I’m Adorable! Take Me Home!

Charmaine, a tortoiseshell glamorpuss, is one beautiful cat! She's one of many cats at Wayside Waifs looking for a home

Luna is an 11-year-old tortoiseshell sweetheart. Her bio says "This senior tortie cat came into Wayside when her owner was leaving for basic training and couldn't take her along. Luna is hoping her next family is out there waiting to give her the happy ending she deserves!"

I’ve been taking photographs once a week at Wayside Waifs, a Kansas City, Missouri, animal shelter,  for a month now.  I’m amazed at the huge variety of beautiful cats available for adoption in many colors, patterns and fur length. (See more of my photos below.)

I don’t even see them all, because, fortunately, many cats and kittens are quickly adopted.  But many more homeless cats and kittens (as well as dogs and puppies) come in the door as strays or surrendered pets just as quickly.  That’s why we need lots of families for these fuzzy balls of love. Wayside Waifs cares for about 400 cats and dogs and some small mammals every day.

Selena's beauty is undeniable from any angle.

Here’s from a July 22, 2010, email from Wayside Waifs:  “As Kansas City’s largest no-kill animal shelter, Wayside Waifs is committed to doing everything in our power to help animals in need.  Within the last week, Wayside Waifs has opened its doors to nearly 200 animals in need.  We’ve taken in homeless animals from overcrowded shelters in Missouri, Kansas and as far away as Montana.  We did not hesitate to answer a plea for help again yesterday, when a shelter in the Kansas City community was left in the dark following a powerful thunderstorm. 

Each of the rescued animals is now receiving loving care and a well-deserved second chance at Wayside Waifs.  Some have already found their forever homes, the rest are in good hands until the right family comes along.” 

Nearly all tortioiseshell cats are female. Find out why and more about these lovely cats by clicking on About Tortoiseshell cats.

To learn more about Wayside Waifs, see some of the animals available for adoption  and to donate, click on Wayside Waifs.

To see my first post on Wayside Waifs, which was featured on the WordPress home page for a day or two , click on  Wayside Waifs.  Be sure to check it out. Lots more beautiful cats and kittens! Most have been adopted, although as of this writing, Ike still needed a home. More cat photographs below.

Orion. Yes, he's got more than star power, he's requires the name of an awesome constellation to capture his magnificence.

Josie is always ready for her close-up, because she's nonstop gorgeous.

Joan shows off her sleek, fabulous looks. She's long, dark and beautiful.

Pedro has tuxedo markings, but don't let the formal attire fool you. He's a cat with a fun-loving personality and he really knows how to play!

On the left is Riff Raff, who's really an aristocrat with lovely manners and a charming and loving personality.

I confess, I don't know Jersey from Shore, but these two almost identical cats (one serves as a pillow for his littermate) are both sweet, beautiful kittens.

Ms. Pufferfish (sitting patiently on the left) and her kittens were not quite ready for adoption, but you can see that they will be in great demand.

Here's a preview of some of Ms. Pufferfish's kittens.

Who could resist Globo?

Malcolm Meets Rupert

Malcolm (orange) meets Rupert (gray), the newest member of our family. We found Rupert in the discount bin, something Malcolm could probably identify with if he could think beyond naptime and Captain's Choice. Rupert's primary job is picking up after Malcolm, whose glorious orange (or ginger) hair is all over the place. Rupert needs a lot of grooming after roaming the floor. I think Malcolm is jealous.

I’m Addicted to Digital

My newest addiction! My photographs are the tabby cat in the second row and the Texas waffle in the third row. After all of the "arty" photographs I've taken and submitted, I never dreamed that my two most popular photographs, featured on the RedBubble home page, would be my cat and a waffle I made for my breakfast.

Last month, I stumbled across a photographer’s blog that mentioned the RedBubble art and photography website, so I checked it out — then I signed up.  Now, I can’t stay away from it.  The amount of incredible excellent art and photography on cyberspace is mind-boggling — and from teenagers, even.  

If only we’d had digital photography and computers when I was a kid.  (We did have electric typewriters with correction tape.  And boy did I need the tape! ) All of my hard-earned darkroom skills are now archaic.  Using film, an enlarger and developing chemicals these days is like listening to your music on vinyl disks.  You have to be hard-core to do it.  I love the instant gratification as well as the ability to edit in so many ways in digital photography!  We “edited”  in the film darkroom, too, but it was limited.  And I only did black and white.   (I won’t even go into cameras.  More on that later.)

Birds are an extremely popular photography subject. You need a twist to stand out from the flock. I took this photograph of a cardinal holding on for dear life as he's buffeted in an early spring snow storm on a pear tree branch outside my kitchen window. You can't see the detail here, but the blossoms are covered with snow and the branches encrusted with ice. The poor cardinal, as brave as he is, is probably too common.

I started with Flickr, but I love RedBubble’s Aussie cheekiness.   Etsy is fun, too. (I discovered Kenna Foster on Etsy. She’s also on Flickr.  She’s on my blogroll. Check her out!)  I don’t know how many photography and art sites are online, but there must be tens of thousands of photographers and artists looking at and commenting on one another’s work, everyone from professionals to the people posting their first work.  It’s inspiring, overwhelming and humbling at the same time.

My photograph of Paddington with his mis-matched eyes has been very popular with other cat owners and lovers. Paddington is tired of me pursuing him with a camera and is going to take out a restraining order against me.

On RedBubble or Etsy, there’s a chance that someone will see one of your great photographs or artworks and decide that they can’t live without it. On Etsy, the artists themselves produce and deliver the work.  

If you order through RedBubble, RB produces and ships the art as a card, print, canvas, calendar or poster.  I suspect that much of the art sold on RB is to the artists and photographers themselves.  I bought my own photograph (below) of the View from the Sydney Tower on canvas.  Those RedBubble people know what they’re doing!

Anyone who signs up for RedBubble (It’s free) can also get a free photography website, which is very cool.  You can organize your photos into galleries.  It was incredibly simple.  You can join a huge number of specialty groups on RB, such as landscapes, sunsets and sunrises, wildlife, doors and windows, old theaters, rivers, pets, food, skies  — in fact not even the sky is the limit.   Each group has sub-sets, too.  There are groups with minimal standards, and there are groups by invitation only, and everything in between.

I like to photograph oddball things, such as this van parked at Bondi Beach in Sydney. I think the driver is trying to contact the mother ship.

Featured photographs and art usually are exceptional, awe-inspiring, off-beat, fresh or eye-popping or else tug at your heart-strings (or else the person who selected it just took the next artwork that came along…..)

I know many of you out there are photographers.  What is your favorite photography website?  What are your favorite subjects. What do you do with all of your photographs? Do you print many?  Why do you take photographs?  I wanna know!  If you want to see a RedBubble website, here’s mine.  I’m still working on it.  My favorite gallery is “Fun Stuff”.  Catherine Sherman Photography.

RedBubble.      Flickr.   Etsy.  Beholden to Nature – Kenna Foster Photography.

Thanks to my daughter for saving the RedBubble screen shot for me.

I thought my photograph of this view from the Sydney Tower was spectacular, but the number of spectacular photographs in cyberspace seems to be infinite!