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

My first coffee table book arrived a couple of days ago and I haven’t had any time to talk about! So here is a little preview for now.

Heart heart heart.

I’ve been holed up in my office for the last several days working on getting that coffee table book designed and out the door. I even unplugged myself from the internet, known as Most Evil of All Time Suckers, to keep myself free of distractions.

The layouts I kept fairly simple: about 2 to 3 images per pet, lots of white space, no two-page spreads or creases to worry about. Nevertheless, and not really surprisingly, each page took about FOREVER and two days to cobble together. Forever. To make them worth the effort, I’d have to charge about $999.99 per book. That’s the bad news. But for the one piece of bad news I give you TWO pieces of good news!
1) Any subsequent printings of the same book would only cost $100.00! So yay! $1099.99 for two custom coffee table books of your beloved pet! And
2) if indicators are correct, these books will come out kicking some major butt.

Here is a little sampling of the contents. It’s going to be a hardcover, 8×8 hinged book (will lay flat when opened). The first 20 sides are of dogs, the next 20 of are cats.

This is the cover. Back, spine, and front.

“fresh & candid pet photography” is my current tagline, and I’m trying to drive that point as many times and in as many places as possible. Used the official FOCStudio font throughout, and the official FOCStudio colors of sea blue (is there an actual name for this shade of blue?) and orange.

Of course as official mascot of Fat Orange Cat Studio, Veebs gets the last word. The last photo cracks me up. He looks all squished the way he flattens the top of his head when he yawns. And crinkles his nose so violently that there are two deep creases running down it. And that scratchy tongue that looks like a swooshy slide. Not to mention those little fangs, which love to tear into Cat Chow and roast beef.

I can’t wait to see how the final product turns out. Then I can more properly judge if $999.99 for a book is appropriate. Heh.

Before I start shooting, I always have a picture in my mind’s eye how I’d like a capture to look, either based on the lighting around the subject at the moment, the subject’s mood, the subject’s surroundings. Lately though, I’ve been taking on a more “macro” approach, seeing not just the capture as it appears in front of me, but in large-scalish print – matted, framed, propped on a mantel or hung on the wall. The whole finished product. And since I think photos have more visual impact when arranged in a group, I’m no longer just thinking about one capture, but a series of captures at a time. Because at the end of the day, these photos are not meant to be squirreled away inside shoeboxes or between pages of an album, even. They are meant to be ON! DISPLAY! and I want to be able to give customers ways of doing it that will have the most visual and emotional impact.

So here is just one example: photos in the same color and pose or angle “family.” I think design-wise it’s cohesive, and most importantly, an effective way of telling a story.

Below is a B&W series of Kitty. We have the same pose, but different angles. Kitty was quite comfy in her loaf pose, so I had to work with that before I disrupted her cat zen and made her actively participate.

Taken individually, I don’t think these photos are SO so interesting. Except for perhaps the giant heart-shaped rump shot, my goodness. Taken together though, the photos take on a whole new dimension. Kitty’s personality comes through, and it says, That’s right, human! Front, side, back, I’m sexy from all angles!

Below is another B&W series of Kitty. This time, it’s the same angle, but different poses.

These are all in 8×10’s. When looking through the online proofs, Kathy, the owner, wasn’t sure she wanted anything bigger than 5×7’s, since most photos already on display in her place were no bigger than 4×6’s. But I told her what she needed to hear: Bigger is better!! For these you MUST go for 8×10’s at least, and those 8×10’s MUST be grouped in threes, and those three MUST be ones of Kitty reaching for the dangling mouse. Must. That’s just how it had to be. Luckily it wasn’t too difficult to convince her of this, heh.