Can something be considered art if the creator is an unsuspecting photographer? That's one of the questions that comes up in the short documentary "Cat Cam," a sixteen minute film by Seth Keal, examining the life and times of a famous feline photographer named Mr. Lee.
The stray cat charmed its way into the home of Juergen and his family back in 2006; At first, the German engineer urged his wife not to feed the cat out of fear that it would never go away, until one day he caved and gave the persistent puss some leftover spaghetti. The rest, as they say, is history.
One of the concerns the family had over taking in the street cat was that there was an "old lady somewhere crying every night" because her dear kitty had disappeared. They also noticed that he would sometimes wander off for a day or two and come back not wanting to eat, or leave the house dirty and come back clean. Did their new cat have two homes?
Mr. Lee
To help get to the bottom of the mystery, Juergen created a lightweight digital camera to attach to the wandering kitty's collar. To his surprise, Mr. Lee came back with beautiful images, giving his owners a deeper insight into his daily life. Excited by these discoveries, Juergen published the photographs online, which not only led to international press coverage, but also helped strengthen the bond between Mr. Lee and his once reluctant human owner.
"CatCam" has been showing in several film festivals across the country, and is currently screening as part of the Tribeca Online Film Festival. (You can watch the entire movie for free on their website after registering with an email address). Looking to purchase a cat cam of your own? Mr. Lee's official website offers kits and pre-made cameras to help set you on the path to spying on your own secretive cat.
Via Tribeca Online Film Festival / CatCam the Movie Official Site (Thanks for the tip, Zahra and Q!)
2 comments:
Very cool! We definitely want to see "CatCam."
You can set up your very own DIY pet monitoring system by using any simple, off-the-shelf webcam. Even old, unused ones that you may have lying around will work. Decide on the number of cameras you wish to set-up (usually - one in every room that your pet may walk around in, with a maximum of 4 cameras). Once you're done with this, use a webcam software like GotoCamera that's easily available on the internet. Some of them even offer a basic version of this service for free. By paying a bit more ( usually, not more than $4 a month), you will get a whole bunch of added benefits such as motion detection, email alerts, mobile alerts, etc.
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