Thai Massage
“Thai Massage” – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Romain Mattei – Featured Photographer
What a fun photograph! This is not exactly something that can be staged, just one of life’s little chuckles caught by the quick camera skills of Romain Mattei. Read Romain’s story below and find out the true cost of such a shot in US dollars. Also find out if the cat is enjoying this or if he is just in a state of shock. After reading the story catch up with Romain on his Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/mattei.photography or one of his beautiful galleries at
500px: http://500px.com/mattei
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/moicmat
Enjoy!
Enter Romain:
I was spending the day in Kuala Lumpur without any plan of what to visit or to see. I was just going straight with only a map not to be lost. I make an amazing encounter purely by luck in a place where there were no tourists at all. A monkey and two cats were chilling on a chair in a patio. The two cats appeared to be pets but I wasn’t sure about the monkey. They were slipping and then playing together before the playful monkey pushed one of two sleeping cats out of the chair for fun. The cat lied down in order to keep on with its nap and this is when the monkey started to massage him.
To me, it was a massage because he was really focused on doing it well on the back and the tail but of course if he would find a flea, he wouldn’t refuse a little snack. The cat was really enjoying and I was shooting the scene with my 100mm f/2.8 macro lens, which allowed me to be quite close to the scene. The two animals were not shy at all, the monkey was doing his job and the cat was even posing for the pictures.
I took a whole series of pictures, it was too unique not to burn my Memory Card. I shot this one wide open in order to get the monkey a bit blurry but not too much so that the massage scene would be very recognizable. Like this, the focus point would be on the cat and the shot would be more eye-catching stressing the cat’s eyes looking right at me.
Also, I didn’t want to center the cat’s face in order to strengthen the composition and I chose to place the cat on the picture following the thirds rule. The monkey was more or less in the center, but being blurry it didn’t affect the composition, not catching the attention that much.
I left the right side empty, apart from the monkey’s tail in order not to overload the whole composition.
I felt extremely lucky to witness this scene. After the monkey finished his massage/skin care, he went away and while I was shooting the cat completely relaxed, he came from a side and stole two bills in my pocket. I couldn’t believe it, I chased him to get my money back (maybe I should have left it to him as a reward for such a photographic moment) and while I was about to take my bills back from his hand, he put his hand behind his back like a little child!! He only wanted to play and then he gave the bills back to me himself. An extraordinary animal, so smart!
I shot some portraits of this monkey, very expressive ones I’m eager to share in my portfolio.
Camera: Canon 450D
Lens: EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro
Shutter Speed: 1/80
Aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 100 mm
Share and Enjoy
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Oh how I love this!
Wonderful story and picture. So intriguing and humorous – thanks for stopping by to like my blog so that I could discover this!
One of the most remarkable pictures I’ve ever seen!
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At first I thought it was photoshopped…
amazing picture and beautifl story to go with it!
Aw … This is adorable! What a great pair they make!
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Love this!! A cat and a monkey fabulous!
Cute
Great
amusing…
How purr-fectly sweet!!
Great cat.
Wow, wow, and wow!!!
I’d love to see something like that, but I would likely be too awestruck to remember to take a photo.
This is epic! You don’t expect to come across something like this everyday. Just goes on to show how alert and ready a photographer must be to capture nature’s surprises. Great work with the composition too. This picture has made my day
.
I just had to comment on this shot. Really? When is the monkey giving me a massage. This is amazing because cats are generally lone creatures. I guess they are creatures of comfort too. Thanks for sharing
Sue Bock
http://couragetoadventurecoaching.wordpress.com
That’s great – I’m next!!!!
Love it.
Love it!
Love it. So cool!
This is fabulous- getting all the places the cat can’t reach! K.
Rare photo.
Yes this photograph says it all. It really isn’t so odd as one might think to see an animal massaging another animal or person. Cats are infamous for giving good massages.
It is just so sweet. And this monkey is quite the actor.
It might also be that he was trained to do that for audiences and then taught to receive monetary reward. That wouldn’t be out of the realm of what they can learn.
At any rate. What a card he is. And even my own cats love to have me massage the area on each side of their spines. Animals get stressed and their muscles tighten as well. Some animal spas do acupunture on cats, dogs. This is adorable photograph. It deserves its reward.
Yisraela
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Hi, we nominated you for a Sunshine Blog Award. We are not sure if you really need it, as you get plenty of attention, but we love the blog and figured “why not”. Thanks- putneyfarm.com
Wow. I need a Thai massage too. This is a really unique and great picture. Congrats for getting the picture of the moment. It rarely comes! Sweet.
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Haha! Sooo adorable! Love the cat’s face!
Very funny. Wondered if the can entertained thoughts of a snack!
I couldn’t help but crack a smile. Thanks for the day brightener.
Too cute. I wonder what he charges for a 60 minute session!
Utterly brilliant piece of animal behaviour. No need for anthropomorphosing this is the real thing. thanks for this.
What a shot!
brilliant!
Awesome.
Love the play on the title and the photo. My mind didn’t conjure up this image when I read the email notice!
What a great story and wonderful photographic evidence of this little pick-pocket in his other “job”! Great fun. Animals are so much more fun than humans:)
Cute photo. It would be nice if people got along as such.
That is the cutest ever! Even the animals don’t discriminate.
Adorable!
Lol….this is great! Even a pet wouldn’t refuse a great massage!
Amazing site!
The right place at the right time! great lucky you.
Hahaha this is great!
8-)…
Brilliant …. I should have enjoyed too.
Cute!
That’s Great! lol:)
The cat definitely got the better end of the deal
Oh wow, this is just marvellous! Might have to reblog!
That is one hard-working monkey. And a mighty smart cat, too, to enjoy taking advantage of the monkey’s hard work.
Looks like the kitty is getting a massage! Thx for sharing!
There is a cat and monkey that play
They bask in the sun all day.
And when they are rested
They jump and run to show the Lord
The fun that exist within this accord.
(msuzanne, http://www.godisiam.net)
Good composition, nice story to go with it. Thanks for the smile.
‘WOW… Lucky little cat… personal massage – and for free??.. superb image and I just love it!!
Lucky kitty!
Cute!
Those monkeys are so cheeky! We have one like this, our pet monk inspecting our kitten’s ear. What you can’t experience from the picture are the screeches of our then-four-year-old daughter screaming for her kitten’s safety.
Too cute! And great story
Great snap! Our Yuki is black and he used to have a random white whisker too
I want a massage…! This picture is great!
What happened to the LIKE button?!
Awesome pic.
Looks like the cat had a great massage and was enjoying itself. Unique photo.
I am in such love looking at this. What pals they are. Awww
Haha, great! ;D