We all make cat friends—our own cats, but also other people’s cats, neighborhood cats and cats we meet along the way. This might include shop cats (in feed stores, pet stores, book stores, retail packing houses, nurseries, lumber yards, veterinarian’s offices, and cat cafés, to name a few), as well as at cat shows and those cats we happen across while traveling or out walking. I’ve even come across cats that were on their own walk 
with their person—in a stroller, draped over someone’s shoulder, on a leash, or in a backpack.
When we used to have in-person conferences with the Cat Writers Association, members with cool collected cats, therapy cats, trained cats would bring them to the conference. It was always fun to sit in a meeting or workshop or at a meal with a cat at the table, or to peek in on the kitty-cat playroom where well-behaved cats hung out while their person was attending a workshop.
When I see a cat while I’m on my daily walk, my phone 
camera immediately comes out and I start shooting. I shoot from a distance first and move in as close as the cat will allow me for an even better shot. I love these photos of the black cat in the cactus, which I took just last week. I walk that route often and that was the first time I’d seen this beauty. As you can see, she/he let me get pretty close—a curious kitty-cat for 
sure.
I particularly like photographing cats in windows. I think it’s rather artistic, but I’ve stopped shooting toward houses like that. The homeowner might not understand that I’m only after a photograph, I’m not trying to reveal their darkest secrets. I was shouted at once when I stopped to photograph a striking Siamese cat out in front of a yard. The homeowner was also out walking and she came running at me shouting to stop, stop! I rushed to apologize and explain I was just taking a picture of her cat. She had no sense of humor, nor was she neighborly. She simply told me to never do it again. Ooopsie.
