Once a Cat Photographer.......

So, like always I was thinking, man, you need to extend your photographic repertoire beyond cats.  One must avoid being pigeon-holed as a feline photographer, right?  What better subject matter than some amazing orchids that we got from Home Depot of all places.  Classic still life material.  Perfect.  I took this first shot on a whim, liked the result, and then set up the home studio for shot #2:

All right, now we are talking, nice artistic floral arrangements.  But then, I could not resist.  Cats were fetched, toy mice, treats, laser pointers (I am divulging all my secrets, aren't I?) were employed.  As always, FuFu was more game for the shenanigans than XingXing.  It does beg the question, though - is there any photographic composition that cannot be improved with the addition of a cat?

Hurricane Sandy Sends the Cats Uptown To a Deluxe Skyscraper in the Sky

What a crazy time its been here in New York since Hurricane Sandy hit.  We lost power the night of the hurricane.  After 48 hours without electricity, commuting uptown via taxi (no subways downtown with no power), and a forecast of temperatures dropping, we moved ourselves and cats uptown to our friend Tom's apartment on the Upper West Side which never lost power.  I wish I had better pics but I packed very light and only snapped a few with my "small" camera.  The cats loved Tom's apartment.  XingXing spent alot of time by the window enjoying the views of Lincoln Center, while FuFu cavorted, lounged and splayed himself all over Tom's furniture.  Although we got power back over the weekend the cats stayed a couple of extra days with Tom for some "quality time".  Maybe in the future Tom will babysit the cats again (under better circumstances hopefully!) and I will be able to do a better photo shoot.  His apartment was more-or-less designed for cat photography, with plenty of light, interesting city views for background, and interesting furniture for feline exploration.
Long time and perspicacious blog followers will recall that this is the second year in a row that a NYC hurricane has impacted the kitties.  Last year Irene left the cats stranded by themselves for 48 hours as we were out of town and their caretaker couldn't reach them due to the subways being closed........hopefully no more hurricanes for many years!