Happy Birthday to..........AMACA2Cs! Raiding the Kitten Archives to Celebrate

One year and 63 posts later, still going strong! Today is the "paper" anniversary of AMACA2Cs, which started a year ago with this post To commemorate this occasion, I have decided to raid the kitten archives to show this quartet of sleeping kitten photos. Who doesn't love a photo (or 4) of sleeping kittens? By the time this blog was started, XX and FF were already 1+ years old and no longer kittens, so there exists a veritable "treasure trove" of unposted kitten photos to trickle out in the future - consider this an appetizer. As I browsed through the kitten archives this evening it gave me an opportunity to reflect on how I have grown as a photographer in tandem with the growth of these kitties. It is not an exaggeration to say that my cats were almost singlehandedly responsible for rekindling a long dormant interest in photography (which first burned strong in the 90s with my first dear, and decidedly non-digital Canon Rebel). The kittens arrived, photos were taken, I wasn't 100% satisfied and wanted to improve, gear was bought, classes were taken at the International Center of Photography, more gear was bought, an increasingly large number of non-cat photos were taken, and the journey on a virtuous cycle of photography and feline appreciation has continued apace......thanks for joining on the ride!

Merry Christmas from AMACA2C!

Alas, it was time for their Christmas photos, and with their powerful feline intuition the cats knew it. This was an especially troubling prospect for FuFu, who was all but certain that he would be forced to wear the same Santa cat hat & beard as last year (here is the link). XingXing was much less agitated, as he confidently knew that there was no way a human would be able to put a cat hat on him and not live to regret it. FuFu, on the other hand, was hiding from me behind a branch. But I must tell you, it is quite hard to find a place to hide behind a "Charlie Brown" Christmas tree!

So I pulled him out to have a chat with him.

Abandoning his plan to simply hide and hope for the best, FuFu decided to instead rely on his quick wit and fast talking to avoid the hat. "Please, he said, don't make me wear the hat. If I don't have to, I will stand REALLY tall in front of the tree and make a beautiful portrait for you". True to his word, that is what he did, and since I was pleased with this photo, I didn't have to resort to the gimmicky cat hat. Ahhh, a happy Christmas for all involved! Merry Christmas to all of our faithful feline & human fans!

Christmas Tree Shadow Falls on FuFu

FuFu was perched in just the right place to catch the sunlight shining through our "Charlie Brown" X-mas tree for this pic. Yes, our Christmas tree is that tiny! This next pic looks like it might have had a complicated light setup (flash, reflectors, etc.), but was taken in the same light just before or after the shadow pic.

Baby Beware! A Cat is Stalking You!

Although XingXing most of the time has more of a "macho hunter" persona, when it comes to encountering strangers and strange phenomena (such as human infants), he is quite a scaredy cat! FuFu, on the other hand, is more curious (or doesn't know any better?). So when our friends A&A visited us (J&J) this past weekend and brought their infant "a", FuFu was the one brave enough to get close enough to snap a photo. Although in these pics FuFu looks like a menacing stalking cat, I think he was quite scared himself!

Sunlight Illuminates the Content Feline

At its essence, photography is simply about light and composition. Yes, the power of digital processing is *amazing*, and you can (and I do) spend a lot of money on cameras, lenses, etc., but if you don't have interesting light and composition, gear and digitally wizardry can only compensate so much. Not only is light important to photographers, but it is also important to cats! Especially when the weather turns chilly, I can often predict where the cats are at any time of day by following the sunlight. This often leads to the happy confluence of contented, warm cat & interesting light, especially in the winter when the light is more oblique.

