This week we were given the task of showing motivation. Specifically, the instructions were “…whatever (it) means to you…have fun with it!” If you spend enough time with animals, you will quickly realize that they can communicate all kinds of things just by a look – the desire to play, the necessity of treats, the guilt of “your leaving me…again.” Given that our cat, Lady Jane, has any number of these looks, I spent some time brainstorming what I could do for this week’s image. I turned around to see where Lady Jane was (since Ripley’s passing, she spends many hours laying under my office chair and I have to always check before I move it lest I roll over her precious paws) and this is what I saw. Possibly the most un-motivated pose ever. The irony of the moment made me laugh out loud (and grab my iPhone for a quick picture)!

The truth is though, Lady Jane is definitely one of my motivators for my business and my life. She is truly a cuddly cat who began life in a shelter, but now loves to be with us. She is also already 15.5 years old and, as much as I hate to think about it, she will not live forever. We lost Ripley earlier this year and the time will come when I will no longer have a furry grey Lady Jane sleeping on the bed beside me. What I do have are the glorious pictures of the two of them that I have taken during the years – memories captured forever. That is why I am a pet photographer. And why I volunteer each week to help shelter animals.

So, please enjoy this week’s image of Lady Jane who is my picture of motivation.

PS: After this picture and my laugh, I was truly motivated to crawl back into bed and take a nap…so you see motivation can mean just so many things!

Next in our blog circle is talented Quad-Cities Pet Photographer, Mary Beth Arnold. Let’s see where she and the rest of the blog circle got their motivation from this week!