I have something to share! A little project that’s been brewing for awhile now. I wasn’t going to talk about it until it was little more stable, more off the ground, more official. But who knows how long that might take.
And if I talk about it from the get-go, I will:
1) be held accountable to follow through with my own plans which I fully admit I am very bad at doing
2) be able to reflect on this journey later with much amusement. Or sadness, if the venture fails miserably. It could be very interesting. We will see. But only if I write all this down.
So, today, right now, I am officially announcing to the world that I, me. Wants to be…a…
PET PHOTOGRAPHER.
YAY! It feels so right it can’t be wrong!
I spent the last several months just coming up with a name. Hardest thing ever. I didn’t want to use my name. I didn’t want the word “photography” in it. I wanted something a little fun, a little quirky, but not too cutesy.
Most of all, I wanted to name it after this guy…
…who for the last ten years has been my muse and my inspiration. That’s right, I said it. The wind beneath my wings is a cat. His name is VanBuren, and he’s rotund.
So Veebs is officially the mascot of FatOrangeCat Studio! Yay for Veebs, I just knew you didn’t have a set of oversized cat hips for nothing!
Right now my BFF Anne’s graphic designer husband is designing a couple of logos for me. I came up with something rudimentary myself but he’s going to punch it up. They should be ready soon and I can’t wait to see what he’s delivered.
In the meantime, I have a portfolio that needs filling with photos of pets OTHER than Bunny & Veebs, even if they are the most photogenic critters in all of critterdom. I started off by using my friends’ dogs to shoot. My first client was this lovely springer spaniel who lives across the river in Somerville. I spent maybe 30 minutes to an hour shooting, and goodness. It was a lot harder than I anticipated. I didn’t foresee myself getting so self-conscious and nervous. I forgot what I was doing a little bit
Here are a couple of photos from that shoot:
She is an extremely energetic dog but unfortunately I was not able to capture too much of her acrobatics since she had a hurt front leg . It didn’t stop her from trying to run and jump though we tried not to encourage it. When she’s healthy again I’m going to reshoot her at the park. I would love to get a shot of her airborne as she plays fetch, and have some ideas about how I want that shot to look. Looking forward to trying it out!
As an owner of two (very different) cats, I’m curious why you picked Veebs instead of Bunny? They are both beautiful animals, and your pictures have given me a glimpse into their personalities – are you going to try and incorporate Bunny in the future, or is this strickly an Orange Cat venture?
(If you’re going to be a few hours northeast of Boston at some point in the future I’d love to have you capture my two! They’re a bit shy around people they don’t know though – have you had any animals that needed coaxing out of hiding places?)