Monday, July 13, 2009

COTW 2009 was a success!

Hi there, Thanks for visiting COTW III at The Arts House - I can't believe it's over already! We had a blast and the turnout was great. Everyone loved the cat photos and bought many new cat magnets which bumped up this year's proceeds to S$1,334 (posted already to Cat Welfare Society for their wonderful catch-sterilise-release programme). We still have many cat photos @ $50 each for sale if you want to do your part. I want to give a big thank you to our kind sponsors, all the 24 contributing photographers and supporters. Thanks for making it happen.

  I'm also very happy that many people are very inspired after viewing the cat photos and will be on the prowl for cats so as to join next year where we'll be back at The Arts House for the whole month of June 2010. 

Although cats are such beautiful and photogenic subjects, it certainly takes a keen eye and quick reflex to capture them in their elements. But with practice and patience, I'm sure you'll be able to develop a talent for it! 

 If you haven't joined our new fan page on Facebook, please visit this link to view the whole collection: www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Cats-Of-The-World-Photo-Exhibition/96538201918?ref=nf Grazie mille! 

 **On a sad note, we just found out that one of the cats featured last year, Yum Yum, has just passed away and is in kitty paradiso now. He's the fat shy fellow shot napping on the bookshelf and will be greatly missed. **The media coverage on 'Cats of The World 2009' has been excellent - thanks to our media friends, especially those who love cats! See some of the clippings below:

 

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Cats Of The World III in 2009

Ciao everyone! We have shortlisted the 40 pictures contributed by 24 photographers this year for ‘Cats of The World III’ Photo Exhibition. I'm also pleased to announce that Fancy Feast, Canon Singapore and MicroGrafix, have come onboard as our official sponsors this year. Canon provided the quality printing solutions for the photos and Fancy Feast gamely sponsored the door gifts, tokens of appreciation for the photographers and cash of S$200 for the 40 frames. 

With such encouragement, we hope to stage a bigger show next year and perhaps a cat flea market to coincide with the opening weekend. For more ideas|leads|contacts, please email me at sublime.carla@gmail.com Also we're proud to have our special guest at the opening - Cat Welfare Society - hurray for their relentless care for our feline community. Don't forget to spread the word and check out the 3-week exhbition from 9 to 28 July 2009at The Arts House

Admission is free. This year's selection has many gems, including hot destination Greece which is a hotbed for cats! We also have cats from Taiwan, China, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Turkey, Italy, Germany and of course Singapore. 

HUGE THANKS TO OUR KIND SPONSORS AND FRIENDS: 
Venue: The Arts House www.theartshouse.com.sg Printing: Canon Singapore www.canon.com.sg 
Frames/ Gifts: Fancy Feast www.fancyfeast.com 
Cats Of The World Logo: Morpheus Creative 
Cat magnets artwork: Joy Phua, graphic-web designer (joyphua@gmail.com) 
Exhibition banner: Micro Grafix Inkjet (221 South Bridge Road Singapore. Tel: 62272832) 

Cats Of The World III' is dedicated to uncle Anthony Yeo who passed away recently unexpectedly. He and his wife actually babysat our first cat Jarvis when he was adopted from SPCA as a four-month kitten, while my sister and I convinced our parents that a cat is coming to stay with us for good. Jarvis is now 15 years old.

Contributing photographers to COTW 2009

Contributing Photographers Of “Cats Of The World III”

Alexandra Jen Wong is a student at ACS (Independent). Her favourite things include postcards and polaroids, the sound of the sea, and her typewriter. She longs for more drizzly days spent in the company of good books, as well as her two dogs and five cats.


Barnie Leow is a professional photographer and the main contributor to CWS’ cat photo book “The Real Singapore Cat” in 2005. Photographing stray cats started off as a hobby to capture the quirks and smirks of the many strays he encountered in Singapore. His works have earned international mention at the Lucie International Photography Awards.


Carlyn Law is a PR consultant and part-time photojournalist who longs for her own organic farm where her cats - Jarvis, Ripley and Mimi - can roam free. She dedicates this year’s exhibition to Uncle Anthony Yeo who passed away recently. He and his wife babysat her first adopted cat Jarvis (4 months old) while she and her sister convinced their parents that a cat was coming to stay for good. Jarvis is now 15 years old.


Cheoh Wee Keat is a student studying in London. He thinks that rocks and cats are the most beautiful things life has to offer, and that while both can be stroked, the latter is kinder to his hands. These two pet subjects are thankfully available in large abundance in Singapore.


