September 16, 2007
NoEvil: Renovational
Click on image for virtual tour
There have been big goings on over here at NoEvil Productions as we are
building our dream studio! Come take the virtual tour of the space after we took
most of the walls down and stripped the space of all old wiring!
There is nothing like an old warehouse space to bring back memories of coming
of age as an artist in New York City. It makes Tom and I have the energy of
twenty-somethings, with the experience of professionals after 30+ years in
the business.
We love New York!
We have another few months of construction but wee are moving into the studio
this week and we ain't missing a heart beat since we are also launching a new
greetings product this week. Change is good!
Expect great things from us and keep posted on the developments.
By KAT CAVERLY
Posted by photocartoonist at 12:31 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
June 16, 2007
Hell's Kitchen Diary
photo by Thomas Hudson Reeve ©KCE 2007
Out and about on the streets of New York City one may see just about anything, and everything!
This is the city of dreams; the streets of imagination. Peppered with all
sorts of characters from all over the world.
Currently I am thinking about space, and changes. I am thinking about growth.
Spring is a time for growth, a time when we see the seeds of the ideas from
our new year resolutions start to sprout, start to flower.
We have been exploring the possibility of moving. In addition to dreams of more
space, a fresh start is enticing, but we have been here for 30 odd years now, and I
do mean ODD. Between a 6 block radius I can go the the movies, to a Broadway play,
shop, go to the gym, and choose from literally hundreds of restaurants and clubs.
I never ever have to drive a car.
I am discovering more of a reticence to almost all modes of transportation. I like to
walk. And an occasional taxi ride is ok. I like being in the back seat. This kind of living
is only possible in a city, but there are other parts of the city too. So I am keeping an
open mind and doing some exploring.
Posted by photocartoonist at 9:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 1, 2007
I will Survive
It is not the strongest of the species that survive
...nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change. Charles Darwin
Posted by photocartoonist at 1:30 AM | Comments (1)
January 16, 2007
It Tastes Like New Year
By Team NoEvil
Kat Caverly has discriminating tastes and 2007 is starting out delicious!
2006 was a very good year; the best ever for Kat Caverly Enterprises but this is not a time to
rest on our laurels. Do not worry fans of all things greetings, we will continue designing
paper, e-cards and some m-cards in this new year, and we have more great greets up our
sleeves and variations on this theme!
Last year we started to venture into other content; shorts and games and started development
on some series which we will feature on the web while Kat Caverly gets her feet wet pitching
to the likes of TV execs and development dealers.
NoEvil has also agreed to start development on their longest short to date; 11 minutes, to be released in 2008. Yes, yes lick your lips! It is going to be a tasty year!
Posted by photocartoonist at 8:16 PM
October 25, 2006
The Second Law of Hair-o-Dynamics
Essay By KAT CAVERLY
No matter what you do to hair it grows back. I think this is an amazing thing!
Four weeks ago I cut off all of my dreadies and shaved my head. This was the most dramatic thing I have ever done to my hair; the UN-do. And I have done alot of things to my hair.
I've cut it in different shapes, let it grow and not cut it at all; I've permed it, dyed it, bleached it, ratted it into a bouffant, made it white, red, black, various shades of blonde and platinum. My hair has been a gray color, beige, piebald. I was born with shoulder length black hair; had what was called dishwater blonde until I was 10. And my natural color is brunette with a slight wave and lots and lots of cowlicks. And when you bleach brunette hair you realize how much red is in it naturally.
I have had my hair very short before (2 inches) and very long where I could sit on it. But shaving my head is the most radical thing I have done, second only to the dreadlocks. It shook me up for the first week. And my head was very cold without hair. But now, I have hair again albeit very very short.
I won't have normal short hair again until Christmas but at this extreme length it is so very soft and fun to touch. My husband rubs my head and says "I wish I had a watermelon I wish I had a watermelon..."
I am already wondering, what will I do next with my hair? I think I have done it all, except see it go white, which I have dreamt of since I was a very little girl. My grandmother had blue hair (white hair with VO-5 blue) and I was fascinated by it. I don't want to color my hair in hopes of seeing the white. I think I am the only one I know that really wants white hair.
Then I can make it blue!
Posted by photocartoonist at 11:54 PM | Comments (8)
September 30, 2006
Getting Rid of All My Dreads
By KAT CAVERLY
It's been an extraordinary month and it is ending in an extraordinary way. Yesterday I made a major change in my life and shaved my head. An act of defiance, an act of protest, shaving one's head is a fitting end to 34 months of growing dreadlocks.
I never knew how long I would be a dreadie. Although I have always been about HAIR having dreadlocks was a real commitment. When they were short I got alot of flack but as they got longer there was an acceptance.
Dreadlocks are hip now. You see them in the movies and on the runways, but three years ago they weren't stylish and I know that there are a lot of people who just never understood why I did it. I did it because I could and for along while I didn't know it was even possible for me to grow dreadlocks.
