Early one evening from my front verandah, I witnessed a hideously cruel act. Someone stopped their car on the side of the road and threw a plastic bag into a canal which flows into the harbour.

This seemed very unusual and on investigation we found that the bag was sealed and contained six tiny kittens. (Unfortunately only one survived, but he is living happily in the Southern Highlands, outside Sydney)

An animal lover since childhood, that shocking experience prompted my interest in animal welfare. It is important to me to preserve the portraits of these very special creatures. When my own cat died after seventeen years, and finding that I had no really good photographs of her, the idea of pet portraiture was born.

Throughout the ages, animals have played an important part in our evolutionary process. Dogs have worked as hunters for our food as well as for protection, companionship, rescue and guidance for the deaf and blind.

Both dogs and cats have been prominent in the households of Pharaohs and Kings. Cats have been revered for centuries as being sacred, mystical animals; feared by some, but loved by most.