Adorable Underbelly of Cats Cleverly Revealed by Photographing Them From Below

Considering how popular cats are on the Internet, you'd think by now, we would've seen everything. It turns out, however, that we aren't as familiar with what's underneath the furry felines who normally walk beside our calves, nip at our ankles, and occasionally hop onto our laps. What do their legs, paws, and bellies look like from below? Photographer Andrius Burba gets to the bottom of it (literally) by capturing the underside of furry (and not-so-furry) felines in an aptly-titled series, Under-Cats. Burba positioned breeds of all shapes and sizes onto a glass surface while he pointed his camera upwards. The resulting portraits are both adorable and fascinating as each cat's idiosyncrasies are made crystal clear.

Burba's series demonstrates how different cats appear in terms of their color and fur length. To find such variety, he attended an International Cat Show that recently convened in Vilnius, Lithuania. The project took him seven hours of preparation, one day of shooting, and four weeks for finishing/editing.

The initial inspiration for Under-Cats was, in part, curiosity. “I was fascinated by their cute little paws which were impossible to resist to look at,” Burba recalls, although this became secondary to the underlying concept of his project. “The main idea which I wanted to express through these photos, is that cats feel embarrassed about this part of a body which people don't get to see daily.”

Andrius Burba: Tumblr | Facebook | Instagram
via [Bored Panda, Laughing Squid]

Sara Barnes

Sara Barnes is a Staff Editor at My Modern Met, Manager of My Modern Met Store, and co-host of the My Modern Met Top Artist Podcast. As an illustrator and writer living in Seattle, she chronicles illustration, embroidery, and beyond through her blog Brown Paper Bag and Instagram @brwnpaperbag. She wrote a book about embroidery artist Sarah K. Benning titled 'Embroidered Life' that was published by Chronicle Books in 2019. Sara is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art. She earned her BFA in Illustration in 2008 and MFA in Illustration Practice in 2013.
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