Walter Chandoha is definitely a cat person. After photographing cats for over 70 years, he says, “Their potential for photography is unlimited. I still come up with a cat picture that is unlike any cat picture ever made — mine or any other photographer’s.” This fall, Aperture will release “Walter Chandoha: The Cat Photographer,” a collection of his cat career highlights. Chandoha’s photographs have appeared in ads for everything from cat food to shoes, in Ladies’ Home Journal and Life magazine. He opted against glamorous cat casting calls, sourcing most of his models from his own family. “The first was Loco, a kitten I picked up in the snow one night coming home from classes at NYU. He ultimately was responsible for my becoming a freelance photographer specializing in cats,” Chandoha says.

Loco was followed by Minguina, Kome, Friend, Spook and Jet, among others, and when none of Chandoha’s cats met the casting specifications, he would find his models among friends, neighbors or cat owners at cat shows. Chandoha might be considered the forefather of the Internet’s now-ubiquitous cat photo; and while digital cameras and smartphones have certainly made it easier for people to document their feline friends, as Chandoha sees it, “All of this technology would be for naught if cats were not the sweet, lovable companions they are, and who are held in higher esteem today than those in ancient Egypt when they were worshipped as gods.”