Photographer Andrius Burba is a Lithuanian photographer who once got a great idea from an amateur's photo he saw on the Internet. It was an image of a cat sitting on a glass tabletop, and the cat had been photographed from below so the viewer could see through the glass. "I decided to level up the idea and photograph it professionally to see those paws in hi-res," Burba says. "And that is how the Underlook project was born."
Burba's Underlook project has been around for about four years, and over time, it has evolved into a photography phenomenon.
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People love pictures of cats from this vantage point, and Burba has even changed up the project over time. Still, the basic and beloved idea is always the same.
Burba first began shooting cats for Underlook at the International Cat Show in Vilnius. He says he was able to photograph many of the show's winners as well as "cats that were best of the best." People enjoyed the photos so much that Burba began photographing other animals in the same fashion, including dogs, horses and rabbits. He even did an Underlook series on bicycles.
When it comes to the difficulty of these shoots, Burba recalls the horse project specifically.
To get the shots, he had to dig a hole that was almost 10 feet deep in which he took the pictures while "only ... thick glass was separating [him] from the horse above."
Is it any wonder why he eventually went back to photographing cats?
Still, Burba doesn't seem deterred by innovation. This newest series of Underlook cat photos required the use of colorful backgrounds rather than black ones, which he said made the project even more difficult.
"The colorful backgrounds had to be changed all the time instead of leaving one background for the whole photo shoot." In addition, the paper backgrounds required extra work so they would always stay stretched out. He thinks these images were worth the extra work, though.
The addition of color to the project not only gives audiences something new to look at but also brings emotion to every piece, sometimes perfectly lining up with the emotions of the feline subjects. According to Burba, the Under-cats project with its new, vibrant interpretation "is something that you could just sit and look at all day!"
Without spoiling too much for his audience, Burba wanted to tease the newest project he's working on: tigers. In a recent Bored Panda story, he promises that the whispers are true and that tigers will be the focus of the next Underlook project, making his feats with horses seem suddenly small.
Fans can enjoy more of Burba's whimsical images on his website, his Facebook page or his Instagram account. For those who really love the Underlook project, there's even a shop where one can purchase clothing, prints, notebooks and other merchandise that show these lovable felines — as well as other animals and items — from a fresh, new perspective.
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