Hector

Hey Everyone,

This is Hector. As you can see, this fellow is blind in one eye. Hector is owned by a veterinarian that I did a shoot for. She seems to collect poor guys who have had it rough. I tried to work as best I could with the one eye to one side - but I also did not want to shy away from his face. C/C is always welcome.

Cheers
James

looks great. wonder how it would have acted with a patch on it's bad eye? www.bsvirginian.smugmug.com

well done james!

Put a little pirate costume, compete with eye patch, on that cat and that would be funny!

Very nice James. You rose to the challenge.

OK - now for the 25,000 dollar question. I like this guy a lot - he adds definite character (most folks are either in love or disgusted by the fact that the cat is bald). I would like to add him to my website. Should I pick one of the photos of him acting on the wand, or should we go for the formal shot?

If we go for the formal shot, should I clone an eye back on him? I did it just for fun the other day and feel like if I had posted him with the cloned face, no one would have been able to tell unless I said something. As Tony and Bob pointed out, he looks 'like a pirate' and I am not sure if that is off-putting to people - particularly folks who have never seen a cat like this before. My wife and I have been going back and forth with 'to clone or not to clone...' not because he is not beautiful, but most folks who hit my galleries have never met the cat before and therefor may have different thoughts about the content that they are looking at.

James

The formal shot is the best and leave the eye the way it is. It is him. He is an ugly cat, but, I think all the naked kitties are ugly in the same way that I think hairless cresteds are ugly. So ugly they are cute.

I just wouldn't change the core of him. which is his blindness in that eye

James,
I like the last shot in the series and I like the formal. Do NOT clone in an eye. This is the cat. He is what he is.

I really like the entire series and I think he's a great cat. Nice photographs.

Jim

Let me ask this as sometimes I am a bit slow. :P Is the general consensus to keep the eye as is for aesthetic purposes or for philisophical reasons? The reason why I am going back and forth on this is that the gallery is not playing to people who know the cat - but for folks who have never been to the sight before. It is one of the reasons why we feature the sugar glider on the site vs a dog or a cat. I am trying to figure out if to the average person, the eye is a liability on this very unique little guy.

James

James,
my comments were both philosophical and aesthetic: I don't change a dog that is not set up perfectly in my show photos even though I could. To me, photography is not about taking great pictures of perfect subjects. It's about taking great pictures of subjects that show them as flatteringly as possible but not unrealistically so.

Just a note: I don't overly retouch my people portraits either. Skin isn't always perfect. I fix the major blemishes but I don't go for "Playboy" smoothness.

Regardless, I like the Hector photos the way they are. And I'd be happy to have them in my portfolio.

Jim

I am among those who love the bald guys and think they are super cute!

The eye doesnt' bother me at all, the contrast between it and the fancy collar makes me feel good that even with his unfortunate eye, he has a family that obviously loves him a lot. He has tons of character and the shots of him are just beautiful. Nice job!