Merry Xmas and Purrfect New Year

As 2010 comes to a close, it's time to reflect on the past year and look forward to a new year ahead. Our wishes for 2011 are that more people will adopt the stray cats and give them a loving home, and that pet owners will also be responsible for the welfare of their cats (i.e keeping them indoors, sterilising them etc). For example, I saw a scruffy white cat in my neighbourhood 2 months ago and then recently it disappeared. A lady told me the cat was abandoned by a family when they moved and it was left alone to fend for itself. No one knew what happened to it... I thought why would you leave your kids behind when you move?

We humans are here for a purpose - to look beyond our differences and work together to protect the weak and this beautiful planet Earth. God knows how long we'd see that day but we pray that we don't have to wait too long before it's too late. We all have a part to play - one step at a time, we can create ripples in our own ways... do what's right, and not what's easy. let your conscience and consciousness guide you in this new year and bring about positive change. Have a purrfect 2011 ahead. Love one, love all  =^.^=

Purrfect 5th anniversary

Ho ho ho, with the festive mood in the air, we've bundled our 2010 postcards at $10 for 8 to raise more money to the CWS kitty fund. So far, a few orders have come in but not fast enough! :) I know we also wanted to organise a cat photography workshop but the corporate company that I approached did not get back to me, arghhh. 

And please remember to take more cat photos on your year-end trips or during the school holidays in S'pore. Before you know it, the exhibition in June 2011 will come round soon (photo submission deadline is the end of April 2011). For our 5th anniversary, we have ambitious plans; firstly we are introducing 2 new categories - Celebrities and Children (under 16) - in addition to the open category. Our photo criteria remain the same (just scroll down the webpage).

The Arts House also gave us the green light for our cat-theme Saturday Purrzaar market. We're looking for unique/ original, cat-themed crafts, artwork, accessories etc and the small rental fee ($50 for 2 Saturdays) will go to Cat Welfare Society too. We hope to better our fundraising target of $3,500 set in 2010, and again we need all the support from you cat lovers. Email your cat photos, postcards orders or vendor application to sublime.carla@gmail.com

Have a purrfect XMAS and New Year!

Join our Facebook page for more updates:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Cats-Of-The-World-Photo-Exhibition/96538201918

Success Success!

Hurray, we set out to meet the target of raising S$1,500 this year but to our pleasant surprise, we've smashed the target and raised S$3,500 to date - more than doubled the amount raised last year! Hurray and BIG thanks to everyone who has contributed in every way; from the sponsors and media, to the photographers and buyers/ visitors. We can't do it without you.

On Saturday 31 July, we were also at the Cat Welfare Society's flea market/ adoption drive at Mutts & Mittens pet hotel and shelter at Pasir Ris farmway 2. It was sad to see all so many cats at the shelter and we sincerely hope people will adopt these kitties and give them a loving home.

For now, please take more cat photos on your travels or in S'pore because we'll be back again in June 2011 at the Arts House. We hope to put up a bigger show and also include a cat-theme flea market on the opening Saturday Purrzaar so send us your ideas and we will shortlist our vendors from there. We're looking for unique/ original, cat-themed crafts, artwork, accessories etc. We will impose a small rental fee ($50 for both Saturdays) and proceeds will go to Cat Welfare Society.

Email your application to sublime.carla@gmail.com (we will inform the shortlisted merchants)

Big love from everyone

I was looking back at the event photos taken at our first year's exhibition and realised that 'Cats of The World' has come a long way. What started as a pet project has spun into a big-love community exhibition where people from all walks of life can take part in it and also view the photos for free. Over the years, our media friends have also been very supportive which helped to spread the word and love for us. This year, we are fortunate and grateful to be featured in the papers, tv, magazines and websites (see some of the articles here).

Hopefully, more sponsors will come onboard for the fifth instalment next year - and let's pray for more reliable and generous sponsors!. I have a vision to organise it into a lifestyle event where cat lovers can truly come together - at a flea market or charity dinner. Hooray!

**For more photos of the opening night and past years' cat photos for sale,

please look up "Cats of The World Photo Exhibition" on Facebook and become our fan.

Contributing Photographers of COTW 2010

CONGRATS to the 29 contributing photographers of “Cats Of The World IV” 2010! *applause*

Adriana Yue is a freelance web project manager and has an obsessive habit of collecting stamps on her passport and taking pictures of any strangers and objects, recreating scenes in any old movies she’s ever watched. She firmly believes she will end up like the crazy cat woman from The Simpsons.

Adriane Lee is a freelance film producer and designer who loves travelling, photography and all animals big and small. His wish is that people will adopt, not buy; sterilize, not breed, love and not abandon their pets.

Alexandra Jen Wong is currently waiting to grow up. Until that happens, she plans on travelling, writing postcards, taking pictures, and spending rainy days in the company of good books and lap cats.

Aloysius Low is a tech writer at popular website HardwareZone.com and recently took up photography as a hobby. Owner of two cats - Nomnom and Mookie, he keeps himself amused by trying to get them to pose for shots which he then spams all his friends with.

Amy Wan is a designer presently working in Singapore. Se loves travelling, good food and sports, and shares her home with three cats - Esky, Simba and Russell - who act as her bodyguards when she is home alone.

Barnie Leow is a professional photographer who enjoys taking occasional pictures of stray cats. While he shoots architecture, interiors, people and corporate portraits, the wandering stray cats will always have a special place in his heart, and in his frame.

