Last week Cooper was roaming the neighborhood with his camera and ran into a neighbor, Elaine Thompson, who is a professional photographer here in Seattle. No stranger to Cooper and his work, she shot a photo of him, and he shot a photo of her!  Elaine shoots all sorts of amazing photos and Cooper is pretty jelous of her work with the Seattle Seahawks – isn’t that a type a bird?

“Neighbor Visit” Here is Elaine saying hello to Cooper!

“Dorks” This is one of Cooper’s best known portraits of his humans, Deirdre & Michael.

“Baby Brother” Up close and personal with Cooper’s little sibling, Cameron.

“Garden Girl” Cooper commiserates with a gardener pulling weeds.

“Little Boy Orange” This cute child holds his hand out in friendship to Cooper.

Cooper is currently running around in the yard taking pictures. He wears his camera only once a week, which allows him to simply be a cat the rest of the time.

People have been asking how Cooper is adjusting to being a big brother. The results are in: he loves hanging around baby Cameron (particularly if he isn’t crying). Cooper is always curious, and especially about the little noises coming from our newest family member.

This is the second video Cooper has shot with his Video Cat Cam. It begins about 12 hours before the baby was born; you’ll see a 42-week pregnant Deirdre at home in early labor! Then we jump to the following day when baby Cameron is receiving plenty of cuddle time with mom and dad.

I love the beautiful moments that Cooper recorded with his Video Cat Cam. He will be capturing many more of baby Cameron in the weeks and months to come.

Cooper is currently bird watching from the living room window. Oh – now he’s chewing on the fern – gotta go.

It has been a bit of adjustment for Cooper getting used to his brother.  After all, he has been an only child for over four years and used to getting all of our attention!  While our family continues to adapt, Cooper has decided to take some photos of his baby brother.

“Baby Nap” Cooper, never wake a sleeping baby.

“Mother and Child Reunion” Love this shot of Deirdre holding baby Cameron.

“Sweet Kisses” This is a beautiful angle.  Great shot, Coop!

Cooper is currently curled up in an otherwise empty baby papasan.  He is considering busting out his new video cat cam again tomorrow.

We asked him what he wanted for his birthday and he was strangely silent on the subject. So, he ended up getting some “shrimp brittle” from the natural pet food store and a hand made catnip carrot. Though I should mention that he discovered where we were hiding his presents on Monday and ran outside with the carrot before we could catch him.

Eat up little dude, you deserve it!

Recently on Cooper’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/photographercat) people have been asking about his indoor/outdoor privileges and any limitations. As people who are crazy-in-love with a cat, we totally agree and understand that keeping your cat indoors is the best way to keep them absolutely safe from predators, poisons, and cars. If we ever get another cat we plan to adopt from one of the wonderful no-kill animal shelters in our area who require a commitment to an indoor life for the cat. That being said, Cooper found us, he was stray (see his origins post) and very well acquainted with the outdoors.

For the first year or so of his life with us, we only allowed him outdoors when he was on his leash. Just after Cooper turned one year old, we began allowing him to be outdoors unsupervised for a few hours a day. Cooper has always been on a pretty structured feeding plan, so nowadays he rarely goes outside before 9 am and is always home in time for dinner at 7 pm. There are raccoons in our neighborhood so we’re very strict about not allowing him out after dark – which means in the winter, he’s outside even less.

As many followers of Cooper know, after setting him up with his Cat Cam two years ago, we discovered that he spent several hours a day waiting at the front door for us to let him in. We installed a Cat Door, which has also greatly increased the amount of time he spends in the house, as evidenced by his photos. We’ve also learned through his photographs that he does not cross the busy streets in our neighborhood.

Thanks to Viki, Heidi, Pat and others for sharing their views on the subject with us. For all of you cat lovers out there: we know. We agree. Cats are safer indoors. We’re just trying to give our little photographer cat the best life we can and for him that includes free time in the backyards of our neighborhood.

Cooper stares out the dining room window. I love the light pouring in!

Whiskers! Sometimes the sunlight hits his whiskers just right.

An afternoon drink? If Cooper thinks we’re not looking, he loves jumping up in the sink.

This is Cooper’s view from his midday nap on the couch.

The photographer cat is currently stretched out on the tile floor, getting ready for another big day.

Also, Cooper wanted to share with you a photo he did not take, but has some professional notes on:
Cooper is currently licking an ice cube in Deirdre’s hand. We’re not sure it’s cooling him off this hot evening – but it sure is keeping him entertained.

As reported in the previous blog, we had a fantastic turn out at Cooper’s gallery opening, over 400 people, and continue to have a steady stream of people interested in viewing his work in person. If you’re interested in owning a piece of Cooper’s photography, limited edition Giclee prints are available at the Urban Light Studios website.

And we’ve been saying it for months, but Cooper is finally an official member of the Cross Films crew. Welcome to the team, Coop.

Now, the reason we’re all here is because of Cooper’s photography, so here’s some of what he’s shot in the last week.

I really like this abstract shot he took in the gallery. The blue lights are really interesting.

Another great shot of the gallery as a film crew is interviewing Michael.

After dropping by the gallery Sunday, we took a walk with Cooper, where he took this wonderful scenic photo. I love that you can faintly see his whiskers hanging down from the top.

Cooper is currently resting. No photos today, though he plans to go out and shoot on Saturday.

On Wednesday, all three of us, including Cooper will be at the Urban Light Studio for a press preview! We’re really excited to see Cooper in the gallery with his photos.

On Thursday we’ll be on King 5’s Evening Magazine at 7pm PST. You may have to live within 3 hours of Seattle to get King 5. If you’re in the northwest (Oregon, Idaho, Washington) you can see Cooper on Northwest Cable News at 10pm PST when they replay the episode of Evening Magazine.

Stay tuned this week for loads more fun news about Cooper!

Brilliant photo, Cooper! I love the whimsical motion and soft colors.

We’re hoping to put in some new plants this spring. And Cooper can’t wait to help!

This house appears to hide in a tropical jungle.

After a long morning of running, jumping and taking photos, Cooper is taking a nap. One of his favorite resting spots is the pillow in the window seat, where he can keep one eye on the birds out on the power lines.