Valentines – K.A.Moore Photography

So I have a little running joke with the ‘man of the house’ that my handsome cat Jeffers is my kitty boyfriend…he will sit staring at me, giving me his sweet little kitty looks (the ones where they slowly blink at you) and will jump onto my shoulder to snuggle in my hair, and apparently I give him too many kisses. But like anyone who has had a bond with a companion animal friend, that’s unconditional love you can’t pass up! And whoever it was that said that cats can’t be loyal, well, they just haven’t met the right one yet.

Well, obviously I know a great many cats through Animal Talk Rescue and they are so ready to share their furry, snuggly, warm love with the right ‘companion human’. Here are some special kitties looking for some love this Valentine’s Day (or any day soon!); alas, no cat would dress up like cupid for me…

“What greater gift than the love of a cat?” ~ Charles Dickens

Abe, with his ‘come hither’ look

Bear (all 28 pounds of him!)…that’s big love there

Claudia, just looking adorable

Little Miss Mary

Iris, sitting pretty

Long week, longer weekend, and lots of tricky subjects in between…

My first tricky subject, as in one that I photographed, was my little stinker who despite the pouts, still pulls it off as a cutie-pie. I think that these moments of unplanned imperfect photographic moments are what keep photography fun; most posed shots would have everyone believe that all children are angels that comply to every request, and as in the case of the many cats that I take photos of, they are magically entranced by the camera. I laugh when I think of myself (now) trying to get Valentine photos of my little boy at the gorgeous Kubota Gardens http://www.kubota.org/ with my Seattle Momtog meetup; there we were trying to get cute-as-pie photos, but what we really end up doing is having to bribe and threaten for anything that will work with our own children (as they’ve heard all the posing cues many times before, and our two boys hadn’t seen each other in ages so they just wanted to goof off). It was chilly and grey out but luckily no rain…the boys kept themselves warm by running off and we get warm chasing them.

And it’s probably needless to say that it’s also beyond tricky to get photos of my feline friends sometimes; cats may well be the most uncooperative animals of all; no sitting, rolling over, coming when name is called, none of that. They seem to do the opposite of what you want so you just have to go with the(ir) flow when you plan to get great cat photos. When I get photos of the rescue cats at Animal Talk, I literally am trying to keep the cat up on a 2 by 3 foot space on top of a filing cabinet in a tiny closet room space, and usually have 5-10 minutes to get the ‘winning shots’ with often nervous or shy kitties. This week though, I got to take some pet cat photos in a private home, and naturally it’s the cat’s domain, so I must naturally work around what they want! I will get to posting those – General Zod & Ursa – on my next post.

Valentine’s Day itself doesn’t have to be tricky; my man will be working a double shift at the restaurant as usual, which means (I joke) he will be wining and dining other ladies all evening and not me. It’s just another day though; I should be getting chocolate and flowers on many a random day, right?

My biggest tricky subjects this last weekend involved none other than our usual blended family drama; it makes everything else so much harder to bear, and other tasks and projects slower to complete, but they end up being the respite from the chaos. Focusing on something that brings us joy removes us from our complicated lives, even for a short while.

This week I have much planned in the way of photos; a location scout tomorrow, a foster cat shoot ( I will only ever talk about shooting with a camera, btw), much editing, and more rescue cat photos too!! And I guess I will still feel like I am owed a Valentine’s date at some point…

Much love to everyone for Valentine’s Day and EVERY day; show the people you love, how you feel very single day, not just when a stupid Hallmark holiday tells you too, and well before it’s too late.