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

I have a corollary to my last “Things I Like” post back in March, regarding calligraphy. I have been keeping up with it, putting in at least one hour of writing every day – calligraphy is such an easy procrastinating device! – that I have gotten much, much better since my first post. I have miles to go before my hand looks strong and sure, and it will be some time more before I feel like I have my own style, but nevertheless I’m feeling confident enough now to offer my hand-lettering services to couples planning a wedding, without too much fear that anyone will laugh in my face.

In fact I have a few couples for whom I’m slated to do some calligraphy work. Some are couples whose wedding I’m photographing, and some are not! There will be menus to write on chalkboard, dessert cards for dessert tables, and even hand-drawn cat and dog portraitures (more on that later). Really, any little bit of writing makes me SO HAPPY.

I always knew I would love calligraphy, if I would just sit down and do it! Why I never did until now, I’ll never know. Well, I’m off and skipping and hopping down this path now, and I hope to talk about my calligraphy progress some more on this blog, as well as my inspiration, so I hope you don’t mind if the topics diverge occasionally from that of pet photography!

Here are some samples of fictitious addresses that I had a grand time concocting. (Except for Edward Gorey. He’s real and his illustrations are another source of inspiration.) My stock pile of Crane’s stationery is finally being put to good use. And yes, Jane Austen et al. are totally #1 on the list of Things I Like. I kind of localized all the characters. It is not hard to picture Emma Woodhouse as a Connecticut-suburb kind of gal, or that Rochester might be found brooding away in the bayous of Louisiana…

So if you or anyone you know is looking for calligraphy needs, and you don’t think I stink, let me know! My fingers are itching to write.

I love pens. I love paper. I doodle non-stop. Dan yells at me because I’ll absently doodle on bills if it and a pen are within reach. Even with Google docs or Google calendar or whatever electronic tools that are available out there to keep organized, I still keep a very paper-based system of note-taking, just so I can write.

I’ve always wanted to try calligraphy ever since jr. high but like so many other interests I thought I had, I never got past just dabbling here and there. Same with photography. A steady attention span has never been my forte. I’ve been dabbling with photography forever it seems, and it was only a couple of years ago that I decided to step it up. So I’ve decided I’d like to step up my calligraphy skills as well, and quit saying it’s something I would like to do without doing it. I really don’t have any skills to begin with, aside from a penchant to just scribble.

I’ve had this pen, nib and ink set that I got eons ago in Florence, Italy. I used it the other day for the very first time. I love the way the ink smells, like moist soil in a dark forest, the noise the nib makes as it scratches across the paper’s surface, how the ink sprays if I bear down too hard. And how much the whole process hurts my hand.

This is a work in progress! So far I like writing S’s and lower case f’s the best. I am horrible at lower case a’s and n’s. Lots to practice, but I’m so enjoying the process.

There is a currently a stack of March 2010 Boston Magazines in the house, and the collection is growing…

…because Fat Orange Cat Studio is featured inside the pages!

Featured in the magazine is Luna, that cute swishy-tailed terrier mix I photographed in the beginning of January. I didn’t know it at the time, but her owner is the executive editor of Boston Magazine, and the session was set up by them as a test.  I think it explains now why the shoot was so short – they wanted to make sure I would actually 1) show up as scheduled, and 2) make sincere attempts to take good photos! Sneaky sneaky. For a couple of months now I have been sitting with the notion of possibly, maybe being in print – for the first time! -  so it is very exciting to see that it has actually happened.

And Veebs! He is especially thrilled to see “Fat Orange Cat” in print. So thrilled that he’s celebrating by sleeping.

I am sending a copy to my parents who are right now living in Beijing. I think I will have to translate the article slightly though for my mom. Her English is fine, but she is definitely not well-versed in the world of Yiddish, nor in the world of metaphors for that matter. The terms “cuddle-bunny” and “Milk Duds” will be a puzzle, heh. I am imagining too what she will do when she comes to the word “froufrou” and tries to read it outloud (she will pronounce it “fro fro”). It makes me giggle!