I have done many things with my hair over the years and I have always wanted to shave my head too. I was just waiting for the right time. And this was it. After 34 months of regular twisting my hair needs a fresh start. It grows faster; faster than average, 1-2 inches a month. And it has already started growing.
If I wanted to keep the "bald" look I would have to shave twice a day and that ain't going to happen. The truth is I don't like to mess with my hair every day. I don't even like to comb my hair regularly and the dreadlocks had special needs, but they were so cool.
And now nobody is going to believe I ever had them and I have had nothing but a positive reaction to my shaved head.
Posted by photocartoonist at 10:27 PM | Comments (1)
August 30, 2005
Madcap Recap:
The Grasshopper: A Study in Character
We've seen how Kat Caverly has moved from scientist observing character,
to photographer exposing character via images. And how she wasn't
content with looking at others, so she began to play in front of the
camera herself. When these photographs exposed her own characters, she
took them to the stage.
As Kat Caverly 'discovered' the internet, she learned that there was
something to this medium. Something beyond egreetings and a form of
promotion, the animation technology was going to allow for a form of
entertainment which had always interested her... film.
Caverly remembers “I wanted to make movies. I decided I wanted to make
movies in 1997, when I decided that I wanted to be a star! I love the
camera and I love being in front of the camera too.”
Years ago, her studies on performance lead to discussions with Marcel
Marceau about silent film, her rentals of such films lead to discussions
with the store owner, himself a fan of chop sockey movies. Eventually,
his passion for the genre convinces her to rent some of these films: a
new fan was born. (Little did she know this new film passion would
lead to Quacki Chen!)
Yes, films had always fascinated Kat Caverly, and this new medium would
make them more than possible – they could be, they would be done! But
there was much to learn.
Not just the technology itself, but along the way, she learned much in
the way of business. More than an education in the economy and the
lessons learned from clients that do not pay, she became informed about
copyrights and how to protect her creations. Now she had moved from
creating characters to real lessons about the character of others & the
development of her own.
As in those great chop sockey films, as in the great Eastern traditions,
Kat Caverly seems to have discovered that the path is as
important as the journey. Her path has led her to one of the most
crucial elements of human nature – so necessary in entertainment: the
essence of character.
by DEANNA DAHLSAD
Posted by photocartoonist at 11:52 PM
August 26, 2005
Here's the Story of a Funny Lady
Here's the story,
Of a funny lady,
Who was busy with websites (understated).
All of them had ecards
The newest ones
were even animated.
Here's the story,
Of BirthdayAlarm.com
Which was busy with ecards of its own.
The site had good traffic
but they wanted to grow.
Till the one day when the lady met this fellow,
and they knew it was much more than insight.
That these folks
Must somehow work together.
That's the way they became an ecard site
An ecard site, an ecard site.
BirthdayAlarm was started in 2001 by Michael and Xochi Birch and Paul
Birch to provide a simple way for people to remember birthdays. They
had a website, with a few thousand members, that reminds people of
birthdays. "Hmm, what do you do next? ...ecards to the rescue."
It was in this capacity that Michael called Kat in 2002.And they first
licensed 50 static ecards. In the year since they had signed that
agreement, BirthdayAlarm.com had grown tremendously. With the increase
in members & traffic, the site needed more cards, more cards, and more
cards!
While BirthdayAlarm.com was growing, Kat Caverly was increasing her
ecard line as well. Seeing how popular animated ecards were, she
increased production of them - BirthdaysBlow.com itself had 30 animated
birthday ecards in 2003.
Michael too had noted the popularity of animated cards, and he liked Kat
Caverly's new designs. Kat notes that she was excited to renew the
agreement because "they respect and admire what artists can do." So over
the next two months, Michael and Kat spoke frequently about the business
of ecards. In October of 2003 they talked about possibilities,
and on May 2, 2004, the premium e-cards launched.
Sure, the agreement pays well, but, I had to ask Kat: Aside from money,
why hook up with BirthdayAlarm?
Kat replied "The people; Michael is smart and innovative. I have been
treated with honestly and with integrity. And after working with his
brother Paul and his wife Xochi. I began to trust this family, this
company. Each of them is very bright and after three years of doing
business, they have exceeded my needs and expectations."
Mutual respect, creativity, and integrity that's the way they became
an ecard site.
Posted by photocartoonist at 8:51 PM
August 16, 2005
"Mommy, What's An eCardologist?"
"Well, honey, 'ologist' means 'a person who studies.' So Kat Caverly is
an eCardologist, because she is a person who studies & is an expert in
eCards."
To be an eCardologist, you need to know more than you might think. You
need to know about sentiments & humor. You need to know who the consumer
is, and what they want. And you need to know how to promote your cards -
otherwise how can anyone find them, to see how magical they are?
Kat Caverly knows about humor and human character, and she was learning
more about the internet. The world wide web seemed a logical way to
showcase her portfolio of paper greeting cards as static online eCards.
So in June, 2201, Kat Caverly began her eCard empire with
Photocartoonist.com.
