After talented photographer Carli Davidson took adorable and funny images of dogs and puppies “Shaking it off,” it was only natural to turn to another species she adores and photographs frequently, cats!
“SHAKE CATS was something I had been hoping to make since I shot my first shaking cat photos back in 2011, the same year I shot the first SHAKE dog photos,” Davidson says.
Davidson’s beautiful cat models are almost all rescues from Portland, Oregon. She used her SHAKE sessions as a way to help these felines get homes, by doing a nice head shot first. Most of the cats were adopted almost immediately following.
And…how do you get a cat to shake?? Davidson explains:
“Getting the cats to shake was actually more of a grooming process than a waiting game. We basically treated the shoot like a mini grooming session with lots of treats and cat cuddles. I had my assistants, Amanda Giese and Tanya Paul, who are also professional animal care technicians, on site to do nail trims and ear cleanings. The ear cleanings are what generally caused the shake to happen, I just had to be ready.”
Davidson’s first cat, when she was five years old, was a big orange tabby that she picked out from the shelter. She now has Yushi, a black cat she and her partner picked out at the shelter a week before Halloween 2005. (See her SHAKE pictures below!)
The following images are from her new released book, SHAKE CATS (available here), which we are sure is going to be on everyone’s holiday wish list this year! And, if that’s not enough, here is a video featuring some slow motion cat shaking that is just awesome:
