I'll be blunt, I really miss photographing dogs. If I miss anything during this coronavirus lockdown, aside from having income, it's getting to meet all the pets and their parents. Mostly I photograph dogs but occasionally I take portraits of cats. In any event, my two boys, Kiwi and Mango, haven't had their pictures taken for a while aside from the occasional phone photo.

But in this lockdown, I thought of what I believe is a brilliant concept -- ha ha, probably just another harebrained idea. I ordered some props and built a little set for this project. And I originally hadn't conceived it for animals but then I thought, oh, that would really make it. And so I enlisted the services of my boys. At first I thought Mango would be the right cat for the shoot. But he's kind of a scaredy cat and didn't make it through the first click.

So Kiwi was next at bat. And boy, did he deliver. But upon further reflection of the image, I realized it needed to be lit somewhat differently. And it had some other issues in terms of styling.

I rejiggered some things and went back over the weekend. This time, Kiwi wasn't having it. Oh, he was absolutely gorgeous, my little tuxedo cat, but he didn't hit his mark this time. Meanwhile, Mango saw how many treats Kiwi was getting so we tried with him and bam, he was making it happen. We were astonished. The guy isn't the bravest but he does pick up on things eventually and he was pretty game once he realized there was something in it for him.

Now all of this is a prelude to say I can't show you the final images yet. They can't be published for a bit. But I can show you some very handsome boys from the outtakes. So here they are, Mango and Kiwi.