Photographing Pets: Stephen Scharf

Lucky by Stephen Scharf
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"This is my cat, Lucky. As I am unmarried and presently unattached, he's also my principal companion. He's about three years old; I am not sure of his exact age because I adopted him about a year ago from a rescue agency. Lucky is the first cat I've owned since my previous cat, Eddie, who was one of the great loves of my life, passed away from complications arising from FIV (the feline equivalent of HIV). I grieved Eddie's passing for an entire year, and almost to the day a year later, I found Lucky. He's added a great deal to my life after Eddie's passing, and one of my daily joys is to arrive home from work and find Lucky waiting for me, meowing his hellos. He's a vocal cat, affectionate, intelligent, and very interactive and social. He keeps me company wherever I go in the house.

"I took this portrait of Lucky in indirect window light one sunny morning with my Fuji F31fd point-and-shoot: ƒ/2.8, 1/40th second, at ISO 800. Lucky was sitting on top of his very tall cat scratching post. Normally, Lucky is a very sweet, affectionate, cat, but when cats get in this high position above their "prey," their predatory instincts come to the fore and they can become quite aggressive. Lucky was in such a mood when I took this, and he is trying to belt me with his left paw as I took the picture. I had to be really careful because he has claws like a velociraptor, and could have really shredded me if he had gotten a hold of me.

"I really like this portrait because of Lucky’s very engaging and direct look. It captures very clearly one dimension of who he is, a predator with instincts intact. One of the advantages of always having a point and shoot around is that you can very quickly take advantage of photographic opportunities like these. If I had to go and dig out my big DSLR and slap a lens on, I doubt I would have gotten this shot. The low noise at high ISO performance of the F31 let me take this shot at available light; using flash would have not resulted in the very engaging look he is giving me in this portrait."

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