If It's Hip, It's Here (Archives): unusual animal photography

above: Prince does the Adho Mukha Vrkhasana, or handstand

How do you top Dogs and Cats doing yoga? Why with puppies and kittens striking the enlightened poses, of course.

After great success with his Yoga Dogs and Yoga Cats calendars in 2009 and 2010, Texas photographer Dan Borris has come out with Yoga Puppies and Kitten calendars for 2011.

The 2011 Yoga Puppies Calendar:

Some of the puppies from the 2011 Calendar:

above: Liza does the Virasana, or hero pose

above: Kerrigan does the Ardha-Chandrasana, or half-moon pose

above: Pansy does the Bitilasana, or cat-cow variation

The 2011 Yoga Kittens Calendar:

Some of the kittens from the 2011 calendar:

above: Candy also does the Virasana, or hero pose

above: Miles does the Dhyana, or self-inquiry pose

above: Randy does the Vyaghrasana, or tiger pose variation

above: Skittles does the Urdhva Dhanurasana, or backbend preparation

The Yoga Dogs 2011 calendar, shown below, will be in stock soon.

above: The 2010 Yoga Dogs and Yoga cats were bestsellers.

About:
Five years ago photographer Dan Borris came across his first Yoga Dog. Otis was a two-year-old English Bull Terrier who loved to do yoga with his friend Joy. Joy would be practicing her yoga in the mornings while Otis wandered around her legs, stopping now and again to lick her face as she did a headstand. Slowly but surely Otis began to imitate Joy. At first he tried out simple poses, ones that came naturally to him like Downward and Upward Dog. As time went on Otis's poses became more and more complex, until finally he began his own practice. While Otis himself wasn't captured on film, he did lead Dan on his path to finding other four-legged Yogis.

The original two-legged Yogis discovered poses by observing and imitating the movement of animals. Now the practice has come full circle and it's the dogs that are imitating us! You can see the absolute delight they take in their yoga and when they practice you can feel their profound concentration.

You can buy the 12 " x 12" calendars directly from their site, but pssst! they are cheaper at the links below:

thanks to Dan Borris and The Guardian for the images

Above: photographer Catherine Ledner and friend

I love animals and I love wallpaper, so it stands to reason that I'd be a fan of Catherine Ledner's photos and prints of animals in front of wallpaper. I first discovered her work on NOTCOT when they featured her book, Animal House and the NY Times slideshow that accompanied it. Now her fab photos are for sale as chromogenic prints.

With a keen eye for color and composition, she sells a limited series of the prints in various sizes (100 of 11"x14" at $250, 20 of 16"x20" at $500, 20 of 20"x24" at $750, and 10 of 32"x40" at $1700) that feature domestic and farm animals, birds and wildlife posed in front of fabulous contemporary wall coverings.

Here are a few of my favorites (she has many more!):

The photographer's bio (from her site):

Catherine Ledner was born in New Orleans. After graduating from NYU with a degree in film, she worked in television for a year and a half. She then worked as a studio manager for a photographer in New York, which led to her eventual move to Pasadena to study photography at Art Center College of Design.

She graduated from Art Center in 1994 and since then has built a great base of clients who hire her for her innovative style and ability to work well with subjects. She loves photographing all types of people and revels in the experience of working in different environments.

Some of her clients include Visa, HP, Arco, Microsoft, IBM, Graco, Kodak, Nissan, Alliance, Adobe, CDW, McAfee, Hyatt, Sharp, Allsteel, Entertainment Weekly, Travel and Leisure, W, Bazaar, New York Times Magazine, The London Observer, Newsweek, Dwell, and Premiere.

She currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband Kyle, her son Winston and their dogs, Dodger and Little Bear.