Recently, I went to a cat show in the Baltimore area. I entered both veteran Nougat and his grandson Fudgie. One of my plans for the show was to have them both photographed by Chanan Photography out of California. For Nougat , it was likely to be his last photos prior to retirement. For Fudgie, it was his “big boy” pictures at  a year of age now.

Nougat’s session went well. He is a pro. The only issue with Nougat is that he is so laid back, it can be difficult to get expression from him. Then it was time for Fudgie. One of the reasons I like Richard Katris (Chanan) so much is that he is so good with the cats along with taking fabulous photos. It is an art for sure.

Fudgie got to the show in the morning in a good mood. He went up the climbing pole in the first judging ring. He was comfortable and relaxed. Then it started: the basketball games. You see, the  cat show rented space in a sports venue. All day long the games were going on. Nougat didn’t care. Fudgie did.

So, when it was Fudgie’s turn to be photographed, he wasn’t in the mood. I mean, he REALLY wasn’t. Sitting on a table under lights and playing with wand toys just couldn’t outweigh the noise of the basketball bouncing. In addition, the photography station was near the entrance, where screaming kids walked by.

Fudgie jumped off the table once to escape. I put him back up, petting and talking to him. Richard was wonderful, giving him time to relax and even spending a great deal of effort petting Fudgie himself to try to get him to mellow out and enjoy the session. The extreme patience and kindness shown to my cat was wonderful. In the meantime, I was like the parent who had taken his kid to see Santa for the holiday picture and all he got was a screaming child. Despite my mind melding with Fudgie to relax, only a couple of photos were taken.

Fudgie will have to wait for a venue that has no basketball games.