Menandcats.com recently stumbled across the work of photographer David Williams, who has an entire series of beautiful portraits of men and their cats. I was shocked that I hadn’t seen his work before, since we have very similar projects with similar goals behind them. I reached out to David for an interview, and he was kind enough to answer my questions. Please check out David’s website and Instagram and support it in any way you can!
First of all, do you have a cat or cats?
DW: My girlfriend and I have one cat named Margot. We rescued her after Hurricane Sandy hit New York.
What’s your photography background?
DW: I received my formal training from The Art Institute of Colorado in Denver. But I’ve had the opportunity to learn a lot by assisting some really amazing photographers.
How did you get interested in photographing other men and their cats?
DW: It simply started as a fun project photographing my friends and their cats in 2009 while I was still attending school. I also found the way that society genderizes animal ownership very compelling. As a portrait photographer I was interested in capturing the relationships of my male friends and their cats. It was also a good excuse to hang out with a bunch of cats!
How do you find the people in your series?
DW: Everyone in the photos are either friends, or friends of friends.
How long have you been doing this? How many portraits have you shot? Are you planning to continue?
DW: Since 2009. I’ve only shot about 20 or so. Sometimes it’s hard to find time for personal work. I absolutely will continue photographing Men & Cats because it involves two of my favorite things, taking pictures and hanging out with cats!
Do you show your work only on your website, or do you have gallery shows? Do you sell prints of your photos?
DW: I have shown some work in galleries but don’t focus a lot of my time towards selling prints or exhibitions.
Has anything surprised you while doing this series of photos?
DW: The recent amount of attention the project has gotten has definitely been surprising as I’ve been working on this project for a while. Shooting personal work is very important for a photographer. It gives me an opportunity to show photo editors and art buyers what I am capable to doing when I have complete creative control.