babies and toddlers (and pets too) have a special quality absent in most other human portrait subjects that makes them very rewarding to photograph: they are utterly unselfconscious in front of a camera, being largely unaware of its purpose. they don’t shrink, get shy, pose, act, or pull exaggerated/artificial facial expressions. the main challenge is to gain their trust so that they aren’t reacting (negatively) to your presence. and – you don’t have to direct them! possibly my favourite part of all 😉

and because a post without a photo is boring: here’s joshua…

you might also remember him from such posts as this, this, this or this 😉

today, one of my cats left me a present. now, this is not the first occasion that i have received this gift, but today’s example was particularly cleverly placed.

in the past they have left me much more gory offerings:

* a very much alive and noisy (huge) cicada in the middle of the night, which i had to chase around the lounge for a good 20 minutes while it flew madly about yelling its head off with the cat vainly attempting to recapture it – quite deafening at 3 in the morning

* injured birds/mice in varying stages of expiration… in fact one bird spent some time recovering in the hot water cupboard and when we checked to see if it was ok it rapidly exited the box and flew straight back into the same (surprised) cat’s mouth, so we had to rescue it all over again

* many dead birds/mice (and pieces of such) both outside and inside the house *blergh*

* the time i heard growling in the kitchen, so i got up thinking a strange cat was fighting with one of mine, and instead i see a semicircle of my own cats looking at the other one who was holding large newly dead rat, which he dropped when he saw me and meowed, very pleased with himself *double blergh*

* the most noisome had to be the actual POO, bang outside the bedroom door one Christmas morning.
worst… present… ever.
all you ungrateful ppl who complain because you didn’t get the wii-fit, shopping mall gift vouchers or titanium bbq tools you asked for, have got nothing on that one. you didn’t get poo, be happy.

this time, my gift merely hindered road visibility for the entire journey and annoyed me whenever the sun caught it. so i’m sharing it with you… i’m sure all you cat-owners (and those who live next door to them!) can identify: