Last weekend the Cat Fanciers' Association was in Atlanta for a show. Lucky for me it was not too far of a drive and did not require me to get on any freeway. I have a phobia about driving on freeways -- and yes I drive across a few states occasionally to visit relatives, and I did drive on freeways in Los Angeles/Orange County on a regular basis -- but that does not mean I liked it. (well, the driving across states is not bad -- it is the city traffic that really freaks me out)
Anyway -- the cat show was in town. I have a cat -- and I was curious about seeing others up close and personal. The biggest selling point to get me to pay $7 admission was that cameras were welcome. YAY! The website for the show said you could photograph the cats as long as you asked permission first. OK -- so once I took a photo of a cat without asking -- well no one was around.
There was just about any color, size, hair-length, ear 'design', tail length, etc. that you could think of at the show. When I say ear 'design' I mean that there were cats with tall, big ears -- there were cats with regular ears -- and there were cats with ears folded back at the tips.
I did not want to use a flash because I did not want to startle any of the cats. Although I wonder if they would have been startled -- they seemed very used to all of the hustle and bustle of the show. I took just the 50mm 1.4 lens since it is so fast. I learned that the cats could be much faster.
Many of the cats, when not up for judging, were zippered into their carriers lounging about on hammocks and such. Occasionally I would find an owner prepping their cat or just holding one out. The best time, I found, to get decent photos of the cats was when the owner was on the way back to their space after judging. While walking around I would spot them and ask if I could take a photo. They always agreed and were happy to talk about their cats.
The photo on the blog was one of the better ones of the day. I was interested in seeing the Sphinx Cat in person. They are much cuter and have quite a personality that does not come across by looking at photos of them. Now I need to find a dog show! One thing I learned -- if I had taken a cat toy with me it probably would have helped with the photos. If I do find a dog show -- I will stick a squeeky in my pocket before I leave the house.
