Mary Johnson had just delivered copies of her Branford Compassion Club (BCC) 2012 fundraising calendar-featuring fuzzy felines of BCC-when the Branford photographer thought of another great idea for a fundraising calendar: "Firefighters and Kittens."

Putting firemen and kittens together wasn't a stretch for Mary, who's also Branford Fire Department's official photographer and a member of the Connecticut Fire Association. Her idea went from concept to finished product in a flash and the unique 2012 calendar is now available, just in time for holiday giving. Proceeds from both BCC's feline feature calendar and "Firefighters and Kittens" calendar sales benefit BCC.

"I did my first calendar for the Compassion Club last year, because my daughter was fostering some kittens" for a senior exhibition project. "Being home part-time and being a photographer, I decided to take pictures of the kittens," says Mary, who's also a freelance local news photographer.

BCC board member Eunice Lasala then suggested Mary turn her kitten photos into a calendar to help out non-profit BCC. A portion of each $25 calendar sale helps defray printing costs and the rest goes to BCC. This year, BCC President Mary Mellows asked Mary to produce a 2012 calendar. Mary posed BCC cats and kittens in her Branford home studio with help from BCC volunteer Krista Hanniford.

Once the 2012 calendar was complete, Mary and Krista kept in touch through Facebook and that's where Krista jokingly suggested the next calendar could be "Kittens and Hunks."

"I said, 'Better yet, let's do kittens and firefighters,'" says Mary.

Paid and volunteer firefighters who are Facebook friends of Mary's and fans of her other website, www.firebuffpics.com, were quick to respond to the idea. They offered to come to Branford, don their gear, and pose with a kitten or two.

"I had responses from East Haven, Branford, Guilford, Hamden…The idea just blew up when I said, 'Who wants to volunteer?'" says Mary.

The calendar came together quickly, but Mary says each 45-minute session wouldn't have been possible without Krista, who brought BCC kittens on shoot days and acted as chief cat wrangler and kitten-placer.

As she looks through the completed "Firefighters and Kittens" calendar, Mary's delighted with the images she's captured, such as Stony Creek Co. 5 volunteer firefighter Don Krahl cradling a kitten. (To see some of the images, visit this story at www.zip06.com/branford.)

"I knew a lot of the volunteers, but some of them I never knew. Don Krahl was someone I met for the first time and he was amazing. It was really nice of all the firefighters to volunteer their time," Mary says.

Branford volunteers include Krahl, Sean Denison (M.P. Rice Co. 2), Roxanne Giannotti (M.P. Rice Co. 2), Sean Martson (Short Beach Co. 4), and Nick Torino, who participated while still an East Haven firefighter, but is now a member of the Branford Fire Department.

A fire buff as well as fire photographer, Mary has the utmost admiration for volunteer and professional firefighters.

"They go into places when we run out. I have so much respect for firefighters. They are totally amazing."

As for kittens, let's just say she and her daughters, Samantha and Rachael, have a lasting connection to BCC-much of it thanks to Samantha's Branford High School senior exhibition project last year.

"We got our first cat, Juliette, from Compassion Club," says Mary. "When my daughter was fostering kittens last year, she ended up fostering four batches…and we ended up keeping two of the kittens! So now we have three cats and all of them are from Branford Compassion Club."

Non-profit Branford Compassion Club is a feline rescue organization that serves Branford and surrounding shoreline towns. Mary Johnson's 2012 BCC calendars are available now at Branford Book & Card Shoppe, 1024 Main Street, and Branford Compassion Club, 2037 Foxon Road, North Branford (open Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.) or online at www.maryjohnsonphotography.com or www.branfordcompassionclub.org.