April 11th, 2009

Cooper, meet America

Today Cooper has his national print debut in People Magazine! Holy jumping up and down kitty cat! That’s big news all right.

For those of you visiting us for the first time, here’s the story of the Cat Camera: Michael and I are filmmakers, so for us it was only natural that our cat would take up the family business. We purchased a Cat-Cam kit online and put it together and started sending him outside once a week with the light weight collar camera attached. When he would return at the end of the day with as many as 400 pictures, we had the answer to that age-old question, “what does my cat do all day?” We also had some surprisingly beautiful photos. We saw lush underbrush and even the sculptures in the back yards of our Seattle neighbors.

He has been shooting photos for about a year and a half now and we had been publishing them on Flickr. We were astounded when his minor online celebrity ballooned in December with his appearance on Animal Planet’s Cats 101 program and the front page article about Cooper’s photography in the Seattle Post-Intellegencer. Following his big media blitz on December 6th, we have had over 1.5 million hits on our Flickr. Since then Cooper has had a successful gallery exhibit here in Seattle, which was visited by over a thousand people and Cooper even sold a few prints. Clearly there is something about Cooper that strikes a chord with people!

For those of you interested in buying a Cooper Original photo for your home or office, you can visit Urban Light Studios online. View TV news clips about cooper at Cross Films. And you can check out Cooper’s Flickr set featuring 139 pictures by Cooper and of Cooper wearing his Cat Cam.

The above picture is one of my personal all time favorites. We call it “Neighborhood Watch” and it’s available for sale in the gallery store. Cooper has been a busy bee this week and he will have more artistic photos to share with his internet friends soon.

9 Responses to “Cooper, meet America”

  1. I found your site on google, I love the design you have. Oh btw, I am hosting this event on youtube. If you are a cat owner or anyone you know is would be interested to join.

  2. yue1624 says:

    hah!super star!

  3. — JOHN — says:

    Cooper’s my new favorite artist. His work is so much more interesting and engaging than anything I’ve seen in years!! (Dead serious.)

  4. Cor says:

    I just read Cooper’s article in People magazine this afternoon on my lunch break. What caught my eye right away was that it was an article with the face of an orange cat! I have been in love with orange cats since I was 4, and that’s when I got my first orange “baby,” Oliver. Now, I am 26, and unfortunately he passed away last year (@ 22 yrs old!), but I have a new orange boy, named “Iggy” (Ignatius P. Fuzzbottom). He looks like he could be Cooper’s brother! Anyway, the article was very intriguing, and I LOVE his knack for snapping great photos. I think its great that you and your husband are such cat enthusiasts! I never thought I would hear about another person being obsessed with their cat, as much as I am! Keep up the good work Cooper! And good luck to you and your family! 🙂

  5. Michael Cross says:

    Thanks Laura, Brownie, B.Bee and Jai,

    Your comments are much appreciated! Thank you for your enthusiasm.

    Best,
    Michael and Deirdre

  6. Jai Johnson says:

    This is just the coolest! I’ve never heard of a cat-cam. If I put that on my five (yes 5), no telling what I’d see. Kudos to Cooper on his great photos from his travels…I’m enjoying looking at them…and congrats on the magazine feature!

    –Jai

  7. The Beneficial Bee says:

    I love his photography! Congrats to Cooper.

  8. Brownie says:

    Congratulations on being on People! I hope I could be there someday…

  9. Laura says:

    Congrats on the People Magazine spread, Cooper! Everyone will want your pawtograph!

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