To be successful, online or offline, you need to offer a range of styles
of greeting cards. So, later in 2001 and continuing through 2002,
Photocartoonist.com began to offer photo-animated eCards. These cards
caught the attention of Michael Birch.
Michael, his brother Paul and his wife Xochi owned and operated a new
site called Birthdayalarm.com and they were looking for content.
In August of 2002, BirthdayAlarm.com licensed 50 static
cards from the Photocartoonist.com katalog.
“They wanted something different and that's what led them to me” said
Kat Caverly, “Having my website made this meeting possible.”
Realizing The Photocartoonist website was 'working,' she went on to
create several other websites.
In 2002, Christmaskookies.com launched, followed in December of 2003 by
Valentinesfromhell.com. In July of 2003 Birthdaysblow.com launched,
swiftly followed in August by eCardology.com.
But the lessons in eCardology were not over...
by DEANNA DAHLSAD
Posted by photocartoonist at 11:07 PM
August 8, 2005
Designing Woman
Katakismet Design is not responsible for any outbreaks of
insanity or institutionalization resulting from attempts at
reviewing this site using a 56k modem.
The year was 2000. I had just finished a year of freelancing as a graphic designer.
With no background, no training, no degree, no experience in graphic design,
I had to talk my way into an agency by creating a portfolio and creating a "professional
graphic designer" character. I wowed the agent. The hard part was the first month on the job!
I had been enamoured with computer design since 1995 and I knew that all I needed was a year
on the job to learn everything I needed to know. I knew it wasn't going to be easy but I was
right. I learned and I earned and by the summer of 2000 I was ready to open my own design firm.
Katakismet Design | New York was borne out of the necessity to promote my new design skills
and to try to capitalize on a lucrative service industry. What I didn't realize was that part of this
financial success was due to an economic bubble and the intoxication that resulted across the
industry. I had just got active online; my experience was in print. I didn't see it coming.
I still had an agent and in September 2000 I got the call that would change my life.
A company specializing in producing and promoting industry conferences like ApacheCon, JavaCon and the likes needed a graphic designer. Within two weeks I knew they needed more than just a designer. They needed a design firm to support all of the work. I checked out their schedule of events that was already booked in 2001 and I spoke to their other vendors. I negotiated a much higher fee and started building a new office. There was alot of work coming.
By December 2000, we were moving into a new office. I had two full-time designers and was looking to hire more. I leased equipment and put myself characteristically 100% into this new endeavor. It had the potential of making the production company that we had started in the summer of 1998 a reality and I was willing to work THAT hard.
Ah but it was not meant to be. Written in the stars was a collapse of all this and by the end of January 2001, this dream client proved to be a nightmare. She didn't have the money to pay my agent. My agent didn't have the guts to take her to task. We owed hundreds of thousands of dollars and I was scrambling to figure out what went wrong.
We kept ourselves busy by redesigning Katakismet.com and moving back into our studio and letting our new office, with all of the new renovations, go. In May 2001 I reinvented myself and realized that I had built-in positioning with "The Photocartoonist" and I found myself throwing myself online with the same fervor I had thrown myself into graphic design. We'd best move on, though it would take years to get over this financial blow. Oh well, it was only money. It did delay the progress with our production company but it allowed for three years of research and activity online. Now this is an advantage.
Posted by photocartoonist at 12:11 PM
August 7, 2005
Kat Caverly v7.1
by KAT CAVERLY
I have waited a long time for this day; 50 years to be exact and it was well worth the
wait. To tell the truth, I am looking forward to the next fifty years even more!
Today I awoke to a wonderous present; a collection of fabulous tie-dye shirts that go
well with my dreadlocks. Even my dreadlocks were treated to birthday love; twisted
with beeswax and aloe vera.
There is scientific evidence that our bodies renew every seven years,
so I would be starting my 7.1 being today. It feels great to have come
so far, and there is so much more to look forward too. There is only
one part that I don't like about getting older and that is the vision thing.
Yup my eyes just ain't what they use to be and that slows certain things
down, like making photographs...
...and doing make-up!
But where there is a will there is technology, progressive lenses
and magnifying mirrors. I really appreciate all the well wishes
and the best part is that I have one more day of celebration!
Birthdays are the greatest thing!!
Posted by photocartoonist at 9:08 AM
Happy Birthday Kat
We at the Institute for Advanced Stupidities wanted to be the first
to wish Kat a happy birthday.
But alas, we were bested by a certain individual who, in a breathtaking
stroke bordering on sheer idiocy, sang “Happy Birthday” through the
mail slot in the door at No Evil Productions. Those present were stunned.
At first they were not sure how they could be hearing this voice. “It was
like some strange magic”, said one later, “Looking around, we couldn’t
see any natural explanation for the melodious tones of birthday cheer”.
There was no radio, television or speaker-phone to explain the voice.
No video conferencing or web cast was in progress, and yet the room
was filled with song.
In an epiphany of retro-techno-imbicility this person had recognized that
two established ideas – each by itself well understood for ages- could be
synthesized into a third new idea of great power, but remarkable simplicity.
