Cats at ICAN

I spent another hour or so at the Invermere Companion Animal Network this afternoon. Took Paul along just in case I needed help ... risky, I know ... we could've ended up bringing a cat or two home.

This time I got photos of all ICAN's guests, I think ... unless someone was hiding somewhere!

And I learned a few things, too! About using flash ...

... don't be afraid, flash is your friend!
... don't bounce flash of a purple wall unless you want purple everything (doh!)!

I used the 70-200 lens this time, in an effort to keep more distance between me and my subjects. I learned ...

... remember to use a greater depth of field / smaller aperture so that more of the cat's face is in focus!
... using a longer lens in close quarters can be very challenging!
... no matter the length of the lens hood, someone's gonna put a noseprint on the glass!

Below are the shots the didn't quite make the cut, but that I like anyway. The better shots are on my smugmug page:

Some of the new arrivals come from a dumping ... at a rest stop several kilometers from anywhere, someone had dumped the cats ... all haven't been found yet ... but our vollies are stopping by regularly with food, trying to encourage the critters to come in from the cold ... just hope they all make it! What a criminal thing to do ... especially when daytime high temp's are below freezing! There are no excuses - this is just plain cruelty!

Oh, and another thing, it's very difficult taking decent photos when you have an 8 week old kitten perched on your shoulder, licking your ear!