All photos by Kristina Makeeva. Used with Creative Commons permission.
Everyone knows the power of beautifully captured cat and dog portraits (and how these photos can turn the cutest pets into Internet superstars). Anyone who wants to take better pet portraits, especially of cats, are in for a treat with the adorable work of Moscow-based Kristina Makeeva. While these feisty felines are often challenging to photograph, the results are rewarding, as she demonstrates in the portraits of her cat, Kotleta.
Adorable Kotleta (or Cutlet cat, as Makeeva calls him in her portrait series) shows so much purr-sonality and charm in the shots. The fluffy feline definitely makes a perfect portrait subject, and Makeeva did well to craft various scenes and fun stories where he can be the star of his own show. It’s amazing how our featured photographer was able to pull off all these creative shots; anyone with a cat knows that an aww-inducing cat portrait doesn’t come easy.
Makeeva herself knew what was needed if she wanted to get out-of-the-box portraits of Kotleta. She had a great understanding of her furry friend’s nature and temperament and used it to her advantage. “Kotleta has this world conqueror look since he was born, so we also call him ‘Catriarch.’ He is quite a phlegmatic cat, and that helps me in making compositions,” she detailed in her series description. “At home, he can sit with a cap on his head for 2 minutes. On the street or in other areas he simply doesn’t go anywhere — he sits wherever you put him.”
Those who are yet to get a successful photo of their beloved felines can learn one more thing from Makeeva: like any other cat, Kotleta can be bribed with tasty treats to get him to look the right direction and perhaps be positioned in the right spot. “Of course, we know how to keep his attention with different tasty things, and what to do that he would look at the right direction.”
“Cat’s psychology is such that they cannot be forced to do something, we can only do a certain sequence of actions so that he thinks that it was all his decisions.”
Do check out Kristina Makeeva’s website and Behance portfolio to see more of her work.