The Mail and the Megaphone were one, and neither would ever be the same again.
We the Faculty and students (one and the same) at the Institute, and indeed,
our fellow fools everywhere would like to add our voices in full throated
concordance with that of this profoundly silly secret admirer.
by THOMAS HUDSON REEVE
Posted by photocartoonist at 12:33 AM | Comments (1)
August 6, 2005
A Producer is Born:: 2004-2005
In 2004, we went into business with the Birch Brothers and helped them build their premium e-greetings on their fabulous site Birthdayalarm.com. I devoted myself to this project, as well as the efforts of many a fine artist, including my husband Thomas Hudson Reeve.
I decided I needed to think like a professional and agreed to become a full time producer/director. This was the beginning of my dream production company becoming a reality.
How to Keep Kat Caverly Fresh June 2004
More photos...
Coffeeeeeee 2005
Kat Caverly in Motion: Making a Point
Posted by photocartoonist at 12:38 AM
August 5, 2005
Designing Woman::2000-2004
On the streets of New York 2000
In 1999 I decided to start freelancing as a graphic designer so that I could learn "all things digital" and make the money to be able to afford the technology needed for our new production company.
At the Movies 2002
More photos...
TomKat 2003
They say you get shorter and fatter as you get older, but this is ridiculous!
How to Dread december 2003
I had always been fascinated by dreadlocks but I didn't think that white people could have them. A friend from Africa set me straight back in 1993 but it took me 10 years to finally do it. This was the results of our first attempt. I looked like a deranged sea urchin. Hahahahahahahahaha! But this didn't stop me.
Flashing my dreads 2004
Yes we finally had success, after much professional effort and patience. I must say I have gotten reactions that I didn't expect; and most of them from my friends. It sure does get attention, and that I do like. But like the bouffant there is a certain amount of prejudice out there against dreadlocks, like when someone thinks I am a rastafarian.
Posted by photocartoonist at 12:22 AM
August 4, 2005
After 40: A Real Character
July 1998::I am Woman Buy me Clothes
This was the decade of coming into my own. I discovered what I was meant to be doing with my life when I was 39 years old and for the next 10 years I would work every waking hour to reach the goal of making movies, which led me, drove me into the arms of technology and the Internet.
It was sort of like a movie I saw in college. It starred an actress in a park. She was being photographed by various men with cameras; first a brownie, then a polaroid, a cool black dude with a Nikon with a groovy wide angle lense, and at the end is a movie camera with the BIGGEST lense!
I have been attracted to bigger and bigger audiences. That is what brought me to the Internet. with my websites my photography, my characters, and eventually my animations have reached an audience of 20,000 people a day; people all over the world.
More photos...
A star of stage, and in my own mind, I boldly ventured into the minds and bodies of many different characters. I studied my idols; Charlie Chaplin, Marilyn Monroe, Jerry lewis, Carmen Miranda. I did off off off Broadway and off off off characters. I was a star of greeting cards and comedy clubs, one women shows and my own self-promotions and finally I was a star of the small screen; coming to a monitor near you soon!
MomKat emerges in 1999
Posted by photocartoonist at 6:36 PM
August 3, 2005
The "I want to be a Movie Star" Years
This is the closest thing I have been to normal. I did this because I was convinced by some professionals that I could look "normal" but act "kooky" and then I would get commercial work. Well they saw right through this facade but I must admit that this was a great headshot.
"Swan Lips" 1995
The upbeat Beat 1995
I started performing live in 1995 and continued through 1999, mostly in one woman shows of my own design to establish a resume but then in comedy clubs once people discovered that I was trying to be funny. My characters were fresh and my style was unique, but once again I found myself doing something that the business wasn't quite sure what to do with.
More photos...
Thinking of You 1996
Tom has never cared WHAT I do with my hair, except he has asked me not to shave my head. I have permed it, colored it red, black and bleached it various shades of blonde and white. I've had a crew cut, various stylish flips, and bouffants. Some people still think I'm a blonde. The fact is I have a blonde soul and I really really love the dark roots.
Here I am in our studio with the portrait of me from 1984 in the background.
Boy do I adore a good wide angle lense!
The Queen: July 1998
Now this is a look that I truly adored! Just the right amount of black roots,
short blonde hair sticking straight up, and those glasses. Yes I am a
character comic and I found it took very little for me to look very
different. It's all about the hair and make-up and I had been a
professional make-up artist since I did fashion photography
back in Atlanta in 1978. Now my make-up kits include
theatrical make-up and effects, prosthetic teeth, and
ways to make male as well as female characters.
Groovy baby!
Posted by photocartoonist at 10:34 PM
August 2, 2005
The First Change of Life
Shirley Kenosha is born February 14, 1994
Shirley is my alter-ego and the first character that I created. She was borne out of the observation
that greeting cards are mostly bought by women and most of those cards are sent to other
women. Shirley is "all women" to me. It was through performing Shirley that I came to know
that I have a blonde soul.
Shirley Kenosha aka kat Caverly 1995
TomKat 1995
More photos...