Chew Li Sie loves cats since young. She currently has 3 cats that she absolutely adores. You can visit her cats’ photo gallery at www.mypeppycats.com/gallery




Denise Tan works with the Spanish Tourism Board and loves taking shots of cats from Spain to Singapore. She is always browsing on deviant art for inspiration and spends her time figuring out how to improve her photography. Her favourite test subject? Her ragdoll cat, Piper.





Eric Ng likes travelling but doesn’t travel nearly enough. He eschews tourist traps, preferring to go on foot exploring the back streets and glimpse at the way of life left relatively untouched by progress. In between trips, he freelances as an event and wedding day photographer.


Faith Tan is a walking paradox just as a cat is - aloof but playful, beautiful but bestial, independent but highly in need of attention. Amazingly, she's got Jekyll & Hyde living under the same roof in perfect harmony for 21 years now. She longs to travel around the world and is currently living part of that dream sailing down Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia!




Goh Yam Guan is a full time IT professional, who found his passion in photography 6 years ago. He enjoys travelling and photography and loves to mingle with animals.



Heinz Gebhardt came across this exhibition by chance. In his life, cats and cameras always go together. Cats of all types have lived in his house and watched over him. With photography, he discovered his talent and passion, shooting beautiful pictures of his hometown, Munich Germany. www.muenchenfoto.de




Janalin Tan and Terence Koh dote on their Manja and will do anything to make their FIV+ kitty comfy and happy. It is their lifelong dream to open a cat sanctuary and take in all stray, abandoned and sickly cats, with a special hospice section for felines with incurable diseases.



Jeremy Gopalan has been known to stop in his tracks each time he spots a cat, wherever he may be or whatever he may be doing, to meow at it. He doesn’t know what he might actually be saying in meow language, but figures it can’t be anything too rude as the cats often respond. His friends are occasionally amused but usually bewildered.

Ketan Shah took up photography as a hobby 4 years ago .He loves the challenge of photographing stray cats as they force you to look in places people don't normally look and to make quick shooting decisions - great skills to have for all kinds of photography.



Koh Zhisheng is a research assistant at NUS Department of Psychology. Photography is one source of expression to him and to look at and understand the world. Sadly, that is insufficient to understand cats’ behaviour, and so he will be turning to Google in the next 5 minutes.



Lawrence Liu is a student at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts. His passion lies in photographing moments that will bring a smile to the faces of the public. Being a cat lover himself, he often plays with stray cats and takes pictures of them. He hopes to have a dog and a cat staying with him in his dream home some day.


Lee Yan Leong has always enjoyed photography and spends most of his free time out in the fields doing nature macro-photography. Being a cat lover, he wishes to capture the beauty and natural moments of cats. He will always carry his camera wherever he goes to shoot cats.



Lucinda Law adopted Jarvis, the handsomest tuxedo cat 15 years ago that made her and her sister adore cats forever. Today, she is very happy to see one of the countless photographs of her muse on show and is continuing her efforts in persuading him to live until 30 or be immortal.

Ng Ling Tze is a full-time artist who loves to paint cats and enjoy the company of cats. She fell in love with them when she met her first cat, Ban Ban, at a friend’s house in 2002. She loves cats for their elusive and endlessly fascinating personalities. Her cat drawings and paintings are on sale at Barang Barang, Cat Socrates and The Shop at Art House. Visit www.slothstudio.com

Noelle Tan is a cat lover who sadly does not own a cat - yet. That will soon change hopefully as she continues to appreciate the intrinsic elegant beauty of the feline species. This PR consultant enjoys photography, cooking and travelling.

Peter A. Robertson is an Australian karate instructor by profession and just arrived in Singapore in February to be with his new wife Veronica. He loves taking pictures and Veronica has him interested now in capturing the strays under his block, who are now getting used to seeing this ‘ang moh’ with his camera in ‘their’ neighborhood.

Rebecca Ho fell in love with the feline species as a child. She remembers her childhood living with her maternal grandmother, whose neighbour owns a mini-zoo at the 17th storey of a HDB block. Of the animals kept, she befriended a pretty calico which unfortunately took a fatal plunge.

Tan Chek Wee is a doctor who is part of a team of health care givers who care for the elderly in the community (community geriatrics) and also people who are reaching the end of their lives in their homes (hospice home care), and who believes that all sentient beings are interconnected like the web of a spider.

Vanessa Sng is a fashion design student from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts who spends her free time looking for cats to befriend. She wishes she could just keep one special kitty, but that idea has sadly been shelved due to a factor called “Mom”. Other than kitties, she enjoys shooting fashion portraits in her free time.

Zhao Gang is a Chinese national working as an engineer with Volvo in Italy while studying the Italian language and appreciating the finer things of the Italian culture. He is primary a dog lover and misses his dogs in China but decides to submit his cat photo for the exhibition.