Cats Frolic Among the Skyscrapers of Manhattan

The other day, as I was walking to the subway on my way to work, I looked up and was startled to see this amazing scene, and not toting my DSLR at 7:30am, I was able to capture it with my new iPhone 4s:

Of course, I had to dodge the Occupy Wall Street protestors, many of whom looked as sleep deprived as I:

And then in the middle of the day at work, I looked out the window and was astounded to see all this feline activity atop the Time Warner Center, especially since cats are famously nocturnal and usually don't scale skyscrapers in broad daylight:

Finally, as I was admiring a nice sunset I noticed that a few cats were still at it:

****************************************************************************************** Huh? Well, I did take all of these photos with my new (and first, historically being a Palm loyalist) iPhone, which, I must say, I am enjoying quite a bit. As you may have guessed by now, they have been enhanced. Not with Photoshop, but a fun app called "Cat Effects". What a perfect app to highlight here at AMACA2C, since it is both a cat and photography app, and, well, this is a cat photography blog. This app lets you add a number of pre-loaded cats to any of your photos on your iPhone, and there you go! Of course, this can lead to all sorts of situations where you can place cats on your friends and family members. For example, here I have placed a slew of kittens on Ben (face blurred to protect this innocent), and yes, this is the same Ben who took the "rabbity FuFoto" several posts back.

Definitely stay tuned for more discussions and displays of iPhoneography here at AMACA2C..........

Sunlight Illuminates the Whiskers

Back from a Thanksgiving dash to a tropical climate - hence no post for a while. Although the Panamanian sun was nice, there is something to be said for photographing cats in the oblique rays of November in New York.

Max Liketh the Catnip

In the context of the relatively confined and tedious existence of a cat living in a shelter environment, it can be considered a VERY good day when a volunteer on the cleaning crew thinks you look depressed and need a healthy dose of catnip. Alas, today was one of those days for Max. He subsequently merrily frolicked with his cat nip drenched blanket for a long, happy time. This smart tuxedo clad guy is available to be adopted via KittyKind in New York City (www.kittykind.org). Don't you love his black nose?

Le 2012 KittyKind Calendar est arrivé!

At the same time that Beaujolais Nouveau is appearing in wine stores, the long-anticipated KittyKind 2012 calendar has arrived.  It costs about the same as a bottle of wine, but the money will go far towards KittyKind's noble mission of finding homes for abandoned, stray and homeless kitties.  The calendar should be excellent and worthy of hanging in your office or home (buy two!), and I'm not just saying that because some of my pics are in it.  The cost is $10 plus 50 cents for shipping, and you can find the details at the bottom of this post.

Faithful AMACA2C followers have already met Daphne, who will be featured in the calendar, but I have another treat for you today.  Perspicacious and long-time followers will remember Magnolia from this post.  Well, soon after that photo was taken Magnolia found a wonderful home with her brother Hercules.  Their proud owners welcomed me into their home a few months back to snap some pics of these fabulous felines for the calendar.  I haven't seen the calendar yet, but I'm pretty sure this first photo is in it.  I feel like there is an old money "aristo-cat-ic" air to this photo, with their regal stance, Magnolia's somewhat haughty & disinterested gaze, and the dark wood floor and furniture:


And here is another one of Magnolia (or "Mags", as her owners affectionately call her).  I still feel like this cat has a particularly human-like face that exudes wisdom and knowledge.........



And finally, contact details below to get your calendar!

A Rabbity FuFoto from Ben, and a Kitty in Need of a Home

My friend Ben took this photo (in his terms, a "FuFoto") while over for a convivial time last week. Tina (if you have a furniture fetish see the link to her excellent blog in my blogroll) remarked that FuFu looks like a rabbit in this photo. Indeed.

And now, time for a public service announcement.  Our friends who are heroes in the cat rescue community properly and humanely care for a cat colony in their backyard in Brooklyn are looking for a home for adorable Lucite.  She is a female tuxedo and I was under the impression that most tuxedos are male, just like most calicos are females......

here is the description that they recently posted online:

we are a couple in Greenpoint, Brooklyn that has been involved in the spay/neuter process for a colony of stray cats in our landlord's backyard, and have taken great care in feeding and tending to them in general. they mean a lot to us. we have fostered the last, a young (less than a year old) tuxedo cat who has great moxie, spirit, and spunk. she's a little feisty, but is sweet at heart and a lot of fun, and would make a wonderful project for anyone who is comfortable with and experienced around cats. we have been socializing her in a kennel on loan from Neighborhood Cats, and need to find a home for her as soon as possible. to anyone to whom this sounds enticing, please get in touch with us! we welcome your interest, and we'll screen very carefully for the right home, my fiance wouldn't have it any other way! 