On January 18 Caledonia had her litter of 5 kittens.
And Shirley thought that they would make amazing earrings
...a little loud but definitely fabulous!
This was our first one-woman show, at the Red Room, which was a reknown poetry venue. My first performance ever ever was Shirley, as the upbeat Beat, doing 60 seconds of original poetry, at a local arts event in the Spring 1995. After this event, we were approached to do our own show, one hour of poetry! Tom couldn't believe that I said YES. I only had two poems, a total of 60 seconds of material, but I was fearless! Six weeks later we did an hour show at the Redroom and killed 'em!!
Buster and Rosie 1995
Black and Whites, piebalds as they are called are my favorites; they are the comics of the cat world.
Buster is the big fellow on the left; my bestest friend ever. And Rosie was my new "little one" that we had just found on the street they year before. I called Buster "Bubba" and Rosie "little Bubba".
Kat Caverly the character is born 1996
There was no stopping me now; I knew I wanted to be a movie star. Having no talent didn't
stop me either!
Posted by photocartoonist at 11:43 PM | Comments (1)
August 1, 2005
1986-1993
I seen the Pope and the Pope seen me! 1986
I love you cuz Caledonia is your name
I found all of my cats on the streets of New York and since my answer to everything was "take a picture of it" I took pictures of Neko, and Buster, and Rocky, and Sapphire, and Caledonia, and Rosie, and Delilia and all of her babies (Delilia was pregnant and had her babies in our studio), and Isabella. Eventually I stopped collecting cats when Tom told me that with the next adoption one Kat would go!
These Boots were made for Walking 1986
I was a blue jeans kinda gal and I loved my Raybans during the 1980's. My hair got longer as I toyed with the idea of growing it long again; that was until one day I looked at myself in the mirror and noticed that I had the same hairstyle as I did when I was 15 years old.
More photos...
Hell's Kitchen 1987
The new Improved Kat Caverly 1991
After many years of being weak and thin, after one day when I was walking down the street past a singing wino who looked up as I passed and said "hello skinny!" I decided I had enough and I started body building. I lost 20 pounds of fat and gained 60 pounds of muscle, but it took almost 3 years. It was wild and I was strong for the first time in my life!
Me and My Buster 1992
Buster was my bestest friend. I found Buster on the street in 1982 and it was like we knew each other in a previous life.
Sister Kathleen Anne and her Nun-chucks 1993
Until 1995 I only dressed up for Halloween but looking at this 1993 Halloween picture I see that this was the start of somthing BIG to come.
Posted by photocartoonist at 8:12 PM
July 31, 2005
More from 1983-1989
Christmas 1983
June 1984 Little Italy
The Curly Years - Jersey Shore 1984
More photos...
48th Street Rooftop 1988
Self-Portrait 1989
In the Pool 1989
As is being revealed my life has been somewhat about my hair. Banana curls, long-long, pixie, perm,
and much more to come. Also through my first 40 years photography was a major driving force of my life.
Posted by photocartoonist at 8:46 PM
Coming to New York City
In 1979 I decided that I was going to Paris, as in Paris France. I wanted to live in a place where they loved their artists and I decided this was best Paris. I had met a family of French restauranteurs in Atlanta and was told that they would help me. So off I went back to Atlanta and left Chicago for good.
But instead of Paris, I ended up in New York City on May 12, 1981.
In New York City I started a series of photo promotions; first an oversized matchbook and then a poster. I believe in the self-portrait. It shows a side that cannot be captured by another photographer. A photograph is more a statement about the photographer than it is a representation of the
person in front of the lense.
The camera does not lie; but it doesnt' really tell the truth either. So at its best photography represents
the vision of the photographer.
From 1979 - 1984 I was a bartender at night to keep from being literally a starving artist. It was a great experience and fostered my fascination with characters.
More photos...
I met my husband and partner Thomas Hudson Reeve in 1982. He use to stop in the bar I worked in and for many months I didn't know his name, just what he drank. We started dating in 1983 and by 1984 were living together. We married in 1990 and our partnership in No Evil Productions is like our second vows!
Ah the start of my holiday series! This photo was taken on July 4, 1985. Little did I know
it then but this was the beginning of working on holidays and birthdays and occasions for
greeting cards. Here it started as photo postcards that I mailed out every month.
1984 was the start of my fine art photography career; photography without a client, but with an even bigger purpose. It was the start of my street photography and my experimentation, my fascination with black and white.
The end of the 1980's marked the end of an era. I had jobs as a bartender, as a photo lab technician, as a photographer, but by 1987 I was working for myself and had started putting together what would become my greeting card designer career.
Posted by photocartoonist at 7:41 PM
July 30, 2005
Graduating to The Apprentice
School, important formative years, that is until I got my Catwoman glasses. And the name; yes the name. I was born Kathleen Anne Klutcharch. The family name was Klutsarets but my father and his brothers, tired of people's inability to spell it, changed their name to Klutcharch; a fact I would have to live down until I changed my name to Caverly in 1973.
