the one that started it all...

many people often ask me how i got started in photography and i always laugh and say it was because of my cat, misty. but it truly is this one image that really made me want to be a photographer. i remember taking a class in high school called art photo just for fun. we shot with black and white film and we used darkrooms to develop our own prints and film. we had little assignments like "take a picture of a mailbox, people in work clothes, feet, etc." we were then allowed to use the rest of our frames left on the roll to photograph anything that we thought would make a great picture. it wasn't until i took this photo with my $5 walmart plastic camera of my cat as one of those extras that i was really drawn to photography. i was amazed at how light can really influence an image. some people looked at the photo and thought it was upside down and i loved the fact that i made people think when they looked at it. this photo is a snapshot of time. misty always laid on the couch soaking up the warm sun and sleeping and it made me see that even the most ordinary of situations can make an extraordinary photography. that year i won a photography award for that photo and i started thinking that this could be something i really enjoyed. i then became involved in my high school yearbook as a photographer and continued taking high level photography classes and made the decision to go to college and major in commercial photography. i had my heart set on photography and there was no one stopping me.

it's a very sad day for me today as this sweet little kitty has passed away. i keep thinking of all of the sweet memories i have of her. i remember one time she was making this strange motion on top of our answering machine almost like she was trying to turn it on. she got really excited whenever we would play messages back to hear them. after a while, we realized that she first started doing it when there was a message left by a friend with a dog barking in the back so maybe she was trying to turn it off because she was scared! she stopped doing this after a few years but it still brings a smile to my face :) for some reason, misty always used to chase me up the stairs at our old house. whenever i wore shorts she would bat at my legs and try to bite them causing me to shriek and run as fast as i could as she tormented me. she never actually hurt me but it was always a challenge to go up the stairs. she only did it to me, no one else. i always felt like we had a special bond and no one really understood her. people always said she was fat and mean but to me she was beautiful and sweet. every year at christmas time she tried climbing our fake tree. her and our dog almost knocked the tree over chasing each other around it. misty loved boxes. playing in them, sleeping in them, and making sure to find ones that she didn't really fit in. i got a card one time at the store that said "15 lb cat in a size 5.5 shoe box" and i still have it hanging on my wall. that is the epitome of misty to me. but she seemed quite content and comfortable squeezing her furry self into those boxes. we decided to bury her in our backyard and in her honor we planted a bleeding heart ( a plant that is very special and symbolic to me ). i will never forget her. she has impacted my life so much over the past 13 years and my heart hurts so much to think of her being gone. she will continue to bring me inspiration in my photography and i will always remember her as the one that made me find my passion and the one that started it all...