(CNN) - Walter Chandoha wrote the book on cat photography.
A lot of them, really.
His work also defined the genre in the 50s, 60s and 70s, long before your Facebook feed could be full of blurry felines.
These adorable kittens participated in a photo session of Chandoha for McCall's Magazine in 1964. In those days, photos of Chandoha's cats were everywhere: announcements, greeting cards, calendars, puzzles. They can also be found on posters, t-shirts and cans of cat food.
- This 75-year-old man spends his days sleeping with kittens. Thus he has raised more than $ 30,000
“He was always known as the cat photographer,” said his daughter Fernanda in a recent telephone interview.
He authored more than 30 books during a career that lasted more than seven decades. Some are collections of his most beautiful photos of cats. Some are books with instructions for professional and budding photographers.
Walter Chandoha plays with one of his subjects in the study of his house in 1955.
Chandoha died in January at the age of 98. But before he died, he was able to work on a last book: “Cats. Photographs 1942–2018 ”. It is a career retrospective that presents about 300 of his best cat photos.
Chandoha also took pictures of dogs and other animals, but was always attracted to cats.
"I enjoyed the challenge of taking pictures of cats and quickly saw the potential of trying to capture their naturally expressive personalities," he wrote in the prologue of the book. "The possibilities and the photographic challenges seemed endless."
A shorthair cat squeezes into a glass in 1960.
A Siamese cat yawns in 1950.
Some cats play together in 1962.
Chandoha's daughter, Paula, is followed by the family cat, Loco, in 1951.
Chandoha's career took off shortly after adopting a street kitten in 1949. The freelance photographer was returning from classes at New York University when he saw a small kitten shivering in the snow. He put the cat in his coat pocket and took it home to meet his wife, Maria.
They called the crazy cat, and Chandoha started taking pictures of the new family member. He sold some of those photos to several publications, and before he realized he had found his niche.
“The cats were really great then; I just didn't have the Internet to magnify everything, ”said his daughter Fernanda.
Siamese kittens play in a basket in 1962.
Chandoha began receiving more and more photographic commissions. Large and small companies commissioned jobs. There were magazine covers, advertising campaigns. Even camera and movie companies promoted him, sometimes as "the most famous cat photographer in the world."
He would photograph cats in the studio, at home and on the street. His daughter Fernanda estimated that during his career, he produced more than 90,000 photos of cats.
“If he didn't have a pending assignment, he went out. I saw that a cat had kittens and was there all day taking photos, ”he said.
This 1955 photo is one of Walter Chandoha's most famous photographs. “My daughter Paula and the kitten 'smiled' for the camera at the same time. … But the cat is not smiling, it is meowing, ”said the photographer at the time.
For his planned shots, Chandoha would borrow cats from local shelters or from owners of other cats. His family also adopted dozens over the years.
His wife, Maria, was usually his assistant, and she was essential to get the best situations.
"She would understand cats enough to know when they are ready for him to shoot," Fernanda recalls. “My mother and he had a good mutual understanding and a very good understanding of cats. They just knew when the time was right. ”
An American shorthair cat in 1966.
A Siamese cat in 1984. At the beginning of his career, Chandoha sought the advice of a tigers coach. "To get the shot, you need three things: sound, patience and food."
Chandoha's backlight technique dramatizes a kitten's defensive posture when he sees a dog in 1957.
Two kittens play together in 1968.
When the Internet became something big, along with all his photos and cat memes, his father celebrated it, he said.
It would also offer people advice on how to take the best cat photos.
"He always said you have to know your subject," he said. "Of course you must be patient, but you must know what (the cats) will do at what time of day."
A cat is lying on a dog in 1968.
As an example, Fernanda referred to a photo where there are three cats that wash on a fence.
“Cats wash after eating, so they literally followed the cats. He knew their habits, saw that maybe they did it once before, and received the photo with its beautiful backlight.
“Many of the 'tricks' are based on experience and technical knowledge. But it's also being patient and understanding pets. ”
This 1961 photo of a Persian cat is the cover of Chandoha's new book.
Three cats clean themselves on a fence in 1982.
Fernanda and her sister Chiara helped her father work on his latest book.
He had forgotten some of the photographs, Fernanda said, and it was fun to rediscover them while taking out old negatives and contact sheets.
"There is a purity in reading that book that takes you away from everything that happens in the world," Fernanda said. "And I think that was always the case with cats."
A cat stars in a photo shoot for a Friskies brand cat food campaign in 1966.
Walter Chandoha's latest book, “Cats. Photographs 1942-2018 ”is available through Taschen. You can also see photos of his file on Instagram.
Photo editors: Clint Alwahab and Brett Roegiers