I loved those glasses but I was teased unrelentingly. My nicknames included Catwomen and Computer. I wore glasses and or had contact lenses all the way through high school. I don't have any pictures from the years between 1969-1975 because, well, my father threw them away.
When I ran away to be a photographer in 1976, I gave a special box to my father which included my collection of photos taken after I became seriously interested in photography in 1971. When I came back to reclaim them in 1981 I was told that they has been thrown away. I am still not over this loss.
I started my apprenticeship as a photographer in a commerical color lab in Chicago in 1975 and by 1976 I ran away to be a hippie photographer and join a motley band of hangglider pilots. I started to work in studios and soon learned that my specialty was photographing people. I vividly remember my fascination with this belt; a plastic see-through belt with silver sparkled stars.
I also got a tattoo in 1976; a blue crescent moon, yellow star and three red teardrops on my right wrist. As I would find out in 1980, this is my identifiable mark, and except when I have covered it with theatrical make-up you will find it in photos of me over the years.
More photos...
I started my fashion and beauty apprenticeship in Atlanta in 1978 and I learned from some of the best. It was a wild world, however, and I was one of the few women behind the camera.
In order to truly understand what it was like, I decided to come out from behind the camera and I was photographed many times, the whole treatment, make-up artists, hairdressers, designer clothes...
I grew my hair very long and before I cut it in 1980, it got almost to my knees.
But mostly on the set, in the studio every day I looked like this:
I realize by looking at these pictures that things were happening quite fast for me back then. I left school, ran away to be a photographer, lived on a mountain top outside Chattanooga Tennessee and came back to Chicago all within just 4 years. I had graduated high school in 3 years, worked as a keyline and paste-up artist, went back to school and did research in behavioral physiology while studying psychology and became a professional photographer. WOW.
Posted by photocartoonist at 2:41 PM
July 29, 2005
School Daze: the Chicago years
a photo bio-essay by Kat Caverly
I am always amazed by the frufru and girly stuff I was dressed up in as a little girl. Look closely, even my little fingernails are red and check out the matching shoes and purse. And that hat!!
Ah yes, there is one of these in every family album! Take a real close look at this picture and tell me what you really see!!
Oh boy do I remember this photograph. I use to pout alot...I still do. I was prone to tantrums (still am) and never liked being told no. So my father taunted me with the camera when I started to pout; you know the bottom lip coming out. He thought it was funny and he chased me down with the camera. I finally gave up and sat in the shadows.
More pictures....
Between the banana curls, the peddle-pushers and those shoes, WOW!
Now look at those bangs!! Hahaha, even these bangs have a story! This is my thrid grade school photo and my mother got me ready for my close-up; banana curls and all. And she wanted my bangs to be perfect, but they weren't straight and she kept on cutting until they were hardly there at all. I was mortified. This and the collar of my favorite velvet dress sticking out.
Why do we bravely smile no matter what in photographs?
I love family photos and I love that my family took lots and lots of photos. It's great to look back on your life and smile, even laugh.
Posted by photocartoonist at 10:52 PM
July 28, 2005
My Autobiography::A Picture Book
My Life in 50 Pictures by Kat Caverly
I was born on August 7, 1955 at 1:00am on the southside of Chicago. My father contended that I came out talking!
I was put to work before the age of three. My first job was catching dinner. This was my first business failure. But I learned early how to smile through the hard times.
More to come...
My love for the holidays and dressing up animals is a family tradition.
This is the first photograph I remember. I got an Annie Oakley outfit for Christmas and my father, an avid amateur photographer convinced me that I should pose, taking aim at my mother trying to take a nap. I love this photograph and it is the inspiration for my becoming a photographer.
Every picture sure does tell a story. My Uncle Frank was also an avid amateur photographer and I grew up being photographed all of the time. Oh and did I mention that I really did come out talking?!
Every day between now and next Friday I will be posting at least 5 new photographs from my life. It is amazing being a photographer; I have my whole life in pictures and a story about each one.
Posted by photocartoonist at 10:29 PM | Comments (2)
July 26, 2005
A Stand Up Gal
by DEANNA DAHLSAD
In getting her subjects to display their humor & playfulness for the viewfinder, she found that she had a character (or twenty) inside herself. And some of these were not content to be silently adored as prints – no, several of these characters craved the spotlight, laughter & applause.
In order for these characters to achieve such audience adoration, they demanded proper training. Lacking proper identification of their own, Kat Caverly enrolled for them: acting classes, voice work, improv classes, clown school, mime lessons, stand up comedy... For a few, even this wasn't enough: They would require shows of their own.
Through these performances, characters such as Shirley Kenosha, Mona Moore & The Professor received their much loved laughter, & Kat Caverly learned more about what 'funny' was to other people.
With Shirley she clowned around; combining stand up with mime actions to put the 'punch' in 'punch lines.' With Mona she learned that the rhythm of Beat poetry and the rhythm of comedy are very much the same; all adding to the playful qualities of her photos and the humor of the greeting card text.
With The Professor, the lessons were different, but important.
