PETS-GAZETTE

Photographer takes aim at shelter rescues for new book

Linda Wilson Fuoco takes a look at a new book by photographer Seth Casteel titled “Pounce” in Pet Tales.

Zeppelin, a wide-eyed calico kitten, leaps through the air, pink-padded paws stretched toward the camera. Tiny orangeand-white Neo goes airborne over a field of tall grass. Tiger-striped Toonces is caught in mid-air, jumping a wooden fence.

“Pounce,” a new book by Seth Casteel, is filled with full-page color photographs of 84 kittens from shelters and rescues in California, Illinois, Minnesota, Puerto Rico and Canada. Many of the kittens are very small. All are adorable. They come in every cat color you’ve ever seen.

Most are short-haired, but the thick cream-colored coat of PoofPoof lives up to its name. Doc Brown and FruityPebble look like little lynxes.

Not all of the kittens are pouncing. Bubbles and Bobbles pose amid a collection of rainbow-colored plush animals. Ethel’s eyes peek over the rim of a bath tub. Twinkletoes walks on his hind legs, standing straight up.

Anyone who has ever tried to photograph a cat may wonder how Mr. Casteel got all of these amazing images. For starters, Mr. Casteel, 36, has been a full-time professional photographer since 2009.

In a telephone interview this week, he said he worked for nearly a year with “hundreds and hundreds” of cats and kittens. The vast majority did not make the cut.

His earlier books, “Underwater Dogs” and “Underwater Puppies,” were best-sellers. The dog book, published in 2012, has sold a half-million copies worldwide.

“Dogs are easy to photograph. Cats, not so