Cat Photo Competition 5 2014 : Entry Number 97

This image is an instant favorite ... the clean composition, the perfect white balance, beautiful tones, and, of course, the captivating expression of this cat, dead-center in the frame, all work to make this one fabulous image. Nicely done! ~ illona

Thanks for the Mark Of Excellence. This photo has a story: As a professional photog. from Frankfurt, Germany, I'm supporting the city's animal shelter by taking photos of their animals on a voluntary basis. These photos are used for adoption-ads on FB and the shelters website. This particular photo was shot inside the facilitys quarantine-station, because the cat shown is completely deaf and had to be separated from the others. That's why the staff wanted to promote its adoption with nice images, but quarantine-stations aren't the most cozy places. I had to deal with tiles and fluorescent lights everywhere. Instead of animating the cat with toys to get a cliche-shot, I decided to let her explore the corridor and laid down on the floor with my Fujifilm X-T1 & XF 56mm F1.2 lens while the cat walked away from me. When she turned around, she saw me laying there and was extremely inquisitive about that odd human on the floor. While she walked towards me, I took this shot.