"I had created this funny little man character, The Professor, and I was a lot like a cross between Jerry Lewis and Lucille Ball. I went to this club in full costume (drag if you will) and I had special buck teeth and prosthetic male genitalia and all. We had built special body suits for various characters. I had a male-chest and special tidy-whities.
The low point was being put in a room at a comedy club that I wouldn't have put a stray animal in while I was waiting to go on stage. I found myself telling off the club manager as I left the club!! With those teeth! “ It was the final straw, I never performed at the comedy clubs again after that...”
You could argue that this was yet another example of Kat Caverly's personal character – not wishing to work in such environments. But it would be just as fair to say that her inner characters were divas in search of larger audiences...
For why play New York when you can have the whole world as your audience on the internet?!
Posted by photocartoonist at 11:11 PM
July 23, 2005
Kat Caverly Ends Up on the Streets
photo©Kat Caverly
As Kat Caverly presented her portfolio of photos taken of people at play, she was told her work was too commercial for newspapers, too humorous for corporate use; advertising agencies sent her to magazines, and magazines sent her back to newspapers... Rather than change the very nature of what her photography was, Kat Caverly knew she would have to find a new industry, a new venue for her works - if her photographs were to have any use, she would have to see to that herself. And so she entered the greeting card business - The Photocartoonist was born.
Read Interview with The Photocartoonist.
Posted by photocartoonist at 9:49 PM
July 22, 2005
Finding Characters in New York City
self-portrait 1986©Kat Caverly
In attempts to liberate herself from her work as an assignment photographer & begin to see the better side of humanity than she was witnessing as a bartender, Kat Caverly took to the streets.
Prepared by her lessons in behavioral psychology, armed with releases & her camera, Kat began to flaunt the silly side of people.
“My work as a street photographer was an exploration into humor good nature. Asking adults to play on the street with a perfect stranger (or was it perfectly strange?) taught me a lot about human behavior. I learned quickly that I really didn't need the camera.”
Now that Kat was able to play with her subjects, and make photographs that exposed more than physical features or a list of pre-described attributes, she happily took her film home to see what would develop.
It is here that The Photocartoonist was born: using her knowledge of people and photography to show the characters that are sitting inside human beings.
But what of the characters that lay inside The Photocartoonist?
Posted by photocartoonist at 11:15 PM
July 21, 2005
The Apprenticeship of Kat Caverly
1976-1986
When we last left, Kat Caverly had begun her career in photography.
It wasn't as glamorous as it sounds.
As a commercial & corporate photographer, she had specific assignments - including portrait works. While the job of a portrait photographer is to capture more than the physical likeness of a person, to capture & illustrate their character as well, these portraits were to illuminate the “strong, capable, wise” leader, and shadow their other attributes. This assignment work didn't allow Kat a way to express anything more (or less) than as directed.
These years of working on assignments allowed her to use her training as a behavioral scientist to get people to relax in front of a camera. Kat herself says “I think that the most important element in portrait photography is the ability to relax a person in front of the camera. Over the course of my career I heard being photographed be compared to "going to the dentist" more than just a few times. So the one and only thing that I want my subjects to be thinking about is BREATHING. I will do the rest.”
As a fashion photographer, Kat was allowed to express feelings & meanings, not merely show what things look like. But this too was limited to the assignment. None of this work was allowing to her to use photography to illuminate what she wanted or what she saw in the people she worked with. But she had to pay bills.
At this time Kat also worked as a bartender. It doesn't take a behavioral scientist to tell you that working as a bartender is also not glamorous as it sounds...
Becoming frustrated by seeing the worst of people as a bartender, and having a limited focus as a corporate photographer, Kat Caverly would take to the streets...
excerpts from The Biography by DEANNA DAHLSAD
Posted by photocartoonist at 10:58 PM
July 20, 2005
Kat Caverly:: A Piece of Work
A Career in Five parts (so far)
The Science of Kat Caverly
It's hard to imagine Kat Caverly as a scientist, quietly observing, not interacting with 'the subjects.' (For those that know Kat, just the quiet part seems impossible!) Despite the difficulty picturing her in the role of scientist, she was one.
She'd always had an interest in photography, but once studying with a professor who had a darkroom in the lab, she became even more interested. It remained a hobby though, while she continued to work towards her collateral MD/PHD.
That is until the summer before her last year as an undergrad.
That summer she got a job in a commercial color photo lab. Science may have been her choice, but art was her calling. Combining both, Kat Caverly ended up in love with photography.
And falling in love with a professional photographer; she ran off with him the following summer. That romance may not have lasted, but the love of photography has.
by DEANNA DALSAD
Posted by photocartoonist at 10:00 PM
May 22, 2005
Interview with The Photocartoonist
photo by Thomas Hudson Reeve ©Kat Caverly Enterprises
Imagine you are walking down the street. There is nothing special about you today.. You are waiting for the bus, running out for a jug of milk, taking your dog for a walk, doing ordinary things on an ordinary day...
