Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
I love photographing animals in the studio, and I’m obviously not the only one. When actor and photographer Josell Mariano was asked to look after his friend’s cat, Jade, for whom an Instagram account has now been created, Mariano decided to go a little… “extra”.
With a full-on photo shoot, Mariano recreated a cheesy 80s style portrait session. Yes, with a cat. And the results are both hilarious and amazing.
I can hardly imagine anyone who doesn’t like funny photos of cats. We often give them human traits and make them seem like they’re doing human things. But photographer Harry Whittier Frees did it “before it was cool.” He dressed cats and posed them with props so it looked as if they were doing human things, and he photographed them like this over 100 years ago!
I guess we all know the viral Grumpy Cat, the spirit animal of many of us (especially on Monday mornings). In 2015, a beverage company used Grumpy Cat’s name and image without a license, and the kitty’s owner Tabatha Bundesen decided to file a lawsuit. On Monday, the court ruled in her favor and she was awarded $710,001 in damages.
A dog is for life, not just for likes.
It’s a variation on the nearly-40-year-old slogan that’s impressed on us every Advent by the people at the Dogs Trust. But now it is becoming ever-more pressing as research conducted by the Blue Cross–another animal charity–suggests that there’s a chunk of people who would predicate their choice of dog or cat on the number of social media likes it is expected to garner.
Just let that sink in for a minute. One-in-seven of the 1,000 people questioned in the survey (carried out on behalf of the Blue Cross by OnePoll*) said that they would choose a specific breed of dog or cat based on an assumed arbitrary approval rating casually meted out by a gaggle of people, most of whom are likely strangers.
That’s not the pet which, practically, best suits your living circumstances, activity levels, or family circumstances, or the pet that, emotionally, you are going to let into your home and your heart and will love you unconditionally in return, but the one whose photos are going to prove most popular on social media.
You can find out more about John on his website and follow his adventures on YouTube and Facebook.
His videos have over a hundred million views, have been extensively published by news outlets, and has even received recognition from a few film festivals, such as International Ocean Festival
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