It was about 5 and a half years ago when Andrew Marttila took pictures of his own cat, Haroun, with a borrowed camera. Turns out he had quite the unique eye for detail and capturing frisky felines. It was such a purrfect fit, it sparked a new journey for the amateur photographer. He had no idea what it would evolve into. And had no clue his most famous subjects would be a bunch of cats on catnip!
Photo: Andrew Marttila, “Cats On Catnip”; Andrew’s very own cat, Haroun
Fast forward to 2018 and his life now revolves around adorable kittens, playful photo shoots and cats in general.
This inventive and now professional photographer, just published “Cats On Catnip”, a hilarious collection of over 100 photos showing the multitude of reactions cats have to the herb.
Photo: Andrew Marttila, “Cats On Catnip”
Only about 70% of cats are estimated to react to catnip, but darn if he didn’t manage to capture 100% of their silly faces during the sessions.
Photo: Andrew Marttila, “Cats On Catnip”
Photo: Andrew Marttila, “Cats On Catnip”
He also happily shot the photographs for the 2016 book release, “Shop Cats Of New York”, pairing up with blogger Tamar Arslanian.
But this wasn’t Andrew’s first time joining forces with a female feline activist. He’s personally involved with one who has shattered the stereotypical view of the crazy cat lady! Andrew joins his girlfriend, Hannah Shaw aka “Kitten Lady”, on their joint mission to rescue and educate the world. One tiny kitten at a time!
Photo: Andrew Marttila; Andrew with partner Hannah Shaw “Kitten Lady”
Now, fans of Andrew are scheduling their very own cat photo shoots right in their homes! Unfortunately most of the shoots are done within 2 hours from his current D.C. home. But travelling the world to photograph cats and kittens living in alternative surroundings is common for him.
Photo: Andrew Marttila, “Cats On Catnip”
He and Hannah recently traveled all over the world for the cats on catnip.
The duo ventured to Cusco, Peru to photograph the street cats and visited Cat Island and Yanaka Cemetery in Tokyo, Japan.
Photo: Andrew Marttila; Yanaka Cemetary, Tokyo, Japan
They spread knowledge on how to help our less fortunate felines through their successful social media accounts. Which certainly make them heroes to us!
Photo: Andrew Marttila; Cusco, Peru
Photo: Andrew Marttila; Cat Island, Tokyo, Japan
The duo also founded the Orphan Kitten Club in D.C.
This organization “provides around-the-clock feeding, expert medical care, and a warm, safe haven to neonatal, injured, and special needs kittens.” You may recognize some of their amazing success stories from the “mews”.
Photos: Andrew Marttila; (Top L) Hank, (Top R) Bee, (Bottom L) Bearclaw & (Bottom R) Chloe
Andrew is just beginning to expand, lecturing and hosting workshops on professional practices to photograph your cats. The best advice he can give for now is to be PATIENT.
As we’ve all experienced, they are still “temperamental, bossy, go at their own pace” cats after all!
Photo: Andrew Marttila; “Cats On Catnip”
He recommends taking your time getting the cat comfortable with you. If it is not your own “boss” being photographed, have good lighting and of course, a plentiful supply of toys and treats–lots of toys and treats.
Andrew went through 3 pounds of catnip for this book alone!
Photo: Andrew Marttila; “Cats On Catnip”
Photo: Andrew Marttila; “Cats On Catnip”
If you just can’t seem to catch that desired pic of your furbaby though, at least we can all fall back on Andrew’s skillfully shot professional cats on catnip for a good chuckle.
By the way Andrew, I think we found your next models! =)
Photo: Cole and Marmalade; We celebrated the release of Andrew’s book with a pile of homegrown nip from the garden =)
Photo: Cole and Marmalade; Cole “What nip?! I don’t see any nip here!”
Be sure follow Andrew Marttila aka “I Am The Cat Photographer” on Facebook, Instagram and his website. Be prepared to grab your camera and be inspired!
Photos: Andrew Marttila; “Cats On Catnip”
REMEMBER: SPAY/NEUTER, FOSTER, VOLUNTEER, TNR and as always, ADOPT, DON’T SHOP!
Related Video: What Does Catnip Do To Cats?
Really nice pictures. A Cole and Marmalade photo shoot by Andrew would be nice 😉
GIGGLE 🙂 I will look and see if I can get the book, Cats On Catnip, here on the West Coast of Canada 🙂
Such a wonderful idea. Cat’s sure do have interesting and funny reactions to catnip. I might just have to pull out the camera and catnip. It’s awesome that he uses his photos to try to find homes for the kittys ???❤????
What a wonderful idea. I might just have to get the catnip and a camera out. A really great idea to help kittys find furever homes. I do agree that Cole and Marmalade would do quite well in a photo shoot.