Feline Photographers Part 1

"Cats never strike a pose that isn't photogenic." - Lillian Jackson Braun

- Candilee Jackson

As a Southern California native, this writer grew up following the incredible work of photographer and environmentalist Ansel Adams (1902-1984), also a California “prune picker” (a Depression-era term for a native Californian). His life was his camera, and its products were his art. “Life is your art. An open, aware heart is your camera. An oneness with your world is your film. Your bright eyes and easy smile are your museum,” was his mantra. Although few of CFA’s talented photographers shoot in black and white, they all seem to carry a life devoted to the light and love of cats created by their cameras, all-seeing eyes, and open hearts.

A cat show, its feline critters, and their staff go hand in hand. Each CFA photographer (as do the various cat owners) brings something special to the show by taking a moment in time and altering life by holding it still. The results are gorgeous pictures of our felines at play, in cute poses in flowerpots, miniature Radio Flyer wagons, or cavorting among pieces of driftwood that appear in magazines, advertisements, show fliers, Cat Talk’s “Grandstand,” or framed and set out in places of honor at home.

“It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera … they are made with the eye, heart, and head.” (Anonymous)

Richard Katris grew up in Southern California, specifically Temple City, a suburb of Los Angeles. While in the fourth grade, life took an exciting turn as his family moved first to Lisbon and later to Rio de Janeiro, where Richard finished up the eighth grade. After graduating from Temple City High School, Richard received a Bachelor of Science in marine biology at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, and then studied toward a master’s degree.