Kiwi Pet Photography Blog – South Florida Pet Photography bio picture
  • Hey there! Welcome to my blog! I'm Stacey Chen: animal lover, photographer, and proud mama to this business called Kiwi Pet Photography. I created Kiwi to give my fellow dog and cat devotees here in South Florida something we didn't have: a source for candid and colorful natural-light portraits of our furry family members and best friends. Check back often for the latest Kiwi news and lots of pictures of some of South Florida's cutest dogs, cats, bunnies, and anything else that runs, hops, or flies my way!

My foster babies mega post!

Sorry about the lack of updates, but I’ve been a very busy foster mama for the past few months. I post pictures and video and words words words (lots of words!) on my fostering blog at http://www.twomamacats.com but haven’t shared any photos here, so I’m going to put a few of my favorites up.

Linus:

His brother, Lupo:

Their sister, now named Zoe:

Ocean:

His sister, Reyna (they were adopted together!):

Reyna as a kitten:

Ocean as a kitten:

Harvey, who was born pure white! This is the day he went to his furever home: 

Harvey when he came back a month later to be neutered:

Andy and her brother Willy, who were my “pirates” with eye problems who lucked out and got a home together too:

Emmy:

OK, so she wasn’t a foster KITTEN, but rather one of four baby orphaned OPOSSUMS I had to take care of overnight. Just a note, feed orphaned opossums small amounts of diluted puppy formula until you can get them to a wildlife rehabilitator. Thought I’d throw this in there for a change of pace.:)

Delta:

Delta & Mommy Olivia:

Atlas, who went home with Delta:

Jinx:

Scaredy kitten, now named Nobody:

Princess:

Finn (now Sylvester):

And last but absolutely not least, Olivia & Claire, the two best moms ever. They had a total of 13 babies.. yes, THAT’S why I have had so many fosters lately — one group of 15 will set you well ahead of average for the year! And ALL the babies survived and are in wonderful, loving homes. And they got a loving home of their own, together. They are amazing.:)

My apologies to the five kittens whose pics didn’t make it up here as I have yet to upload them or I had them for such a short period of time that I didn’t even have to take more than a snapshot to get them a home. Stay tuned for more as I have four new adorable babies!

A few bunny pictures :) * Palm Beach Pet Photography

I’m working on a calendar for Luv-A-Bun Rabbit Rescue. I’ll tell you something: I think bunnies are about the hardest animals to photograph.  They’re usually very skittish, don’t respond to funny  noises, and aren’t food motivated at all out of their comfort zone. However, slowly but surely I’m figuring them out. Maybe I should be testing out techniques on my own bunnies, Thumper and Piper, every day. My subject for the day was to be Hero, the 18-lb Flemish Giant, but he quickly tired of me and my carrots and ran away to his hiding place for the day. I am brainstorming Hero-shoot ideas and will have to go back to see him.

As difficult as they are to photograph, it’s sure worth it when you get a picture you love because bunnies are simply adorable. This is Lizzy, a sweet blue-eyed girl.

And here is the lop-eared bunny, Justice. Don’t tell my straight-eared babies (just like we won’t tell my kitties about my fondness for calicos), but lop bunnies are my faaaavorite. Someday maybe I will get to adopt one, but until then, pictures will do.

Look forward to more bunny pictures soon! And if you happen to live in Broward County and have a bunny you would like to maybe see in the Luv-A-Bun 2011 calendar, drop me an email! I’m looking for some different bunnies in different locations without having to stress anyone out with travel.  Thanks!!

Benny & Sara * Fort Lauderdale Pet Photography

I recently had the pleasure of watching the sunset with two sweet little kitties named Benny and Sara.

Meet Sara:

and her buddy Benny:

Benny and Sara were adopted together from the Humane Society of Broward County when their adoptive parents bought a condo in a pet-friendly building. Their owners had been waiting for years to get some kitties, so they were so happy to find exactly the cats they wanted — a pretty tabby girl and a gorgeous black boy.

Benny was sick when he first came home, but thankfully pulled through that. Some months later, he jumped off the FOURTH FLOOR balcony… and survived!