Here were my first paying clients of 2009, three cats named Tilly, Moxie and Truman. Technically, their session was at the end of Dec 2008, but I received my first glittering paycheck from the owner in Jan 2009, so I’m going with that.  I remember when I received that first check, made out to Fat Orange Cat Studio (eeee!), there was this huge jolt to the head that singed my eyebrows and rattled my teeth and sent my heart racing a million miles an hour. I was no longer just dabbling in photography for fun, for myself. I was skerred! Terrifed! My first reaction was to tear up that check and give her the prints for nothing, because I was sure that’s how much the prints were really worth, and apologize for pulling the wool over her eyes. A very sound practice to have, if your goal is to take your business and nosedive it straight into the ground.

{ Tilly, Moxie and Truman with my rudimentary logo }

And here is a sneak peek at the latest critter of 2010.

{ Sonny the pomapoo puppy }

The only unsound business practice I wanted to do this time was to run off into the woods with him stuffed in my mouth.

So yes, Fat Orange Cat Studio has turned one year old this month! I wish I had a hard date but I’m not sure what it is, having launched several times. I “soft launched” on Feb 5th 2009 but switched hosting providers almost immediately because the blog was running incredibly, incredibly slowly. I soft launched again a few days later but didn’t announce it to the world until I was sure things were running smoothly. I wrote a couple of posts and then officially announced on Feb 13 that the site was LIVE! Fat Orange Cat Studio was OPEN for BUSINESS!  (Okay duh maybe 2/13 should be my anniversary date.)  I announced this on another blog of mine I had been keeping, no I will not tell you where it is, and encouraged readers there to visit here and leave a question for me to answer so that I could have content for my very sparse About page. I received a ton of comments, my best college buddy in NYC sent over a bottle of champagne, Dan and I drank it and went out for a celebratory dinner, it was all very festive!

(Out of all the questions I received, I have only answered 10, eeps! I do plan on getting around to all of them though – many of which you can see in the comments here and here – and hopefully the last full year have given me more material to base my answers on…)

I’m not going to give the year’s round-down since I pretty much did that in my 2009 wrap-up post. Nor do I have a contest at the ready to celebrate. So instead I will be lame and just thank everyone again, so very very much, for helping make my first year such a wonderful and fulfilling experience! I feel so lucky to be doing this.

I’ll be the first to admit it: I am horrible at displaying prints. I take and take and take photographs and then I take some more…and at the end of the day I don’t know what to do with so many photos. Album or scrapbook? Desk or wall frames? Which ones, in what order and on which wall? I can’t make up my mind so as a result, many of my photos either pile up in a shoebox or in a hard drive, so sad and all alone. If only I had a little direction to help me organize and display my photos so that they receive the respect they deserve! Because what is the point of taking all these photos when you’re not going to showcase them properly?

Enter The Back Bay Framery, Boston’s premier fine-art framer.

I love supporting local vendors and working with great people, so it is with great excitement and glee that I announce a Fat Orange Cat Studio promotion with The Back Bay Framery, to help you turn your important photos into beautifully framed works of art, ready to be showcased in your home!

When you book a session with me and order prints, bring those print in to The Back Bay Framery and receive 15% off all display products and services! This runs the gamut from desktop picture frames to handcrafted scrapbooks to leather albums – and even custom framing.

There are a lot of beautiful products to choose from, and Kerrie, the owner of The Back Bay Framery, is on hand to help. She has been serving Boston’s custom framing needs since 1998, and because of her wonderful service, hands-on approach, and solidly crafted products, her business has flourished, winning the venerable Best of Boston award several times. I am finally getting a few important pieces custom framed, and Kerrie has been wonderful to work with.

If you visit her store now, you’ll see a rather lavish display of my pet photos at the front of the store…

So giddy to see my photos so beautifully framed! No, these are not your IKEA or Crate + Barrel frames, for sure.

Kerrie runs The Back Bay Framery with the help of her lovely assistants, Sadie Lou and Spike (the Yorkie mix). All three may greet you at the door.

So! If (1) You’re in the Boston area, (2) have a dog or a cat / or want yourselves photographed, (3) contact me to schedule a shoot, (4) order prints, (5) head over to The Back Bay Framery, (6) consult with Kerrie to get them beautifully displayed and (7) receive 15% off your order. Now you have no reason not to have your photographs properly showcased.

The Back Bay Framery
227 Newbury Street in Boston
Between Fairfield and Exeter Street

And tell Kerrie that Fat Orange Cat Studio sent you!