In early childhood, I started out with the old Kodak Instamatic complete with flash cubes. Remember those? Ha! (I actually made my first photo book of cats with that Kodak camera when I was very, very young. Wish I still had that book…) I had some great, basic Pentax and Nikon SLRs up to and through college, as well. Over the past decade, and particularly for the Cat Angels Project, I have used a variety of digital cameras. My current favorites are the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3 and the DMC-FZ50. I also had some wonderful Nikon Coolpix cameras. I started out with the old 880 and my last version of the Nikon Coolpix was the 8700. These were all very fine point & shoots for the day. I haven't used DSLRs yet. However, I can see myself drifting in the DSLR direction as that technology would allow me to more easily capture the right moment. The legendary lag time in digital point & shoots still drives me around the bend. fwiw, I find swivel LCDs a great help in composition. This is partly why I stuck with point & shoots in the past. Most DSLRs did not offer swivel LCDs, at least not until recently. Naturally, Adobe Photoshop is the best playground (image editing program) there is. And I am particularly fond of the plug-in filters by Nik & Alien Skin.

Sometimes I want to illustrate a theme or a quotation and I search for images in my archives that will convey that idea. I then piece these images together in a digital photomontage. Sometimes the inspiration comes from a single object, or a particular scene or photograph. Quite often, it's the animal itself that inspires the final work. I love how animals are just as photogenic as humans are - or not. Animals look downright goofy when you catch them at the wrong moment. I tend to prefer these less-than-flattering portraits because they make me laugh out loud. That's actually why I started the Cat Angels Project in the first place. I really needed a good laugh after so many losses. Even though our animals can break our hearts, they are still the best medicine in the world.

Probably because I love dogs. During my early childhood, my family had a couple wonderful (albeit very short-lived) dogs. The thing is, I didn't have dogs back in my life until very recently because a) dogs aren't crazy about a traveling musician's schedule, and b) dogs are larger than life and they just break your heart into smithereens when they go. Goodness knows, it's painful enough when our sweet cats cross over to the other side. Adding dogs to our family seemed like courting even further heartbreak and logistical nightmares so I tried to avoid adopting dogs. I faithfully steered clear of the shelters and the adoption fairs for a long while. But you know how that is. Resistance is futile. And a few years back it was my husband's birthday, and he really wanted a dog, in addition to our kitties...and... Well, we now have two of the best rescue doggies in the whole world. And these doggies are the bookends to our 4 best shelter cats in the whole world. Although, in the interest of full disclosure, I often say we have 3 1/2 cats instead of 4. That's because our dear 20+ year old Soozie-cat seems to have at least 2 feet firmly planted on the other side. But she's still having fun here with us on earth. As long as she’s having fun, we'll still count her in.

I have 3 other draft Cat Angel books by now and ideas for a couple more. It's only a matter of time before these books come out. I'm having a blast with these and I think they'll only get better over time. Each Angel book is unique, despite the common theme.

Of course. I have other dog-projects in mind. My own Buki and Kip may insist on an entire book featuring themselves, too. We'll just have to wait & see how things go. I already have a lovely archive of dog photos and continue to add to it.

That's highly unlikely. So sorry! But thanks for inquiring. I only photograph the animals that cross my path and that seem visually unique for my collection - pets of friends, hosts & family members. I feature primarily adopted pets and pets from shelters, rescue organizations & foster homes.

Well it's really hard to pick a favorite. But I'd probably have to say Cat-Moon-Do. That image never fails to make me smile. I have very happy memories of following St. Clair around the house, trying hard to get a good photograph of her butt so I could make her 'moon out the car-window.' (That's actually St. Clair yelling at you out the driver's side window, too. She was a very versatile grrrl ;-) The Fallen Angels chapter is probably my favorite chapter for the same reason Cat-Moon-Do is my favorite image. It makes me laugh & smile. Plain old good medicine.

I took the vast majority of photographs featured in Cat Angels. However, after consulting with an intellectual property lawyer, reviewing the Corel licensing agreement and receiving permissions, I incorporated several elements and images from Corel Stock, as well. (I haven't been to Mt. Rushmore, for example - but I used a Corel stock photo of Mt. Rushmore in the book). In the very beginning of the Cat Angels project, I relied a bit more on stock imagery. This was at a time when my own personal photo archives were suffering growing pains. Over time I used less and less stock and drew primarily from my own collection. I have worked hard to expand my own archives and they are now wonderfully full. Thankfully, I don't need to incorporate stock imagery in my work anymore. Copyright information and detail on image usage is available on the ISBN page of the Cat Angels book.

