We talked about photography and cats on Monday. Cats give us so many wonderful photo-ops, but what about those that we miss—those photo opportunities we aren’t swift enough to capture or we just can’t get the angle we want or the cat is skittish and camera-shy?
I’ve been trying for a year to capture a good shot of 
Olivia’s signature stretch. Oh it’s a beauty. She stretches with her paws out in front of her, her butt up in the air, and that gorgeous tail arches across her back touching her head. She does it several times a day, but do you think I can get a good picture of it? Not yet. I’m sharing the best I have so far.
Olivia is quite athletic—oh can she jump. I’ve attempted to get a nice shot of her gracefully twisting in the air after a toy I’ve tossed to her. I’ve even failed, so far, when trying to video her. She’s too fast and her moves unpredictable.
I often miss shots of the cats I see while out and about. I saw a pretty spotted cat with white at a horse ranch last week while watching a great-granddaughter take a riding lesson. I got some nice pictures of my great-
granddaughter, but that cat quickly escaped my focus. A couple of days ago I saw wide gold eyes staring out at me through a fence and realized it was a black cat in the shadows. Gorgeous shot. He saw me grab for my phone and he split. Missed that one, too.
It’s a good day when Olivia poses pretty and the lighting is right and when the neighborhood cats stay on the fence post or next to a flowering bush long 
enough for me to get a shot.
I have to say that one of the most magnificent cat photos I’ve ever taken was an accident. I was attempting to photograph my mother’s cat, Smokey (aka Rags in the Klepto Cat Mysteries). He was peering out from amidst a bed of flowering plants. Very cute. So I snapped the picture just as Smokey leaped out of the bush and I thought, “Dang, I missed the shot.” When I checked the screen on my camera, however, wowie-wow-wow! I found that I had captured Smokey in mid air, his eyes in focus as he focused on a bee between his paws. It was such a good shot that it won the People’s Choice Award at our county fair that year in the amateur photography contest.
I’ve learned that you win some and you lose many when it comes to animal photography.
