Cats - Photography is Nothing with Zach Dobson & Courtney McCracken

Episode 20 - Cats have been a part of photography since its beginnings. As early as the 1870s, people have been taking silly photos of cats in costumes or staged scenes.

In this episode, we look at the beginnings of cat photography, technology that was developed from a scientist studying cats, and some very commercially successful cat photographers. We even bought a photo book expressly for this episode!

“Photography is nothing–it's life that interests me.” - Henri Cartier-Bresson

Index
0:00 - Intro - Hemingway’s cats lounge around the house
2:50 - Our cat wants to be on the podcast
3:20 - Meet our cats
7:29 - John P. Soule - Stereoscopic cat photography in the 1870s
8:56 - Some internet cats we love
10:12 - Harry Whittier Frees posed cats in costumes in 1914
14:38 - Étienne-Jules Marey & the chronophotographic gun in the late 1800s
18:10 - Walter Chandoha was the preeminent cat photographer of the 20th century
22:17 - Julian Assange used his cat Michi for good PR
23:38 - Cats in the Sun, a photo book by Hans Silvester (1993)
28:05 - Single cat images by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Sabine Weiss, Danny Lyon, and others
30:48 - Photographing Hemingway’s polydactyl cats
31:58 - Baby the seeing eye cat by LIFE photographer Loren F. Smith
35:37 - Cats do what they want and we accept that
40:15 - Things NOT to do when photographing cats

Find Zach
Website: zachdobson.com
Instagram: instagram.com/zachdobsonphoto
TikTok: tiktok.com/@zachdobsonphoto
Threads: threads.com/@zachdobsonphoto

Find Courtney
Instagram: instagram.com/courtneymccracken_
TikTok: tiktok.com/@happy_life_lessons
Threads: threads.com/@courtneymccracken_

About the Podcast
Photography is Nothing with Zach Dobson and Courtney McCracken is a weekly conversation about photography and all its impact. Each week Zach and Courtney discuss their latest adventures, life lessons, and anything else that sounds interesting.

Photography is Nothing invites you into the conversations they were already having as a married couple running a photography and media company in the current world.

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