Personal | biscuit's space | The blog of photographer Katherine Carver

Jul 22

Wedding: Getting Your Furry Family Member Ready for the Big Day!

My sister’s wedding is rapidly approaching. Unfortunately, Nick, my parents’ papillon rescue dog, and Victory, are not permitted at the wedding. We were a bit bummed! (Victory will be close by the wedding venue for Doug to check in on her periodically!) However, Victory and Nick will be at the wedding brunch the morning following the wedding. So my Dad and I decided to make our little furry family members, Nick and Victory, festive for the occasion. We searched multiple sites and arrived at the following festive collars shown below that we purchased, which should arrive to us anytime now! We wanted to find something simple, festive, and elegant for Nick and Victory! (Here is a link to Nick and Victory looking festive in their Christmas attire!)

Victory is going to wear this festive collar (left); and Nick is going to wear this festive collar (right)! They will be looking very festive and adorable! Photographs of Nick and Victory, looking festive for the wedding, will be forthcoming in October!

Happy Tuesday!

Jul 16

Have you heard about Lilly, the pet deer?

I recently came across this story about Lilly, a pet deer in Michigan. The video below talks briefly about Lilly’s interesting story about how she became a pet deer for the past five years. We hope that this family will find a way to keep Lilly despite the laws in Michigan forbidding a family from having a pet deer. Lilly has never lived in the wild. This is a truly unique story. Lilly reminded me of Victory — we think Victory’s face is a little reminiscent of a ‘deer face.’ There is also a Kickstarter project currently occurring to help raise funds to share Lilly’s story in the form of a book.

Jul 4

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Happy Fourth of July (Weekend)!

Happy Fourth of July from your favorite Sheltie Girl, Victory! This is Victory’s first Fourth of July! We are enjoying beautiful weather, homemade crepes, walks with the Hound About, grilling, time with friends, and rest! Have a great long weekend, friends!

Jun 30

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Weekend Snapshots

It was a beautiful weekend! Doug made it back home after a long day of travel and it, unfortunately, ended without his luggage — the airline left his luggage in London. Fortunately, Doug got his luggage back last night! Over the weekend, we took little Victory to Wegmans and Ritas for an outing and she had a great time — all smiles! (Unfortunately, there are not as many restaurants near our home where we can take Victory with us. When we lived in the city, there were more dog friendly at restaurants!) My flowers are blooming and I am watering them often! Doug made us homemade buttermilk pancakes on Sunday for breakfast and they were very good! Victory loves Siggi’s yogurt and we usually give her some vanilla Siggi’s yogurt on Sundays when Doug makes breakfast! And, I had two photo shoots for my photography project — there is still much work ahead of me on this project!

Happy Monday!

Jun 26

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How Do You Work?

How do you work? What is your optimal working environment to do your creative work?

For me, I work quietly in my home office, which I try to keep free of clutter, i.e., piles on my desk. To organize my day, I make a list on paper of items that I hope to complete. Invariably, the list is never checked off completely! Currently, I spend the vast amount of my time working on my long-term dog photography project. I edit images; work on the logistics of photo shoots; go to photo shoots; follow up with rescue and shelter organizations; consistently maintain and update data in a large spreadsheet; and prepare blog posts.

I find that I am able to focus when I get plenty of rest. Working on each image can take many hours and it is very tedious work, which requires much concentration, and some days I have better results than others. For me, it is easiest to concentrate on one image at a time, and when I am done, I always go back to each image to see what I might have missed. Also, time away from an image can help me see the image with a new perspective, so I implemented a practice of revisiting each image at a later date to ensure I am happy with the final image or to continue further editing of the image. Working on a body of work is like a puzzle and you have to finish to see how the pieces come together to see which images really are strong and work with the body of work and determine which images do not serve the body of work. This process is very intuitive.

I find working on my images is a very meditative process and I often can get into a zone while I am working. When I work, I turn both the email off and the Internet off and concentrate on the task at hand, and I set a dedicated time later in the day for checking email, etc. Victory is always close by. However, she still likes to stay in her hut! However, when I sit on the sofa and work when I am not working on images, Victory always comes over and sits next to me. Biscuit always slept near my feet while I worked. I still very much miss having Biscuit close by. Most days, I can work for hours at a time and the time seems to just zoom by. Other days, I need more breaks and the days seems a bit longer, depending upon the work.

