A photographer who usually reserves her lens for dogs started a project focusing on rescue cats and their stories.
Traor Scott explains petapixel Rescue cats are an invisible problem as 3.2 million of them enter animal shelters every year and almost half of them are euthanized.
“There aren’t enough homes out there so spay/neuter education is extremely important,” says Scott. “Unlike dogs, I think there’s still a widespread perception that cats are interchangeable, replaceable, and that has to change.”
Scott’s project, now titled a book rescue catsShe found him following a selection of rescue cats who were mostly working inside people’s homes with minimal equipment: just a DSLR, a flash, and sometimes a portable backdrop.
Scott explains, “Although some cats travel well, most do not and I wanted to be able to photograph them when they were feeling as relaxed as possible.”
“Dogs can usually be won over with food but cats are very difficult to convince. One of my three cat gurus accompanied me to every shoot and helped explain and persuade the subjects. We worked together to decide where the best location was to shoot, usually a compromise between where the cat was most comfortable and where was most aesthetically feasible.”
Scott shot the project over the course of eight months around New England. In total, the book features 22 cats, as well as a number of kittens that “the reader watches grow up.” She says she “learned a lot about the history of all the cats and the stories of many of them were really heartbreaking”.
“The one thing they all have in common is definitely the rescue factor,” says Scott.
“One or more people cared enough for them to fight for them, intervene, foster, adopt, and ultimately save a life. I don’t know if I could pick just one favorite, but some of the ones that really stuck with me were Forrest, Juliet, and Linus.
rescue cats Published and available by Chronicle Books HereMore of Scott’s work can be found at website And Instagram,
Image Credit: Photo by Traylor Scott
