“Getting to know your local bodega cat, like knowing your deli sandwich guy or your neighbors, makes living in the city much less isolating,” Maxine Anderson, a resident of Upper Manhattan, tells MNN.
These fluffy fixtures of neighborhood convenience shops have been in and around the city for many years, but it was only recently that their cult following expanded to a national scale thanks to the cat-obsessed tendencies of the Internet.
Over the past few years, several social media accounts dedicated to the felines have begun popping up all over the place, perhaps the most notable being Bodega Cats of Instagram. And in 2014, New York public radio station WNYC shot a short film series titled “Bodega Cats in Their Own Words.” This video explores the colorful lives of different shop kitties from around the city.
While these shop kitties are a sure novelty to tourists and newbie New Yorkers, it’s important to tread carefully when photographing them. After all, bodegas are private businesses on private property.
“Photographing bodega cats in my ‘hood is kind of a faux pas,” Anderson explains. “People look at you like you’re a health department narc.”
Health department concerns aside, there’s also the issue of respecting the animal’s own boundaries. If you take a moment to really think about what it would be like to be in their paws, you have to admit there’s nothing creepier than a stranger getting all up in your purr-sonal space and snapping pictures of you.
Of course, if you have developed a friendly relationship with the kitty and the shop staff over time, this might not be such a big issue, but it’s always a good idea to ask first. Once you overcome these hurdles, then you can capture truly excellent bodega cat photography!
Watch this amazing video: