I’m still having fun photographing birds, but also some of the cats I see hanging around our neighborhood and my walking route. Notice how they choose just the right background and the right pose. Cats are clever that way. However, if they know you have a camera, sometimes they seem to mutter “abort—abort,” and they turn away or dart, leaving you (the photographer) with a blur of fur on your screen. You have to be fast to catch the shot you want.
I’m notorious for thinking too long before picking up 
the camera. It happened again this week. We were visiting family and the two household dogs were waiting for their dinner on the “waiting rug.” They’re trained to stay there until the command is spoken. Well, I see these two 
waiting with extreme anticipation. Every muscle in their little bodies were tense. Sandy and Lacey were poised to bolt toward their food dishes at the first spoken syllable. “What a neat shot,” I told myself. But by the time I had my phone camera ready to shoot, the command was spoken and the dogs were off like a shot, leaving me without one (a shot, that is), unless I wanted to take a picture of wagging tails.
Sometimes you get more from a photo than you expect, like the time I was photographing a pretty white Samoyed and his friend photo-bombed him. Clever dog.
Speaking of surprises in your animal photos, once a bird I was photographing decided to
drop his own “bomb” as he flew off. Yup, I got the shot.
I’ve been scolded for photographing cats in someone’s yard. Ooops. I try to get permission before photographing toward a house, but when the cat is in a window and the blinds are pulled, I will take a couple of shots. And if the cat is in the yard, but nowhere near a window and there are no residents in the frame, I figure it’s fair game. I especially like photographing cats in trees, on fences, or lolling in a garden. There’s just something charming about cats in the out-or-doors.
