To get the attention of their subjects

"Watch the birdie," the pioneering portrait photographer's old standby to get the subject to look alert (see below) works like a charm with Tiny, whose hypnotic stare above is effortlessly induced by our dangling her harness just off camera.

"Birdie, 1870s. Nineteenth-century photographers used many devices to try to get the attention of their subjects. This birdie not only tweeted, but also fluttered its tail when the photographer squeezed the air bulb attached to the slender pipe. The phrase 'watch the birdie' originated with this item," reads the label for a brass bird -- similar to the one above [Is that fellow a Laurence Simon lookalike, or what?] -- at The Museum at George Eastman House.

"One entry per blog," writes Master of the Catblogosphere Laurence Simon, who's using incentives -- a raffle of "cat-related gifts"! -- to make sure the forthcoming 102nd Carnival of the Cats -- to be presented at his big-media catblog Catcall at the Houston Chronicle's chron.com this Sunday -- is "the biggest and best ever." Remembering his subjects, the Master adds:

Sure, Mog and Sissy, you can submit multiple posts but you'll still only have one entry in the raffle.

Well, we should hope so. Our fans demand it. Here's the deal:

If there's over 100 sites submitting catblogging posts to the Carnival of the Cats this week, I'll raffle out four special cat-related gifts among the lucky participants.

To join in the celebration, just send your catblogging URL to submissions (at) carnivalofthecats.com or use The Carnival Submission Form created by Ferdy (with some help from Bruce, his human pet).

Like Nineteenth-century photographers, catbloggers are not above using bells and whistles to get the attention of their subjects.

Comments

[Gayle Miller]

Is it possible that each time I visit your site I fall more in love with Tiny and Baby? The one thing that I know for sure is that a world without cats would be a world I wouldn't like!

The enormous Sam and the dainty (and silly) Tim send their love to your two sweeties!

[Sissy Willis]

Love and hisses to Sam and Tim from the Chelsea Grays. :)