Walter Chandoha

Walter Chandoha, the world-renowned photographer and writer known as the forefather of cat photography, died January 11 at the age of 98. His storied career spanned over 75 years.

Chandoha, born in Bayonne, NJ in 1920, knew he wanted to become a photographer early on in high school, and sought out his local library to learn more about the subject. He joined local camera clubs, made a makeshift darkroom out of a spare closet in his parent's house, taught himself how to make photographic prints and learned from his peers and guest lecturers at the camera clubs. By 1940 he began entering photo salons and photo competitions and his work garnered considerable notice in the many New York newspapers and tabloids of the time including the New York Times and The New York Sun.

After serving in World War II as a combat photographer in the Signal Corps, he went on to study at New York University on the GI bill and received a degree in marketing. When he wasn’t in classes, he continued to develop his artistry, photographic, and printing skills, capturing the streetscapes and structures of bustling post-war New York City with a unique eye for light, composition and perspective.

And then one snowy evening on the way home from classes, he found a grey kitten in the snow, put him in the pocket of his army mackinaw and brought him home as a gift to his wife, Maria. The vibrant personality of the kitten captivated the couple and inevitably became the charming subject of Chandoha’s very first, now iconic cat photographs that were published in the popular picture magazines of the time in the U.S. and around the world.

These first photographs of “Loco” as the cat was called, set Chandoha on a new career path, hand in hand with his wife Maria, to eventually become THE “go to” expert cat, dog and animal photographer for the top Madison Avenue advertising Agencies, a wide range of corporations including Fortune 500 companies, and the many picture magazines in their heyday such as Life and Look.

Since then, Chandoha’s universally appealing cat, dog, and animal photographs have appeared on over 300 magazine covers, thousands of human interest features, pet food packaging and in countless iconic advertisements including those of the Madison Avenue “Madmen” era such as the groundbreaking Ohrbach’s advertisement “I Found Out About Joan” conceived by Bill Bernbach of Doyle Dane Bernbach.

Throughout his career beginning in the 1950s, his work was featured consistently in the advertisements and promotions of the major camera companies including Kodak, Hasselblad, Nikon, Polaroid, and Graflex, to promote their brands to both consumers and professionals. He had a longtime collaboration with Kodak, and his work was featured multiple times on the enormous 18’ X 60 ‘ Kodak Colorama at Grand Central Station in New York City. The Kodak Colorama displayed “the world’s largest photographs” a virtuosic feat of technological achievement that created illuminated images, unlike any others that came before and was enjoyed by over 600,000 commuters on a daily basis. Chandoha’s photographs were also featured at Kodak’s massive World’s Fair pavilion which was amongst the most visited pavilions of the fair with over 51 million visitors in 1964 and 1965. The theme of the fair was “Peace Through Understanding” and was a showcase for mid-twentieth century American culture and technology.

Upon moving to rural Hunterdon County, NJ with his family in 1960, Chandoha and his wife further developed their passion for gardening and began honing his expertise in horticultural and garden photography. In 1976 he turned his love of gardening into a new career path, submitting a garden article titled “If At First You Don’t Succeed” along with photographs to the New York Times. When the New York Times accepted his article for publication but didn’t use his photographs, he knew he was on the right track with garden writing, and immersed himself with both garden writing and photography - designing experimental gardens specifically with articles and photos in mind - for the next 30+ years. He went on to publish numerous cover features, garden articles, and garden books and won multiple awards in the field including being named a Fellow of The Garden Writer’s Association in 1997 and induction in their Hall of Fame in 2006.

Chandoha has had 33 books published since 1951 featuring his cat, dog, animal and garden photography and writing. Andy Warhol was an early fan of Chandoha’s book “All Kinds of Cats,” published by Knopf in 1952. Warhol used Chandoha’s photos from the book as source material for his cat illustrations released in 1954. Chandoha’s “How To Photograph” books are considered career blueprints for creatives interested in pursuing photography or freelance careers.

By 2015 and at the age of 95, his signature backlit color cat photographs were re-discovered by new generations with the publication of his 33rd book: “Walter Chandoha: The Cat Photographer” published by Aperture. The book garnered worldwide accolades and was featured in The New York Times, The Financial Times, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, Vogue, Vanity Fair, Wired, Slate and The Huffington Post amongst many others.

This past year “Walter Chandoha: A lifetime of Photography” at the Hunterdon Art Museum featured a specially curated selection of his New York City, cat & garden photographs. The exhibition ran from September 23, 2018 – January 9, 2019.

He also just finished his 34th book, to be published by Taschen in the spring of 2019, which will be a comprehensive retrospective of the full range of his iconic cat photographs created in both black and white and color.

Chandoha, a widower since 1992, is survived by five of his six children: Paula Chandoha Amaral, Maria Valentino, Sam Chandoha, Chiara Chandoha, Fernanda Chandoha, his grand-children: Cody Chandoha-Lee, Sam Chandoha-Lee, Chiara Maria Chandoha-Lee, and his cat Maddie. His son Enrico Chandoha died in 1997.

On Friday, January 25th, 2019 from 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM, there will be a visitation at the Holcombe Fisher Funeral Home: 147 Main Street, Flemington NJ 08822. For further information or to leave an online condolence, please visit www.holcombefisher.com.

The Memorial service will be private.

In lieu of flowers, kindly send any donations to either of the following: The Quakertown Fire Company, 67 Quakertown Rd, Pittstown, NJ 08867 or St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center, PO Box 5281, North Branch NJ 08876.