Please get in touch at:  invsble@aol.com  if you or someone you know in the NYC area might be able to help!

How Does XingXing Resemble a Thoroughbred Racehorse? Let Me Count the Ways....

The Breeders Cup took place this weekend, and while I was watching the "World Cup" of horse racing and placing a string of unprofitable wagers, I was reminded once again that quite often it seems that XingXing has more than a little bit of thoroughbred racehorse in him. Here is short rundown of where the equine and the feline converge in XingXing: 1. He has a long, slender, lithe and muscular frame. His legs are particularly long when compared to FuFu, and his fur coat is shinier, like a thoroughbred, while FuFu's fur is a bit more wiry. 2. XingXing's strut and prance is horse-like, agile and proud. 3. Easily spooked! 4. Frequently emits horse-like noises: chirps, etc. 5. Sense of nobility 6. "Perky" ears that give you a sense of mood and attentiveness 7. True to his instincts: above all else a thorougbred loves to run, and above all else XingXing likes to chase furry toy mice. 8. And finally, when the track hands were loading the starting gates and had to occasionally push a recalcitrant horse's rump to get him in, it reminded me of trying to load XingXing into his cat carrier!.............You decide for yourself:

FuFu Shows Some Fang for Halloween

FuFu has much more prominent fangs, and likes to display them more than XingXing. Or at least it seems that way, maybe its just because his white fangs are highlighted against the contrast of his gray semi-beard and lips, while XingXing's mouth area is white all around. Anyways, if any holiday can be associated with cats, its Halloween, and I thought these pics are kind of in the spirit (as well as the pumpkin pics several posts back!).

Two Cats, Coming Right Up - Do You Want Them in Black & White or Color?

It is always an issue with these particular kitties, whether to convert the photo to black & white or keep it in color. They are quite suited to monochrome depiction, being gray and white. If only it wasn't for their eyes! It does seem like a shame to convert XingXing's intense amber, and FuFu's odd-eyed splendor to various tones of black, white & gray. Today I give you two photos, each with a color and B&W version, and I will tell you which I prefer, and why. For this one, I just couldn't pass on the eye color: In the B&W version, it is more obvious that FuFu's face isn't in focus - I shot this at too low an F-stop (4.0), so you start to lose some depth of field when you get to FuFu, even though XingXing is more-or-less razor sharp:

However here, the image was almost in monochrome to start with and very little eye color, so it was a rather easy decision to go with B&W. However, I played around with "Split Toning" in Adobe Lightroom and "enhanced" the B&W with adding a bit of a golden hue to the highlights and only a tiny bit of a blue hue to the shadows, which I liked better than the pure B&W: Here is the B&W version without the above-mentioned split toning. Subtly, but noticeably different:

Here is the color if you would like to compare:

Do you prefer a different version from my selections? I always welcome comments, critiques, criticisms, blatant unadulterated praise, etc., so drop a line!

We Have No Interest In Your So-Called "Bounty"....

Don't you understand by now? We be carnivores!!! Up until about 2 (human) generations ago, the primary reasons cats were kept by humans was the fact that they are consummate hunters that won't eat what they are protecting - i.e., grain, vegetables, etc. Now of course in this enlightened age we keep cats in the household because they are so darn cute, funny and cuddly, and food protection isn't really important. But I wanted to test this theory so I left these vegetables (from a CSA, "community-supported agriculture" farm-to-table outfit we are a part of) out for an evening, and sure enough, although the cats were initially intrigued, by morning they still hadn't so much as nibbled on them. And therefore, it is mind-boggling that pet food manufacturers advertise putting veggies into their foods, as "garden veggies" (and virtually all carbohydrates, i.e. about half of most dry foods) are quite simply junk food with no nutritional value to the obligatory carnivore! I'm saying this even though XingXing and FuFu do have a fondness for Soulistic brand "Chicken Dinner in Pumpkin Soup"!!! Although I can guarantee you they aren't in it for the pumpkin. More on feline nutrition in future posts................