Carlyn Law is a PR consultant by day and off duty, she is a hungry photojournalist who is always on the prowl for good food, green pastures and cats. As organiser of ‘Cats Of The World’ and mamma to two cats, she is thrilled that people are loving the exhibition. She wishes that everyone will love and protect the animals and nature on planet earth.

Chen Bin Yen is the co-founder of a local web design business who loves cameras and cats. These days, he only has time to shoot his nine-month old boy.

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.

Christopher Tan used to be more of a dog person, but his cat-loving friends and their cats have both rubbed off on him. One of the best compliments he has ever received was when a cat called Spot fell fast asleep in his lap.

Cyrian has come to appreciate nature and photography is his way of telling stories about nature, giving it a human context through his lens. He hopes that through his photos, he can show those caught in the rat race to take a moment and see the beauty of nature around us.

Dave Law KH is a semi-professional photographer whose day job is leasing of heavy machineries. Preferring his Olympus PEN more than his DSLRs, he is often mistaken as a Vietnamese/Thai/Filipino. His works can be seen on http://www.emotively.com/

Dennis Lee is currently working as a technical support engineer with RBS WorldPay. He owns two adorable cats at home and likes to spend his weekends roaming around Singapore taking photographs. He is very much into travel, landscape, portraits, cats and food photography.

Gary Quek and his wife Alice love their two cats and one dog. Working in civil service, Gary loves The Beatles, modernism, mountain biking, architecture designs and shopping in Tokyo. He is currently fantasizing about a villa in Lombok.

Jassica Lee thinks that cats are the purrfect companion - elegant, graceful and independent. When she's not pretending to be pomelo cat, Jassica enjoys taking snaps of them.

Ketan Shah took up photography five 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. They are great skills to have for all kinds of photography.

Kyle Leung is a budding photographer who likes cats as much as humans. He communicates in LOLSpeak whenever possible and is constantly in fear of being neutered. He also runs a food blog for humans.

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 is a public officer who loves to spend his free time on nature photography. He has a weakness for cute little animals, especially cats and enjoys shooting them whenever he goes.

Lucinda Law adores felines of all sizes, particularly her 17-year old tuxedo cat, Jarvis, and is fascinated by what a cat is called in various dialects and languages. Her recent favourite is 'ginger cat' in Teochew dialect.

Matthew Lee is an IT professional who loves to shoot scenery, stray cats he meets, and unsuspecting humans he knows. He feels it’s good to regularly take time to just laze and watch crazy humans scurry about, or just simply nap like cats.

Meredith Jones is currently studying to be a Visual Arts teacher. She loves to take photographs especially of Coco when she is being playful. Coco likes the attention and is very photogenic. She is also very affectionate and loves to have her fluffy belly rubbed when she lies on the couch.

Natasha Chooi is a corporate planner who lives with five dogs and many cats (don’t ask). Most of her time is spent with her pets and community cats (occasionally dogs). She loves cats for their prima donna personality.

Sulin Lee is currently a D.I Artist at a wedding photography company. An avid cyclist (road hazard), she spends her weekends exploring Singapore and playing with kitties that she meets along the way.

Tan Chek Wee’s philosophy is “A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.” - Albert Einstein

Tan Shung Sin edits pictures for a living at an international news agency. He loves photography, music, travel and cats big and small. He finds himself taking more pictures of furry felines than humans on his travels.

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.

Xander Lee is currently an Art Director at Ogilvyone Singapore. When he’s not searching the internet for the next cat related viral video, Xander finds time to enjoy the little things in life (like catching up on the latest episode of Doctor Who).

Wendi Wandler volunteers with animal rescue in Canada, and organizes and promotes fundraising events. Her background is in marketing and advertising. Photography is a hobby and she absolutely loves photographing cats.

Opening madness

Hi folks, we had a fabulous opening nite at The Arts House on 2 June 2010. It was a mad last minute rush to set up the captions and all, but we did it right on time, just as the guests started to stream in! Just from last night's sale of cat photos, postcards and the photographers' contributions, we've raised S$600 already and at the first Sat, we made another S$260.

We're targeting S$1,500 this year so do show your support for the rest of the exhibition. Visit our Facebook page for more pictures on the opening night.

We'll be there every Saturday in June from 2pm to 6pm to sell the past years' cat photos and postcards which are $2 each (or 3 for $5). For more queries, please email me at sublime.carla@gmail.com

Special thanks again to:

- Joy and Kevin from Purple-Pixel.com for sponsoring the lovely cat postcards

- Richard and May of MicroGrafix for printing the photos and standie banner

- Annabel and team of The Arts House for the gallery space and support

Opening nite of COTW IV 2010

It has been a hectic week selecting the final 45 cat photos for COTW IV, but finally they are sent to print at MicroGrafix (thanks Richard!). This year, we're also making them into lovely cat postcards (thanks to Joy and Kevin of Purple-Pixel.com!).

We have a fantastic line-up of cat pics this year taken by 29 photographers, so come for the preview on the opening nite on 2 June Wed at 7pm at The Arts House (1 Old Parliament Lane; opp Boat Quay/ nearest MRT: Raffles Place). Cat Welfare Society will be there too, so lend us your support. See ya!

Tiger Show

How apt it is that this year we welcome the Year of The Tiger - a giant pussy cat! 'Cats of The World' is just 2 and half months away, and we still need more entries! But before that, we've put 20 cat photos up for sale at the Tiger Show from 21 to 28 February 2010 at Post Museum. Organised by Cat Welfare Society, the week-long event offered cat merchandise, arts & crafts, photos, and seminars. Don't miss it! Do your part for them by donating or volunteering. For more info, visit www.catwelfare.org