Watch the Birdie! How do you make a cat pose like that?
1. What is your occupation and for how long have you been doing it?
We are semi-professional photographers. We specialise in creative cat and kitten photography, although we also do other types of commercial and portraiture photographic work. We primarily provide images for publishers of magazines, calendars, books and websites.
2. What does your job involve from day-to-day?
We start by asking the owners the particulars of the cats we are going to work with, their habits and general personality. We often ask owners to send us snapshots of the models with descriptions, which we use for preparations.
The single most common problem is when a particular cat simply does not want to be photographed... Never try to out-stubborn a cat!
On the day of the session, we pack our equipment into a car and go ‘on location’ to the owner’s/breeder’s home. All our photographs are done under a controlled studio flash lighting setup, which involves three or four carefully positioned independent flash units, individually configured and centrally controlled. More complex shots might require an even more sophisticated setup.
Cat photography requires at least two people working together as a single team. Each person plays a specific designated role (although roles are interchangeable throughout the session). They are: cat wrangler – the person who controls the animal(s), and trigger person – the one behind the camera. Often (for more complex shots) additional people are recruited. We use an open plan studio, which is a fancy word for placing a cat on a posing table (a catwalk) in an otherwise unrestricted environment and trying to convince it not to jump away.
After the session, we review the images with the breeder, select the best ones and develop them digitally to make sure they look their best.
It so happened that both of us have been interested in general photography since our teens and have always loved cats and lived with them most of our lives. It was only natural for us to try to combine our two passions, yet it proved to be a frustrating exercise at first. We experimented using our own cats, Koshka the Norwegian forest cat and Lapka the ragdoll, and eventually managed to produce decent photos of them. We showed the photographs to a breeder friend who asked if we could take photographs of her cat’s recent litter. She liked the photographs and used them to advertise, and we started to get invitations from breeders followed by enquiries from publishers.
4. What qualifications/training do you need to work in your role?
The cat is only going to do what it wants to do, when it wants it, if it feels like it. The essence of cat photography is convincing the cat – or more often – waiting for the cat’s pose or behaviour to coincide with what one wants from it. Hence cat photography calls for a combination of photographic and animal handling skills.
A solid systematic background in photography (preferably at college level) is essential to enable one to produce consistently high quality output. You should be in full control of your camera and equipment as you only have the briefest of moments to take the shot – the picture should be spot on the first time, because you will never manage to repeat it again.
Valentina has a more formal training in photography, holding a number of formal photographic and graphic design degrees including a National Certificate in Photography. She has also been awarded the Associateship of the Royal Photographic Society (ARPS) in the category of Visual Art – the second highest RPS distinction. Anatoli holds Licentiateship of the Royal Photographic Society (LRPS), and he also has specialist training in studio lighting.
The second part of the equation is a very good understanding of feline psychology and mentality.
5. Are there any other skills that are essential for doing this job?
Cat-like reflexes and training in action photography (this is where Toly’s other interest in re-enactment photography comes in handy). Good skills in Photoshop and digital retouch. One should accept that (unless the cat is sleeping) it is virtually impossible to take a perfect cat photograph straight from the camera. Zen-like patience.
One of the essential pieces of equipment is the toy box full of various cat toys (feathers, sticks, and squeaky mice in all conceivable shapes and sizes) to cater for every taste and preference. The session often starts with various toys being paraded in front of an amused cat to find out which elicits the strongest reaction.
6. Do you work with any other type of animals?
Certainly. We had opportunities in the past to photograph all kinds of animals (often alongside cats). Some of the most memorable exotic photo sessions were with Highland cattle (kyloe); eagle owls – huge, yet surprisingly light birds; tarantulas; stingrays; and a hamster that was raised together with a litter of kittens and hence treated as a member of the family.
7. How demanding is the job?
The usual photographic session takes several hours (subject to time constraints and the model’s co-operation). On average, we expect to take anywhere between 200 and 500 photographs per session, of which perhaps 20-50 will be print worthy and another 40-70 suitable for website usage.
There is a lot of equipment involved, which you do not see on finished photographs. Our portable studio weighs close to 120kg (264lbs) and fills a small family hatchback to the roof (literally). All of this has to be packed into the car and assembled on location, and then the whole process repeated in reverse order. The sessions are surprisingly physically demanding (especially for Toly, who spends most of the time on his knees with a camera).
8. What do you enjoy most about your job?
We concentrate on creative photography looking for unusual and expressive images to communicate the feline character and personality. It’s easy to find beautiful portraits of cats sitting nicely, staring wide-eyed at the camera, but not so easy to find exceptional pictures of cats in action, doing things human friends might do, or making expressions humans might make.
9. What are the most common problems/challenges you encounter?
The single most common problem is when a particular cat simply does not want to be photographed. Over the years, we have become quite proficient in finding ways to get the cat interested but ultimately, if a cat is in the wrong mood then there is nothing you can do about it. Never try to out-stubborn a cat!
The most common technical problem is the unpredictable reaction of the cat’s fur to the flash, which requires the lighting setup to be adjusted individually for each cat. This is especially true for the cats with extremes of fur colour (blacks and whites) and some specific breeds (such as Bengals).
We also have to be prepared to deal with tantrums. Human models are not known for jumping on equipment, climbing the backgrounds, stalking other models (or photographers) from the top of the boom arm, chewing on electrical cables, hiding under a sofa or simply pointedly turning their backs to the photographer.
Birmingham Dogs Home has issued an urgent winter appeal as it faces more challenges over the Christmas period.
