I’m so excited to introduce you to Gemma! She’s a gorgeous 2-year-old calico cat, and ever since her parents adopted her from Rancho Coastal, she’s been showering them with gifts to express her gratitude. You know the type of “gifts” cats give their owners, right? Mice and small lizards are pretty common, but Gemma is no common cat. She’s so athletic that she gets to give her parents exceptionally rare finds, like rats (!) and even a hummingbird (!!!) – not to mention she gets pretty creative with exactly where in the house she delivers those gifts! So although her parents might prefer a different way to show her appreciation, suffice to say that Gemma won the adoption lottery when she found such loving, wonderful parents – and she knows it.

When you arrive at Gemma & her family’s house, it’s hard not to be impressed. Gemma has a stunningly beautiful, custom-built home with plenty of sunny patches of light on the hardwood floors that are simply perfect for sunning oneself. Not to mention a yard with grass & flowers to go hunting in, and even a koi pond full of “roommates”! At the beginning of our session, Gemma shyly gave me a tour of her territory, preferring not to pose for my camera quite yet. So I followed her around the expansive living room, crawling on the hardwood floors and making plenty of silly (and rather embarrassing) sounds to get her fleeting attention… honestly, something tells me Gemma just wanted to see me work for it, haha! So eventually she decided I was worth her consideration, and she opened up and posed for the camera like a total pro. That’s what I’ve learned from photographing cats over the years – you’re on their schedule, not the other way around! But I’m so glad I had the chance to meet Gemma, and that she (slowly) came around to the idea of a photo session… the images we ended up with made crawling around on the ground totally worth it!  :)

This is Gemma – isn’t she gorgeous?!

Before modeling, you have to stretch! :)

We went outside to the garden in the heavenly evening light, and Gemma obligingly looked my way (while simultaneously monitoring the grounds for critters, of course).

Tanya, thank you so much for introducing me to your beautiful kitty! I’m so excited to share the rest of our images with you soon! :)