Today we’d like to introduce you to Bob Walker.
Hi Bob, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My parents didn’t have the foresight to name me BobCat. Thankfully, I found my calling when I met cat lover extraordinaire Frances Mooney while volunteering in a California senate race. I was seated opposite of her in a circle of campaign helpers. Frances’ skills easily exceeded mine. She was able to stuff envelopes vastly faster than the rest of us! After the mailer session was complete, I asked Frances if I “could give her a call.” Her response was a blunt “When?” Whoa. I hadn’t encountered such forthrightness before. Apparently, she had received a few approaches recently without follow-up calls. Intrigued … I proposed a get-together in two days.
After three years of dating, we married at a no-fuss, $35 courthouse ceremony. Instead of a honeymoon, we went out that afternoon and adopted a long-haired tabby cat. Beauregard shared our wedding night and bed. It’s been fifty-five years since being amazed by Frances’ envelope stuffing skills. We’re still best friends, and partners in all endeavors.
In 1986, we moved to Frances’ former family home, and immediately began remodeling it for our cats. Soon our felines were frolicking on one hundred and forty feet of overhead walkway. Not only did the catwalk elevate the cats’ lives, but ours as well. The Cats’ House quickly became a media magnet, attracting countless print and television crews. Surprisingly, our “feline fantasyland” inspired cat lovers worldwide to enrich their cats’ lives, also.
“Cat lovers have come to recognize this innovative couple as two of the founders of the feline enrichment movement. Today cat behaviorists have endorsed many of their ideas as essential to keep indoor cats both mentally and physically fulfilled.”—CATS USA ANNUAL
It is said that we should follow our meows (muse). I have been photographing our feline family since Beauregard first brought fur into our home. Spirited and bushy-tailed, Beauregard needed a playmate. So, we learned what countless cat lovers had discovered before us: One cat leads to another! Twenty-five cats and two dogs have shared our home and hearts.
Photography has been my focus since 1979, when Frances and I incorporated a fine art photo gallery into our custom framing business. Since then, I have had the pleasure of working in the photographic arts as an author, photographer, gallery owner, and museum founder. There have been numerous highlights … authoring bestselling cat photo books, cards, and calendars; directing more than one hundred photography exhibitions; coordinating several humane and arts organization events (a fave: directing/naming Hillcrest’s inaugural, forty years plus City Fest celebration); and having the privilege of being a founder of the Museum of Photographic Arts (MoPA) in Balboa Park (now the Museum of Photographic Arts at the San Diego Museum of Art).
Currently, I am scheduling slide presentations/book signings to introduce my latest book “A Lost Dog Finds Cat Paradise: Tails of Love and Mischief.” Arriving home from a filling Mexican dinner, Frances and I were greeted in the driveway by a starving Chihuahua puppy. It jumped up and down at our legs, seeking food and shelter. The day before, we had adopted two neighborhood kittens, Willow and Zander, increasing our family to ten felines. We didn’t need another critter to feed or try to train, especially a dog! After an unsuccessful search to find the lost puppy’s home, we adopted adorable Sadie, the purr-fect dog that we didn’t know we needed.
Concurrently, Frances and I are remodeling our photography studio to offer expanded people and pet portrait possibilities.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
As an Author: I was fortunate to have a literary agent before having a book proposal. With her expert guidance, I was able to submit a compelling proposal, whiich quickly attracted a major publisher for “The Cats’ House.” It became a bestselling “cat classic” that generated international media attention. Three years later, my second book, “Cats into Everything,” sold out in seventeen days, because it had received a rave review in PEOPLE magazine. At its Book Expo intro/book signing in Los Angeles, Dr. Ruth sent her assistant over to see what book had such a long line relative to hers! Julia Childs was signing at the same time, also. After the event, I maintained that our much longer line showed that “Cats were more popular than food or sex.” Not everyone agreed.
LATER … I had a creative difference with my publisher and stopped producing books for several years, so that my contract would expire and all creative works would fully revert back to me for future usage (similar to Taylor Swift’s situation, but on a vastly smaller economic scale).
About ten years ago, I ventured forward with new book proposals formatted similar to the prior bestsellers. Unfortunately, the book world had changed. Large publishing houses had consolidated, creating less publishers to approach. Plus, most photo books were now considered too risky and expensive to produce by major publishers. They passed on my new submissions.
Recently, I discovered that it is possible to create quality photo books and distribute them through print-on-demand publishers. In April, 2025, I self-published “A Lost Dog Finds Cat Paradise: Tails of Love and Mischief” in hardcover, paperback, and ebook formats with Amazon Publishing and Ingram Spark. The book received good initial response. Now, is the hard part: Cost-effectively informing the vast world of potential buyers that the book exists, and that it’s wonderful!
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I specialize in animal and people photography: Events, portraiture, and publishing. Authored books are often the result of several years of documentation. The images stand out for their captured expressions, vibrant colors, motion, unique perspectives, and sequential storytelling.
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
Life is a precious, amazing opportunity … and limited. It’s a much used cliché, but make each moment count. Follow your meows (muse), woofs, or whatever provides an enriched life to you and others.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.bobwalkerphotography.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bobwalkerphotography/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/catshouse
- Other: https://www.catshouse.com/
Image Credits
Bob Walker
