I love everything about cats—warm laps, long whiskers, paper bag antics, “I see a bird” chirps, velvet bellies, head butts, making biscuits, fluffy tails, impromptu laptop naps, sandpaper licks, musical purrs, dependable furry alarm clocks . . .

My name is Ingrid and I’ve been fascinated with felines since, well, forever, and of course, I grew up in a house filled with cats. I even wanted to be that “crazy cat lady” who lived down the road with a zillion cats – though decades later, I’ve yet to be guardian to more than three at a time.

A lifetime with cats — kittens to seniors — a more cat-than-dog purr-sonality, and patience in spades: I can settle in with most any cat I meet.

I don’t pose cats. I wait. I sit on the floor, stay quiet, and let your cat decide when they’re ready — and then I catch the glance, the stretch, the slow blink, the in-between moments that are gone in a second and impossible to fake.

I know how much a single photograph can come to mean. After my cats Sadie and Milkshake crossed the rainbow bridge in 2021 — less than a month apart — I found my way into fostering with Paws + Claws Chicago Rescue here in Evanston. Since then I’ve fostered more than a dozen kittens and cats, many of them frightened, shy, or still learning to trust people.

That’s the work that shaped how I photograph. As a certified Fear Free® professional, I spend my weeks earning the trust of cats who’ve decided strangers aren’t to be trusted — so when I come into your home, your nervous one is in experienced hands. There’s no rushing and no forcing. We go at your cat’s pace, every time.

Over the years my work has been honored in ways I’m grateful for — a Tails Magazine cover, features with Hauspanther, Shutterfly, and Stampington Life Images, and work for Petguard and the International Society of Feline Medicine.

When I’m not photographing cats, you’ll find me teaching and performing music, and volunteering. I’m also a member of HeARTs Speak, a community of artists using their work to help animals find homes.

If any of this sounds like your kind of person, I’d love to meet your cat.

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One more thing: that same love for cats led me to launch 9 Lives Nanny, my in-home cat sitting service for Evanston, Wilmette, Skokie, and West Rogers Park. Whether I’m behind the camera or keeping your cat comfortable and on-routine while you travel, the goal is the same — your cat feels safe, seen, and genuinely cared for.