Apparently Benny used to like to lay on that tiny little ledge there — that’s a cat for ya — and one day he must’ve gotten scared by something and fell. Miraculously, he only suffered a small cut to his tummy and was found later that day in the parking garage, scared but doing just fine.  The fall hasn’t dampened Benny’s love for the balcony, but he has learned to stay away from the edge. Here Benny is outside, staying right by the sliding glass door, thank you very much:

Sara is SUPER sweet and SUPER shy. It took me a little while to gain her trust and the help of my iPhone making funny animal noises to get her to come out to see me. Most of my first pictures were from this distance:

And if I moved too fast, forget it. She’d take off. I hated to see her go, but loved to watch her leave (as the saying goes).. Why? Because Sara has one of those AWESOME kitty belly paunches that sways back and forth as she runs. I got an action shot. Yes, that thing on her side is her SWAYING BELLY PAUNCH:

Does anyone know why kitties get that? My former foster kitty, Mini, who my friend adopted has one and she has never had kittens, so it’s certainly not a post-kitten condition. Hmm!

Sara, letting me close enough to see how gorgeous she is:

And eventually being comfortable enough to pose for me, and even giving me her best Mona Lisa smile.

And show me EXACTLY what she thought of me and all my funny noises.. !

Benny is as outgoing as Sara is shy. He immediately is all over you and comfortable as can be. He gave me this yawn without making me work for it, unlike Sara.

As sweet as Sara is, surprisingly she seems to be the alpha cat. Their food timer went off while I was there, which dispenses a half-day’s worth of food for them. This is quite obviously one of the best parts of their day; their daddy told me that sometimes they start food-dispenser-watching duty a good hour before the food is scheduled to come down. Dedicated, those kitties! But anyway, when the food comes down, Benny sits patiently aside and lets the lady eat.

Benny:

Sara:

Benny is an extremely handsome cat. I do have a thing for the long-haired kitties, though. Any kitty with a feather duster tail? I’m THERE.

Their home has such dramatic light because they have HUGE west-facing windows, overlooking the Intracoastal. (Yes, sweet digs!) But eventually all that pretty light faded… The kitties took a few moments to admire the colors and contemplate the meaning of life.

That’s it for Benny & Sara! Such a pleasure to meet you two!!!

My life is full of happy things

Namely… KITTENS!

I have been fostering some cats for about a month now. Someone saw them being dumped in Hollywood, Florida, in an area where this is a large maintained feral and stray cat population. Thing is, they were both very pregnant. So a kind person took them in and went about finding a foster family for them. I have experience fostering kittens both with moms and without, and I happened to get the email and caught my hubby in a good mood, so off I was to see the cats.  When I arrived, I realized that they were sisters – they were identical, both absolutely full of babies, and super sweet with one another. So, of course, I had to take them both. And I’m so glad I did; they have been so affectionate and really just amazing with one another, I’m grateful we didn’t separate them.

Oh, and a disclaimer.. I’ve taken most of these pictures with a flash in a very cramped closet. I can’t wait until they can walk on their own and come out into the window light!

This was back when the babies were still in their mama’s tummy:

I named them Claire and Olivia (my Law & Order fan status shines through) and they had litters of seven and six, respectively. So yes, I have 13 kittens. Right away I started to get pictures of them up so people could see them and fall in love. It’s worked.. They’re six weeks away from being able to go home but already 10 of the 13 have people who both want them and have submitted wonderful applications for them. Yay!

This is the sole white kitty. About 30 people have contacted me, wanting to know if he’s available.. but he’s not. And no, I’m nottaking him. Sadly, I can’t take any — we’re at our three-cat limit. If I could pick though, I’d take the moms. And the tuxedos And the black cats. And.. well, you get the picture. This boy looks as if he’s a lynx-point cat. I’m betting he’ll be gorgeous. His ears, paws, tail, and face have gotten considerably more grey. Updated pictures are on their website.

Now if I could just find an awesome home for the beautiful moms!

This is Olivia and Claire (L-R). A picture which does not do them justice but the only one I have where they’re both facing the camera! See how Olivia has bright yellow eyes and Claire has soft green ones? I love it. My friend pointed it out today. I guess that’s why so many of Olivia’s pictures look so intense while Claire’s strike me as soft and sweet. I always want to make Olivia’s pictures saturated while I think every one of Claire’s should have a pastel tint…

They are affectionate, talkative, sweet, and the baddest mamas you’d ever want to meet. Just ask my dog Gretchen who wandered innocently into the kitty room the other night when the door wasn’t shut all the way; they charged her before they even figured out what she was!  They trust me enough to let me handle the kittens, but are very nervous and protective whenever the babies are out of their nest. And if the babies start to cry? Forget it. Olivia or Claire comes over and snatches the baby right back. You’ll see that every time I tried to take the kittens’ pictures, it ended about a minute into the session with one of the moms coming over and grabbing the baby by the scruff and taking it back to the nest. Frustrating to the photographer, but adorable and sweet in all other ways.

Photo session crashing in progress:

We have lots of white-pawed, white-bellied tabbies: three boys and two girls!

They have a website you can see at: http://www.twomamacats.com.  I update it every few days so if kittens make you happy, keep tabs on it. I put video up there too since I realize that there is no better way to capture the endearing kitten wrestling and shaky-walkin’.  The kittens have grown a bit, opened their eyes, and have begun to play, so the best pictures are yet to come. Their life so far has just been nursing and sleeping in a dark closet. From here on out it’s wrestling and snuggling and, hopefully, kitten-bopping across the room.

This all-brown tabby is spoken for – yay!

There are two boy tuxedo kitties, who both have homes now.  I really cannot get over the white whiskers. SO CUTE.

And there are also two girl black kitties and two boy black kitties. The girls have a wonderful home waiting for them.

Wish us luck in finding great homes for ALL of the cats, including beautiful and wonderful Olivia and Claire. And please pass this on to anyone who may be interested in providing a forever home to a great little cat! Or two!

February is Adopt a Rabbit Month! * South Florida Pet Photography

So what better time to put up my very favorite picture from a session a couple of weekends ago for Luv -A-Bun, a rabbit rescue here in South Florida.  I’m helping them make a 2010 fundraising calendar.  I photographed some very cute little baby black bunnies, some fluffy lionheads, and this adorable sweetie.

She was rescued by a kind soul who overheard the employees at a Pet Supermarket talking about her. They had a dilemma because she has cataracts, and is therefore a special needs bunny as she is nearly blind. The pet store folks were considering sending her back to the supplier (to what fate?!) so this volunteer intervened and tried to help the bunny. They wouldn’t let her take it or even buy the rabbit. Thankfully she had a friend who went in and pretended to be an interested customer and was able to buy the bunny and therefore save her from an uncertain future.

Anyway, so February is Adopt A Rescued Rabbit month! I have two myself (both rescues) and just love them to death. Thumper and Piper are extremely gentle, sweet, and adorably affectionate. Every day I walk into their room and see them cuddling and have to tell them how cute they are. Seriously; ask my husband. Oh! And Thumper, when he’s not snuggling with Piper, snuggles with whatever stuffed animal the dogs have left out on his rug. It’s really ridiculously cute. Last night he was snuggling with a giraffe.:)

Lots of pet rabbits have sad stories. A lot of them are impulse buys or Easter gifts, but once the new bunny  owner realizes that bunnies are an actual pet that requires maintenance and medical care, the bunnies get sold or abandoned.  Not to mention, if you don’t take the time to litter train them, cleaning up after them can become really tiring really fast. (Mine both litter trained in the course of a couple of days! Unfortunately most people don’t even know that you can litter train a rabbit.) So of course there are plenty of rabbits for adoption in our local shelters. They are nice pets. Very different from dogs and cats in a way it’d take me a while to explain, but sweet and life enriching.

Check out Petfinder to see what bunnies are available in your area: http://www.petfinder.com.

P.S. Pay no attention to the colors on this this blog! I’ll be working on it this weekend.

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