After spending some time perusing bookstores, I got the impression that a good majority of contemporary full-color books are printed in other countries. Check out a bunch of full-color books in your own local bookstores and see if you observe the same trend?

Now don't get me wrong. I am a big fan of the world, and I love the culture and products of many other nations. I buy plenty of foreign products, too, partly because I want to and partly (and often) because I have to. But "Made in America" seems like a dying breed by now, doesn't it? It's harder and harder to purchase products that are made in America, even when we try hard to find them. Frankly, I think this has become a bit of a national security issue. If we can't grow our own food, make our own clothes, build our own computers, or create the triggers for our own weapons (not that I'm a huge fan of those things) – well then, what kind of nation are we? We are a weaker nation.

I can't grow all those lost manufacturing jobs back by myself. Wish I could. And without a truly level playing field, American companies will never again have a snowball's chance at real and fair competition. Hence the gone-jobs and the jobs that are inevitably soon to be lost. I could have easily printed this book in Asia, where the per-unit cost would have been far, far less. (It was tempting and would have meant a lot more profit.) But, it was extremely important to me to keep this project 'in-house.' I chose a printer from Ohio, the state of my Alma Mater, Kenyon College. The end result of this 'in-house' choice may be a bit higher cost – both to me, the artist, at the very least - and perhaps to the consumer, as well. (Although to be fair, I put this book at the lowest competitive price-point I could afford, while still allowing for the extremely steep discount to the book trade. I wanted to do right by you, the consumer.)

These are all risks and choices I wanted to make. Thanks so much for caring, for understanding, and for buying American when you can. And thanks, too, for buying directly from the artist (via this website!) Believe me, it makes all the difference in the world.

Eventually, but not yet. For now, I am only offering these images in book form. I may offer rights to reproduce some of these Cat Angel images in various formats to other companies. Once any formal agreements are reached, I will post applicable links and info on this website.

Individuals are encouraged to share their favorite Cat Angel images with friends - within personal emails. If you do share any Cat Angel images via personal email, be sure to include the www.catangels.com URL within the message, along with the images themselves. Watermarks may be included on some of the images on this website to make this credit easier.

Naturally, Cat Angel images may be included in professional book reviews and on sites which are offering the Cat Angels book for sale. These reviews and stores should include a link to the Cat Angels website, as well.

Beyond these simple, personal email forwards and professional book reviews, there are far greater restrictions.

No Cat Angel images may be used without prior formal, written approval or formal licensing agreement. No Cat Angel images can be used in a way that is unrelated to the author, Amy White, her Cat Angels book or the www.catangels.com website.

Cat Angel images may not be used to endorse or be associated with any other person, company or organization. These images cannot be sold or used in any way to sell products aside from the Cat Angels book itself.

Cat Angel images may not be reproduced or redistributed, nor can they be used in derivative works.

All Cat Angel images must be displayed in their entirety without any editing that would affect the integrity of the image. All sites and locations displaying Amy White's Cat Angel images must provide a link to or the address of the official Cat Angels website: www.catangels.com.

I try to respond to most queries, but there just aren't enough hours in the day! I regret that I can't reply to everyone personally. Please know how much I appreciate your kind words and stories. Keep 'em coming, if you can forgive me for not always reciprocating.

Sorry, but No. Cat Angel Press is a one-cat-woman-show.

Absolutely. However, as I'm a very small business and quite heavily invested in this book (which, sadly, cost a lot more than originally anticipated,) I can only afford to offer a limited amount of free product, at first.

I will be donating books and proceeds from sales to some favorite shelters and animal rescue programs here in Western North Carolina.

Also, my distributor can offer a very good discount for shelters nation-wide that want to purchase Cat Angels for resale.

A better route for some shelters may be to arrange a benefit concert and/or a book-signing at which I can donate a large percentage of proceeds. Book-signings would have to tie in easily with my performance schedule and not incur too many extraneous travel expenses. These events wouldn't require any up-front investment on the part of the shelter (beyond promotion) - and they could help generate great publicity and funds for the cause.