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

The pet photo session is over. You’re staring at your gallery of proofs. You’re paralyzed with indecision. What should I get? Small prints to put on my desk, or in my photo album? Big, ready-to-hang prints to display over the fireplace? Something else entirely? And which images do I pick? I can’t decide!

Well, here are some of my favorite print products that offer a nice number of your favorite images to be displayed in variety of ways – on a dresser, on a table, on a wall. All are crafted beautifully and stylishly with high-quality, professionally-made materials.

PHOTO BOXES
Last year I started offering photo boxes with a custom cover. Included with the box is ten 5×7′s on matboard. They fit perfectly in the box and are sturdy enough to be displayed on their own, propped on a small easel for example. Here is Freddy‘s first photo box. (I didn’t take any photos of the others that I made…resolution for 2011 is to take photos of ALL finished products!)

COFFEE TABLE BOOKS
Many pet clients order coffee table books of their 4-legged beloveds. I was initially offering 8×8 hardcover books, but after making a 10×10 I haven’t looked back. I design all the page templates myself, preferring to keep everything clean, minimal, and surrounded by white space. Titles for the book are simple too – just the pet’s name and maybe its breed. The title is repeated on the spine, along with my little cat logo. On the last page I add a “Shot on location in {city}” text for fun.

I allow clients to pick a certain number of their favorite photos to go into the book, but I’ve had several who have asked me to pick all the images myself and to lay it out in whichever way I see fit.  The book in effect becomes a “Photographer’s Pick” of images. A big thank you to Floyd’s mom for introducing this idea to me.

First, going the “Photographer’s Pick” route really speeds the whole process up, especially if you’re the indecisive type, or if you’re short on time. A few weeks had passed with no picks from Floyd’s mom and finally she said to me, “Dude” (more or less) which is short for, “I cannot process all this information.” So let me do the work for you!

And second, you get to see your pet in a whole new light! My picks allow me to tell the story of your pet the way I saw it. Floyd’s mom told me that if it were up to her, she’d choose the same kind of photos over and over, and so if I were to pick, it would fun and refreshing to see her dog from another’s point of view.

Here are just a few of the books made in 2010:

^Dasha‘s book in 10×10 and Penny & Maple’s book from 2009, in 8×8 for comparison. Bigger IS better!

CUSTOM FRAMED PRINTS
Even with all the newfangled print products being introduced on a regular basis, sometimes you just end up coming back to the basics, like good, old-fashioned frames! And in this case, high-quality, custom frames that are meant to last. Last year I began a partnership with the Back Bay Framery, Boston’s best. I love being able to work with local businesses, especially when the ladies are as nice as Kerrie and Aura.

All are framed with “museum glass,” which means the glass is anti-glare and anti-reflective (all the reflection in the first two photos are from the protective plastic wrap. I didn’t want to take those off). I offer single frames with multi-openings, so clients can pick up to 3 of their favorite images to be framed together. I’m a big fan of grouping; it’s good for story-telling.

Multi-openings work well for photos of a similar “theme” too. For example, Fergie‘s mom ordered several of these frames and in one, she had a trio of Fergie body parts, hee, and in other, a trio of Fergie in action. Rummy‘s parents chose to frame their print picks individually, but ordered half a dozen, all in B&W and in the same size, which they hung in their hallway single file.

^ My favorite photo of the year!

If you know me, then you know I hate fall. Fall is unjust. Fall is cruel. Just as I’m getting a taste of summer sun which I’ve waited the better part of a year to arrive, it gets pulled right out from under me and we begin that miserable descent into New England’s bleak and endless winter. That what fall says to me. No fun in the sun for you!

But as I’m putting together Floyd’s coffee table book – from 3 sessions over the year – I find myself looking forward to the snow. . .cold breaths. . .gray skies. . .winter. . .Because how bleak can it really be when you have more photos like these to look forward to?

I had more big orders recently that warranted Extra Special Pretty Packaging. My first attempt at DIY packaging was pretty good I thought, and until I become world-famous enough to commission a whole suite of branded products, I will continue to get my crafty mojo on and package items myself.

This time I kicked it up a notch. I punched circles out of pretty Japanese paper (I have a collection of them, love paper) using my handy circle puncher. Glued a strip of navy blue satin ribbon around the outside of the box, and then glued a trio of the paper on top.

