Photos

My wife and I love cats, and we hate having to leave our two behind when we travel. So, we always look for cats whenever we travel around. The rule of thumb seems to be that the more water there is, the more cats there will be: Cinque Terre, Amsterdam, Bruges, all cat-friendly places. Malta was no exception. They were everywhere.

Our hotel was one of the three northernmost on Malta, so there wasn't much nearby except for the ferry to Gozo. Still, there were a good number of cats congregated around the hotel and the adjacent pier, all looking for a handout. All of the cats were orange and white tabbies, save for this one brown tabby. The others definitely made him feel left out; they all tended to gang up against him, and he gave as well as he got. Of course, that made him my favorite, and I made sure to give him the lion's share (pun intended) of the handouts we smuggled out of breakfast every morning. This photo was taken after one of those breakfast feasts, so he was one happy cat.

As far as technical details, I did very little post-processing, as is my preference. Shot handheld, using image stabilization; some cropping applied to get rid of an unwanted railing, as well as sharpening and level correction. The water was just that blue; I didn't have to change it at all.