Staying at the Animal House

Catherine and Iris. © William Anthony

I need to give a long overdue "thank you" to my good friend and photographic inspiration, Catherine Ledner. Catherine and her husband Kyle were kind enough to let Pamela and me stay in their guest house during our first month in Los Angeles while we looked for a place of our own.

I've known Catherine seven years now. We met in 2001 when, as an Art Director, I hired her for a job after serendipitously falling in love with her work while doing an image search on Getty Images. And from the moment we met, I knew I'd be stuck with her forever. And I mean that as the highest of compliments.

When the time came to make the move South from Seattle, she opened her home to us. And for the better part of May and June we felt at home with her and Kyle and their menagerie of dogs, cats, rabbits and lizards.

If you are not familiar with her photography, have a look here at her commercial portfolio. From the inception of my photography career, she's been an inspiration, motivator, sounding board and most consistent fan. She's the reason I am a professional photographer.


My favorite photo from Animal House. © Catherine Ledner

She recently published her first book of animal portraits, Animal House. And there could be no more fitting subject matter for someone I jokingly refer to as "St. Catherine of Assisi." Catherine loves animals. And animals totally dig Catherine. It's freaky how much they do. Not long ago, she launched a web site to sell limited edition prints of her animal portraits. They're wonderful. And there's no better visual description of her than the playfulness of those images. She's currently working on a new book, and let's just say after seeing a sneak preview, it got my tail wagging.

Now that we're all settled in here in Los Angeles, I wanted to take a moment to say thank you Catherine. Thank you for everything.