A woman rushes towards you, with a huge grin & a camera, waving a piece of paper & asks you to sign a release. She then proceeds to ask you to make a silly face, but not just any silly face: ’Your favorite silly face that you had when you were 11 years old.’
What do you do?
Well, if you are like most of the people that Kat Caverly, the Photocartoonist, meets, you sign & pose baby!
Completely disarming, thoroughly engaging, she romances the silly out of you. Yes, romances. Her joy is contagious, her smile continuous as she poses you this way & that, complimenting you on your ability, your gift, for making people laugh. There you are, in public, exposing your goofy self to a stranger, with no money changing hands. Then, she leaves.
Do you feel dirty afterwards? Ashamed? Embarrassed? Do you experience the same feelings as after a one-night-stand? Is it worse as you were ’doing it’ in broad daylight on a public street -- in front of a camera no less?!
Most of Kat’s subjects don’t. In fact, most love seeing photographs of themselves playing on a greeting card! That is, until some ‘friend’ rushes over, card in hand, to tell them they should complain. Suddenly the subject is no longer seeing their ability to make others smile as a gift, and instead feels they are owed something for being the joke. ‘Someone else thinks they are an asshole, and they stop feeling the joy’ says Kat. Fortunately, this doesn’t happen often. "For every one who make noise, 10 more love it."
But what does happen when these few unhappy people come forward? Caverly turns them over to her attorney . (Remember, she ran over with that piece of paper for you to sign?) She always gets an intellectual property release ‘in perpetuity’ signed, so legally there is no problem.
But it still bothers Caverly. She is sensitive to the criticism, but it is clear from how she talks that she is not just worried about having her work seen in a negative light. She is hurt that someone who had had so much fun & was enjoying their own ability to be foolish, now just feels like a fool.
"There have been many days when I decided I would quit. Just stop. But as I turned around, there was this perfect opportunity, and I dashed over to start it all again." After all, she is Kat Caverly, Photocartoonist. This is not only what ‘she does‘ but her passion.
But what is a Photocartoonist?
"I make fun of people" is the simple answer Caverly gives to most people. It is really too simple an answer. However, if you prompt Caverly for a little more, she will give a great giggle & a lot more information. Delighted at the chance to talk more about her work, and being as gregarious as they come, she gives me more information than I can jot down.
Basically, the name ’photocartoonist’ was given to her as her photography sort of defies traditional categorization. When viewing her portfolio, ad agencies stated her work was not for advertising, to try magazines. Magazines felt it not editorial, but photo-journalism. The newspapers saw her work as commercial... And so it went. In order to make the most of the uniqueness of her photos, she now uses the coined ‘photocartoonist’ to brand her work.
How did her photographs come to be so unique?
As a child she was continually photographed by her amateur photographer Father. She names him as her early inspiration. She also fondly remembers her Grandfather’s gift of gab -- ‘He could have a joyous conversation with a rock!‘ As she was often in Grandfather‘s tow, this is surely where she learned how to disarm her subjects with her gush of warm, infectious conversation!
Caverly gives her background in behavioral psychology credit for creating what she does. "Originally I studied to understand what makes people tick, and to control them. Now my work is an exploration in human good nature."
But, if behavioral psychology is behind ‘what she sees,’ then her 27 years experience working with chemical/optical photography must be credited with ‘how she gets it.’
Specifically noteworthy:
* Eight years as an apprentice in commercial & fashion photography taught her how to completely pose & contrive a photograph. (This is also where she first began to build her humor skills to loosen up anxious models/actors with her ‘silly face’ gambit.)
* One year working in a color lab printing film gave her an eye for how a snap-shot looks. So even though her photos are completely set-up, they have the feel of a snap-shot.
Her subjects:
"I can stand on any street corner in mid-town Manhattan and have 20 people come to me" says Kat. She may start out the day with a theme, for example the ’Pick Your Nose’ series, but sometimes, she just sees something, and seizes the opportunity.
She prefers working with folks on the street,. The spontaneous ‘meet on the street’ is more conducive to play than an appointment to show up at a studio. She works with children & animals, but finds it much more difficult as communication is so crucial to setting up the shot.
However, one of her favorite photos is of Buster, her cat. Perhaps it was the glory in finally getting a great shot. After Buster destroyed the set by spilling bubbles, thrashing with decorations & scratching her husband’s arms as he tried to hold Buster in place, Buster finally turned & looked right at Kat. It truly is a photo that could not have been achieved with Kat setting it up -- this creativity was all Buster. Or maybe, she loves the photograph because she loves telling the story... Did I mention, she loves to talk?
Kat also does self-portraits. ‘I am my favorite subject!’ she coos, but clarifies that this comment comes from her alter-ego, ‘Shirley.’ (Shirley’s pics are my favorites too!) Now her husband, Thomas Hudson Reeve, does most of the photos of her.
"The ability to make a fool of yourself in front of others releases you" says Caverly.
And I can’t think of a more fitting way to finish the interview.
An Article by Deanna Dahlsad
reprinted with permission
Posted by photocartoonist at 8:06 PM | Comments (4)