despise cats. ‘Nuff said.

For any man who has been/is in my life, it has kind of been a personal requirement that they love animals, and that must include cats. I believe you possess considerable empathy and compassion to love animals (especially the aloof and complicated kitty), and that’s a biggie, at least for me. My man I think actually is truly jealous of the attention that my handsome Jeffers gets from me; maybe I should give him a kiss in the morning before the cat?!
So if you’re a guy who can unabashedly love the crazy ways of the feline: them being affectionate only when they want to, demanding and temperamental, thank goodness for you, and I think you’re in good company. Cats deserve to be worshipped like they expect to be!

So cheers and Happy Father’s Day to all you ‘cat-daddies’ out there – and here are some of the lucky Animal Talk cats that have been adopted by men from us recently. You rock!! And at least in my book, in case you didn’t know – yes, real men do love cats.

xo ~ K

PS. Our favorite male kitties though? They’ve been ‘fixed’…please spay and neuter!!

PPS. I love both dogs and cats…and I like that they are different. Suits me happily. But this tiger may well have been a cat in a former life.

Top L to R: MacDuff, Cami, Apache
Middle L to R: Jaxyn, Squeaky,Poxie
Bottom L to R: Lenny, Clara, Sookie

Kitty Love: another Jeffers Post | Seattle Cat Photography

April 19, 2013January 14, 2016Leave a comment

A little personal cat post today. I’ve had many conversations about cat rescue, adoptions and fostering this week PLUS I had an emotional week with helping my bestie have her baby (yes, all the way through cutting the umbilical cord in the operating room, and holding him first), and this had me in some mushy emotional moments, so here’s my feline one…

If you don’t know by now (how could you not?!) I take a LOT of photos of cats as volunteer photographer for the local cat rescue, Animal Talk, and my boy Jeffers ‘found me’ there. I now take more photos of rescue cats than I get to take of my own these days, but I snap a few whenever I can (even if just on my iPhone instead of on my usual DSLR). I have a deep affinity for every animal that has come into my life, and Jeffers (my latest rescue) is no exception. On one of my first trips to the rescue to get a batch of new photos done, I was taking photos of the adult cats in the small kitty Room 1. This little flirt of a cat Jeffers kept trying to get my attention, pawing me,

First session of Jeffers In Room 1

cocking his head to the side, and literally posing for me. After a few more trips to the rescue and doing photos in that room, with Jeffers wanting my attention badly, I mentioned probably more than a few times that I so wished I could take him home, but the adoption fee was beyond me at that time. I planned to put him on hold and figure out money to do it anyway. But some people/person there, who wanted to stay anonymous, decided to surprise me by paying the fee so I could have him, because of all my photography I was doing there, turning around the rate of adult cat adoptions with it all. It’s easy to get cute little kittens adopted with no photo, let alone a bad one; the adult cats get passed over constantly and they need to get noticed. They have a lot of love to give though and I want that to show.

Adopting an animal is something I don’t take lightly, and seeing so many animals all the time that I know need homes, I wish I could take them all home. I know that doing my rescue photos (and fostering) is way more valuable and needed than adopting them all.But how could I resist this handsome face? Jeffers and I have developed a strong bond in the last year; I think rescue animals (well, all of mine are!) naturally show their gratitude for human kindness and a warm lap, and I know my boy is happy to be in my life. He has gradually become a cat I can hold (that wasn’t possible when I brought him home), become friends with the rest of my menagerie, and enjoys basking in the window light, snuggling into my arm when I’m editing on my laptop, and hanging out on the shower wall when I take a shower (he’s a looky-loo). I can’t imagine my world without my animal companions; I don’t ‘own’ them but they own my love and a special place in my heart. They don’t talk back, they know when you’ve had a crappy day, and they don’t laugh at you when you sing along to music doing the housework or while in the shower. I wish more people could see and feel the unconditional love and light that comes from having an animal spirit in their world.”

Basking in the light

Looking regal

Looking sexy

Up on the shower wall

Some of me posting this is a reminder for people to think of adopting an adult cat, and some of it represents how much value I see in having photos for myself. Don’t you still want real prints and photos on your wall?

If you haven’t yet, please go and check out my Facebook page . Lots more cats and info and updates on my current work and sessions too!

Kitty love to you xo ~ K