The Barn Cats

I love barn cats & I especially love my own barn cats. I don't know how but we have some of the prettiest mongrel kitties I have ever seen. With the weather being so nice I took the bulldog puppies outside and just couldn't help myself, I had to snap a few shots of our gorgeous cats.

Tass named after Tasselhoff Burrfoot

Stella, came to the barn after her owners dropped her off because she couldn't be litter trained. She definitely has a mind of her own and often is hanging by her nails from my kitchen window, asking me "What's for dinner?"

I don't think this cat has a name yet, she has a twin brother that has a bit more orange on his face. Their mother is a fareal cat that comes around now and then that the girls call Ginger.

Another no named baby that I have no idea where he came from but he comes around because we put food out for the cats.

Stella's girl

A sister to the white cat above

Happy Belated Valentines

I ment to post this on Valentines but I got busy and missed it by a few days. I'm such a rat, however so is Fuzzy the star model in this photo. So happy belated Valentines day from Fuzzy and me.

  I got Fuzzy when he was just a few weeks old in a bin of gobs of rats destened as snake food. How a cinnamon Dumbo ever made it into a snake food rat bin I will never know but there he was, and I made the pet store owner fish him out. It was quite the ordeal, as there were so many rats pilled in there and he did not want to be the one caught, but then who could blame him.

 He was very shy at first but had a greedy hunger for sunflower seeds and in no time at all he was climbing into my hand to get his favorite food. It was just a short week later that we photographed this.

 Those of you that have rats know how busy they are when active, espcially in a new place, lots to smell and check out. I had trained Fuzzy by placing a seed where I wanted him to go and "take his mark" then to stay there until my shot was done. The 1st attempt Fuzzy came in past the front of the letters and took his mark. Just as he was trained, but it was his tail end that was to the camera, and lets face it many non rat lovers are a little creeped out by that end. The sconed attempt I used my hand to block his way forcing him to come in behind the letters, and here is our shot.

 So this is the actuall shot, the only photoshop being the texture and reflection.

New Stuff!

There is nothing like new photo backdrops to make you want to tourture your pets.

I used to tourture the kids when a new drop came, but they are starting to get bigger then me. :)

Rudy Patootie

Introducing Rudy Patootie,

My 13 year old, who's dog died two years ago, purchased Mr Patootie with her baby sitting money.

Then came home and told me I was a grandmother. 



 So in typical grandma fashion I crocheted him a Dr Seuss Christmas sweater, which he growled at me for putting on. Typical Chi. Not my favorite breed. As punishment for growling I took photos of him waring it and posted them to facebook, that will teach him to growl at grandma.

For those that want a pattern for a super easy Chihuahua sweater here's the link. Linda Fleisch's Chihuahua Sweater Thank you Linda for the great pattern. I modified the pattern to make it smaller (Rudy is 2 pounds) and switched colors with every new row.

Daisy May

Daisy May is our English Bulldog. She hangs out on the sofa, she sleeps with my daughter, she has her own facebook page, and she appears in my photos so often when new clients come they expect to see her in the studio. I almost always have to go get daisy at the end of every session so clients can say hello to her. So I thought I would dedicate a post to her.

 For Mis C's V-day cards

After the v-day shoot we had to torture her a bit with the sock monkey. :)

These were all from our "Dog Days of Summer" children's theme set. Sort of a vintage look for kids and their dogs. Can't you tell the bath was her favorite. Ok just joking, the tea party was actually her favorite.

The "Winter Fairy" theme set

The "Gone Fishing" theme set

Miss C's slumber party invites

Miss C's pool party invites

Daisy's "I look like the old lady next door" hat.

A shoot we did just for her

 The real Daisy hanging out on the back of the sofa like a mountain goat looking out the window.

One Photographers Temptation & An Early Morning Stretch

 I spent 10 days in the hospital. Not the local hospital, but Saint Mary's in Rochester, MN home of Mayo Clinic. I spent another 7 days having my 2nd weeks worth of fungus killer pumped into my veins everyday. I spent another week mostly recovering in bed & making small trips to the store to help regain my strength. Then the fog came.

 The roaming hills that surround my home are not quite the same as grocery store isles. My 15 pounds of camera gear didn't go straight into a cart. At one point I stood looking at a hill with shaking legs not knowing if I could navigate it well enough to get back home and wondering why I had left without my phone. Truly it wasn't my fault, the fog, all the lovely fog.

"Early Morning Stretch" ©Deanna Cathcart 2011

 This is Stella, one of our barn cats. She was walking from one poll to another across the cattle fence. When she got to this poll she did one of those amazing very cat like stretches and I was lucky enough to be there. With shaky legs and week arms I caught her stretching in the fog.







New

A newborn puppy and a 10 year old child, this is real puppy love.