Li Ward photographer of pets and weddings. Fat Orange Cat Studio is a fresh and candid boutique photography service in Boston, Massachusetts.

Here now is a true fat orange cat. Yogi is a gorgeous Maine Coon, and at 19 lbs he really puts my own fat orange cat to shame. I came home from the shoot and Veebs suddenly resembled to me a small orange pea. I think I will now disclose that Veebs is really not that fat, and so my company name is a sham. It should be renamed to Cheerful Orange Cat Whose Plumbing Got Recently Backed Up Because His Mom Tried to Switch Him to a Raw Diet (but that is another story for another day).

I slung Yogi over my shoulder and it was like carrying a baby lion that had just eaten a baby hippo. I loved it!

Yogi is from the same household as Kendall the boxer. He is a funny little bugger. He was so very camera-ready.  Look at him lounging on his back, doing the occasional stomach crunch. What do you mean this isn’t normal?

I had a great shoot recently with a goofy boxer named Kendall. Her owners are opening up a new pet food shop in the Back Bay, and wanted some photos of their motley crew of one dog and two cats to adorn the store walls. They were hoping to capture the essence of their pets – and of Boston too. Yay! I love shooting in the Back Bay, and especially now when spring is in full bloom. After what feels like endless winters, there is nothing better than Boston in the spring. We have cherry trees and tulips, lilacs and wisteria. We have sailboats on the Charles River. And of course, we have baseball. I had a hard time ending the shoot with so many great elements in place. It was only until people started chattering – the downfall of spring in Boston is that it does still get chilly, especially along the water – that I realized it was probably time to stop.

We started along lovely Beacon Street and headed to the river. It will soon be obvious that Kendall l.o.v.e.s her baseball, to the point of distraction! Since it was instrumental in helping me to get 99.9% of all shots, I think I will dedicate this post to Kendall’s baseball.

This post is dedicated to:

Kendall’s Baseball

Thank you to Kendall and your baseball for a WONDERFUL shoot! Kendall’s feline sibling Yogi will be coming up soon. Yogi is the very definition of a “fat orange cat.”

BEHIND THE SCENES

Mom, Dad, photog, husband/assistant, and baseball. Pretty much all hands on deck here.

Since we know Kendall has eyes only for her baseball, to get her to look at the camera I had my lovely assistant Dan hold the baseball right next to the lens.

If the baseball wasn’t in Kendall’s mouth or in someone’s hands, then it was in the water. We lost count how many times Kendall dropped the ball, and in her panic to retrieve it, her legs would flail about wildly, which only resulted in kicking the ball away. And away it goes rolling, into the water. Over and over and over. Ha ha!

It is now time to meet a very handsome, regal pair of beagles. They are Louie and Marley of Brookline, MA. I met up with them, their mom and 2 year-old sister on a late afternoon day that couldn’t decide whether or not it was going to rain cats and dogs. There were emails and phone calls back and forth before we finally decided to postpone…then at the last minute the clouds parted and the sun shone and we decided to go for it. Then it got cloudy again. Then it didn’t. In any case this is positively the last time I take any meteorologists’ word for it. Barring an erupting volcano, we are going ahead with the shoot! Rain or shine, it always, always seems to work out.

Marley with her lookalike doll.

Little M is having her dinner of pasta and milk, and Marley and Louie take up position for any goodies that may fall.

They are patient, but earnest.

Marley and Louie, we loves you!

I am wayhayhay behind on photo sharing, so before another week goes by without content, I thought I’d post some quick photos of the one thing that can be understood in all languages: MEW MEW MEW.

Our neighbor Marna and friend of the Animal Rescue League of Boston invited us over for the first in what I hope will be an on-going series called “Kittens and Wine Friday.” In a safe and welcoming environment, we drink wine, nibble on cheese, and discuss the current state of kitten affairs. The kittens in question this week (and probably the next) were Freddy and Trip, a pair of 5 week-old orphans that Marna is currently fostering. She took over for another foster whose responsibility was to bottle-feed these little gremlins, since their mother had died shortly after giving birth. They are but weeeeee weeeee things.

This is Trip:

This is Freddy:

And this is Figaro, aka The Big Fig!

He was the first cat I photographed at the shelter many moons ago. After months and months at the shelter, Marna ended up adopting him. Figaro is the most awesomest cat ever, don’t tell Veebs or Bunny. He is a full-figured boy with garlic bulb markings on his face and is just such a character. He so far has helped foster 6 kittens or so, showing them how to properly stalk and chase string.

Here he is with Freddy – the little black blob at the end of the string – for scale.

A big thanks to Marna and Figaro for hosting Kitten and Wine Friday! We’re hoping to reciprocate the gesture soon…Again, don’t tell Veebs or Bunny.

Jen is a wedding photographer and a professional stayer-behind-the-camera-er. Even if you manage a snapshot of her, she’s still behind the camera. But for a few hours one afternoon, she gamely quelled the butterflies in her stomach and stepped in front. Just because she was afraid. Afraid of what, we will never know, because as soon as she stepped in front the camera was like GIRL RUN AWAY WITH ME TO MEXICO.

We started in the Boston Common, weaved our way through Beacon Hill, chasing the light, stopped at the docks on the Esplanade and ended at the Commonwealth Ave Mall just in time for twinkling tree lighting. Afterwards I discovered about 99.9% of all the photos were shot into the sun. The only reason it isn’t 100% is because the clouds rolled in towards the end. I was about to apologize for all the backlighting, but you know what, screw you! I love backlighting okay? Especially these days when the sun has been few and far between. Luckily Jen likes backlighting too, so as long as we’re on the same page, it’s all good.

The first image here was the very first shot I took, as I was taking out the camera out of the bag. I could see the whites of Jen’s eyes. So to ease ourselves into the shoot, I fired a sneaky peeky without looking into the view finder. They don’t always turn out, but it’s fun when they do.

Jen should get in front of the camera more…