Everything is from Paper Source – the circle puncher, the ribbons, the Japanese paper, the petal envelopes, the A9 and presentation envelopes (for 5×7′s and 8×10′s respectively), the portfolio box thingy…I have no idea what they’re called officially, but they’re like stiff cardboard boxes covered in book cloth, and there is a little pocket inside.

The boxes come in a variety of sizes and colors. I saw these smaller ones and thought they would be perfect for one-off items such as a CD/DVD. The box above is for the couple whose wedding I photographed at the beginning of the month. It contains the DVD, a print release letter and a thank you card. And biz card of course.

The box below is for Clive the Springer Spaniel. I check in regularly to Paper Source for new ideas/inspiration and was excited to see a small stack (2 only!) of ORANGE portfolio boxes. I quickly snatched them up. The ribbon color for this is teal, and I used a different sheet of Japanese paper to go with it. It has bits of teal and navy in it as well. Excuse the horrible lighting. It’s been dismal around these parts.

The stack of Clive notecards didn’t fit in the slot, so I placed it above and secured the stack in place with a rubberband, which I then concealed with satin ribbon, tied in a bow.

Clive is also getting 3 huge Mounted Prints which I can’t wait for them to see. I usually find that my favorites are not at all aligned with the clients’ favorites. But here, Clive’s owners picked 3 of my favorite images to blow up – all of which I consider a little “artsy” and unconventional.

In fact, a rep from the pro print lab called me to make sure that bike image selected was in fact correctly cropped — why yes most of Clive’s head is cut off. That’s straight out of the camera, so hit the presses!

All packaging materials from Paper Source, except
:: my business cards – moo.com “green” business cards
:: Letterpress notecards – Parrott Design Studio
:: CD/DVD label – designed and printed by me on Avery CD labels

Ooooo. Where did this box come from? Tiffany? Hermes?

No, better! Fat Orange Cat Studio!

Last week I packaged up an order for Anya the English pointer, whose session took place at her summer home on Cape Cod. She actually lives not far from us here in the South End, so I was able to hand-deliver the prints myself. Usually when I am able to hand-deliver, I will write up a little thank you note, package up the prints in a nice envelope like this, add a biz card and call it a day. But since Anya’s order was so large – because her parents are so rad – I decided that her packaging needed to be a little more special. I couldn’t just hand them a bulging envelope. I needed to hand them a box. So I headed to Paper Source to see what I could use, and found these great portfolio folders wrapped in book cloth. I snagged a few in blue, got a spool of orange ribbon, glued a strand once around the cover for some extra spice, tucked all the envelopes and CD and whatnot into the slot, and voila.

Here are the contents deconstructed:

I had: thank you note written on my letterpress cards (yay!), biz cards, an envelope of 8x10s, a smaller envelope of 5x7s, package of magnets, CD of the photo session, and two mini accordions.

The mini accordions are a new addition to the FOCStudio product line, and they are so cool:

Mini accordions are 3×3 with 6 images on the front, 4 on the back. The front and back are covered in book cloth in the FOCStudio colors of navy blue, light blue and orange.
As a promotion, I am offering 2 mini accordions for $18.00 to all clients who book between now and the end of the year. They make great gifts!

I’ve been offering magnets for awhile, after receiving some samples from the printer’s. I really loved them. They are so fun and come in 4×5 with beveled edges.

Magnets come in sets of 4 (can all be unique) for $35.00

Now we come to my favorite product – Mounted Prints! They are prints adhered directly to a thick fiber board with black beveled edge and are ready to hang. I have had 6 hanging in The Buttery Cafe & Bistro since May, and am really happy that clients have been noticing them and ordering them.

Anya has two of herself as Mounted Prints, both in sizes 24×30. Art for your walls!

Here is another Mounted Print with Bunny for scale, and displayed on my walls. You can see the keyhole in the back. This one of Balki the Boston is 20×30.

I had a promotion running in July and August, with all Mounted Prints having a 3/8″ beveled edge. All the ones above are 3/8″ thick.

Starting now they will now have a 3/4″ edge. See below:

It’s Kitty’s magnificent rump as Mounted Print, sized 11×14 with the 3/4″ beveled edge.

