Photographer Fleur makes portraits of pets: 'Sometimes frustrating, but wonderful when it works'

A fancy cat, a seductive hangover or surprised hairball; photographer Fleur has had them all in front of the lens of her photo camera. For her final exam she photographed no less than 33 fluffy friends and is now exhibiting her work at Den Haag Centraal.

Just ended years, photographer Fleur Huijsdens from The Hague studied (52) from the Art Academy (KABK) in The Hague. But her work is already recognized by many art and animal lovers: “I come home with a colored background and do not use Photoshop”.

So many emotions

“The idea of ​​photographing cats came about three years ago”, says Fleur. “My own cat had just passed away and I was so sorry I never photographed it properly. In addition, there was corona, school and other things that I hated, so I was looking for something that would make me happy to graduate from the photography course at KABK.”

Fleur started photographing people with their pets. “I saw so much emotion especially in the cats when I took a picture of them that I chose to focus on that. I visited people with a colored background and my camera and then the work started to make a nice portrait of the animal.”

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Time-consuming portraits

Quickly click with the camera is not there for Fleur’s cat portraits. “I try to photograph for a maximum of an hour, otherwise the cat will be too stressed. But the road to photography itself can be quite time consuming.

While I’m having a coffee with the owner of the cat, I occasionally let the flash go off so that the animal can get used to it. And then after a lot of love and secret tricks I always manage to get a nice picture. There has only been one cat to sit on command so far. The work is therefore sometimes quite frustrating, but when it worked out and I see the owner’s reaction, it’s so nice that I managed to get it done.”

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Future full of cats?

After Fleur’s graduation, she receives many requests for animal portraits. “I now spend a lot of time showing my work and enjoying the attention of the latest photo series. But I still have a lot of ideas for the future, I don’t have time for that right now.”

Cat photography and exhibitions

The portraits made by Fleur can be seen for the time being -free- of charge- in the bicycle shed under The Hague Central Station. From 8 March, Fleur will be showing her cats in The Hague Finest store in Venestraat.

You already have a poster of Fleurs cats for 15 euros on the wall. an original cat portrait costs a bit more and can be found in the Hofgalerie and Fleur’s

website

. Fleur has also made a very nice book with all her cat portraits. This is also available on the website.