The Cat Jumping Over the Couch Project

These are from a while back, finally decided to post them. This project shows some of the challenges of action cat photography, a subset of the already challenging field of cat photography. I wanted to capture XingXing in one of his typical athletic endeavors. Of course, these usually involve throwing his rainbow catnip mice. He will jump over objects large and tall to pursue those mice, and usually he brings it back to my general vicinity in his mouth, like a dog playing catch - haven't captured that on camera yet. Or perhaps that would be better on video. Anyway, the object here was action stills. I set up multiple flashes (infrared triggered) and the camera on a tripod with remote trigger on the other side of the couch. Because I'm using infrared trigger and not wireless radio trigger, I need a line of sight to take the photo, so that resulted in me in the background gesticulating oddly with the remote trigger immediately after I threw the mouse. I set the focus to manual at the top of the couch. The most difficult aspect was the timing, as it all happened extraordinarily quick. I got 2 or 3 "decent' shots out of about 20 attempts! This is one of the funnier ones. Would be perfect if only a.) had captured the XingXing's front paws and b.) no goofy cat photographer in the background: And here, this image is terrible. The flash is concentrated on the cat hair rug in the middle of the couch.............

But wait! the power of a good crop. Here is the same photo, cropped down just to the cat. Now, after cropping so much can't blow this up to an 17 inch photo, but for a humble cat photography blog, it does just fine:

Finally, here is another of the keepers. Look at the intensity of a world class feline athlete!

XingXing, the Spirtual Seeker

XingXing has been hanging around the Buddha statue quite a bit, especially in the afternoon when it is appealingly translucent.  But as you can see from the first pic, he is having trouble reconciling his growing interest in Buddhism with his carnivorous nature!

The Many Sides of Daphne......

What have we here?  Most unusual......at first it looks like a walking domesticated mini-bear; wait, that other pics looks like an over-enthusiastic NFL referee, hold on, its a cat after all, and not just any cat, but a stunning "calendar girl".  Yeap, its Daphne, one of 3 cats adopted by tireless KK volunteer Kathy O that I had the pleasure of photographing last week.  One or more of these pics may appear in the long-anticipated KittyKind 2012 calendar if they pass muster with the prestigious and vigilant selection committee.  Anyways, you can consider this an *exclusive* preview for AMACA2Cs loyal subscribers (all 4 of you!).  All proceeds of the calendar go to NYC's favorite all-volunteer no-kill cat rescue group (www.kittykind.org).  Of course we'll let you know right here when its published and available to order.

This is the most "bear-like" of the shots.  In fact, you could consider it a bear playing with an invisible hula hoop.  Gotta love that hip torque!


And here's the referee - Touchdown!!!!!!

And finally, here's Daphne front & center:

The Two of You are 2

When we adopted XingXing and FuFu from KittyKind (www.kittykind.org), they told us that they were 10 weeks old, so without a whole bunch of precision we counted backwards and decided their birthday was 8/21/2009. On their first birthday last year they strode forward from kittenhood to the fraternity of adult Catdom amongst a rousing celebration that included candles, copious volumes of Whiskas-brand artificial cat milk, marching bands, balloons, banners dragged by aircraft all across the Eastern seaboard of the USA, and fireworks displays by a number of cat-friendly municipalities within a 150-mile radius of NYC. This year, however, their landmark 2nd birthday passed without much fanfare due to their humans decamping to Europe for a vacation, a hurricane scare, and then finally another human dash to the beach over Labor Day Weekend. So with all apologies, I wish XingXing and FuFu a belated happy birthday!