Mounted Prints are my absolute favorite way to display prints – eye-catching but minimalist. Sizes are available from 11×14 to 30×40, and prices start at $110.00

To see more info, visit my Products & Pricing page!

From the moment I began to exist, I loved three things.

#1: Cats. We do not need to elaborate too much there. But as an anecdote, my favorite comment was made by a boyfriend a long time ago as we were traveling through Europe, in towns littered with strays, each of whom I tried to befriend. As I crouched and extended my hand to the umpteenth feline, enticing it to come out from beneath an overturned rowboat in exchange for a head scratch, he observed, “You stop for all cats.” I never realized it until he said it, but yes. Yes I do. I stop for all cats. And I think my traveling companion was kind of annoyed and/or horrified by it, because by all he meant ALL. The one-eyed versions, tail-less versions, the oily-haired versions. I’d stop to pet them all, pet them all good. And then go back and reach for his hand. Ha ha.

#2: Strawberries. I also stop for all strawberries. Dan has a co-worker who loves to bake desserts on the weekends. On Monday he IM’d me to say that this co-worker had this time brought in her own chocolate-covered strawberries, and they were colossal. I made him do a ghetto move and bring one back for me in a Tupperware. When he came home, I removed the strawberry from the Tupperware and the chocolate from the strawberry, ate just the strawberry, then said, “Oh hi you’re home.”

#3: Paper, and any paper-related goods, such as pens. My mom said I knew how to “write” before I could talk. If there was no paper to write on, I used my arm, my leg. Several years ago when my college BFF and I were unhappy at our desk jobs, we dreamed up a plan to start our own business in custom wedding invitations. She would be the right brain of the business, I would be the left.

We particularly liked letterpress so we decided we’d specialize in letterpressed stationery, and even went so far as to name the business The Cats on Beacon Hill. (By the way, this friend of mine calls me Cat and I call her Kitty. This whole cat thing runs deeeep.) Beacon Hill was (is) my favorite neighborhood in Boston. The residents are the type of clients we would want to cater to. Also we thought it sounded nice.

We had a couple of brainstorming sessions and even a few excel spreadsheets were drawn, but the start-up collapsed due to insufficient funds and lack of…anything and everything else necessary to start a business. For example, one question that came up during brainstorming was, “Um OK so how does letterpressing work…?” Neither of us really knew, and then we had a meeting to go to and a conference call to make, and well we never got to researching that part of our letterpressing business.

My love of paper is still intact though, and if I weren’t doing photography, I still would love my own little printing business. The thing that’s stopping me now isn’t lack of focus or drive. It’s lack of space. I met Sarah’s 100+ years-old press last weekend and it’s huuuge! But so beautiful. Sigh. I want one.

I think I need to get married again so I can have Sarah do the wedding invitations. Or maybe I need to finally have that baby now so she could do the announcements. Hmm.

But in the meantime, I am so, so, so happy about this:

And this!

They are CUSTOM-MADE (eeeeeee!!) letterpress plates made from my font and my logo.

Sarah mixed up the ink paste herself, matching the shade to that of the orange on my business card. Below are some practice sheets. I saw these in her studio – ah such a pretty little studio!! – and asked if I could have them.

Something about seeing my name and logo stamped over and over on scrap notecards had me in a small state of bliss. It just illustrates how painstakingly handmade, and therefore imperfect, and therefore beautiful, the whole process is.

100 cards inked and pressed by hand, just for me. This might sound crazy, but these cards are a DREAM COME TRUE.

The plan is to include a little note with each print order I make. The cards were going to say “Thank You” at the top, but then I couldn’t resist seeing my name in print. Also, now they don’t necessarily have to be thank you cards. Wish my name were longer though…more letters to press. “Knightly” would be a great name to see letterpressed. Or “M. Night Shyamalan.”

I’ve been gliding my fingertips over the impressions like inverted Braille. I don’t think I can bear to give any of these away.

If you get one of these notes from me, you must promise to never throw it away, ok? Not even into the recyling bin.

So if anyone has their own business and needs personalized cards for that added touch, or is getting married soon or knows someone who is getting married soon, tell them about Sarah and Things are Better With a Parrott. Because they are! Go local, go boutique, go special! Check out her etsy shop too! You will love your exquisitely made cards.

Love love love.