I am a morning person. We go to bed early and wake up early. I am more alert and focused in the earlier hours of the day. I think that is when I do my best work. Everyone is different and works differently, and it is interesting to hear how other work on their creative work.

The most important lesson I have learned is to keep showing up and keep leaning into the work each day, even during the most challenging times.

Jun 18

Inspiration: Dreaming versus Doing

I like commencement speeches. It is a time for new beginnings and time for reflection. I remember the late Tim Russert giving the commencement speech when I graduated from law school. Last year, I really liked the commencement speech that George Saunders gave at Syracuse University talking about kindness.

This year, Shona Rhimes, screenwriter, recently gave a commencement address at her alma mater, Dartmouth. Here is what she has to say about dreaming versus doing. These are some good points to reflect upon.

I think a lot of people dream. And while they are busy dreaming, the really happy people, the really successful people, the really interesting, engaged, powerful people are busy doing. The dreamers. They stare at the sky and they make plans and they hope and they talk about it endlessly. And they start a lot of sentences with “I want to be…” or “I wish.”

“I want to be a writer.” “I wish I could travel around the world.”

And they dream of it. The buttoned-up ones meet for cocktails and they brag about their dreams, and the hippie ones have vision board and they meditate about their dream. Maybe you write in journals about your dreams or discuss it endlessly with your best friend or your girlfriend or your mother. And it feels really good. You’re talking about it, and you’re planning it. Kind of. You are blue-skying your life. And that is what everyone says you should be doing. Right? I mean, that’s what Oprah and Bill Gates did to get successful, right?

No.

Dreams are lovely. But they are just dreams. Fleeting, ephemeral, pretty. But dreams to not come true just because you dream them. It’s hard work that make things happen. It’s hard work that creates change. So, Lesson One, I guess is: Ditch the dream and be a doer, not a dreamer. Maybe you know exactly what it is you dream of being, or maybe you’re paralyzed because you have no idea what your passion is. The truth is, it doesn’t matter. You don’t have to know. You just have to keep moving forward. You just have to keep doing something, seizing the next opportunity, staying open to trying something new. It doesn’t have to fit your vision of the perfect job or the perfect life. Perfect is boring and dreams are not real. Just…do. So you think, “I wish I could travel.” Great. Sell your crappy car, buy a ticket to Bangkok, and go. Right now. I’m serious.

You can watch and read Shonda Rhimes’ full commencement speech here.

So, today start ‘doing!’

Jun 17

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Victory: Father’s Day

Doug had a nice Father’s Day — his first Father’s Day with Victory! We spent a quite day together. Since Doug does the cooking and baking in our household, (I grocery shop), Doug made us homemade buttermilk pancakes for breakfast, and they were the best pancakes that I have ever had — they were delicious, and even Victory loved eating a few pieces! Doug told me that he wanted to grill for dinner on Father’s Day, so I got him some steak and some chicken for myself, which we marinated and Doug applied some rubs to the meat just prior to grilling! We also marinated and grilled fresh vegetables — they were delicious! I helped some — I made bake potatoes! So, Doug grilled everything on his Big Green Egg and the food was delicious! Earlier in the day, Doug even made us homemade cheesecake for dessert! With all of this food, it is a good thing we went to the gym a few times over the weekend!

Little Victory gave her Daddy some Father’s Day gifts, shown below: a sheltie Father’s Day card; a personalized coffee mug with a photo of Victory with her Daddy with a Father’s Day message; a personalized travel mug to take to and from work; and a personalized mouse pad with photos of Victory and her Daddy together to take to work! I gave Doug a framed print of a recent image of him and Victory together to take to work! Doug was pleased and his desk at work should be looking more spiffy!

Happy Tuesday!

Jun 10

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Mantra: Make Things Happen

I really like this succinct mantra below. I think that it really works if you honor your work every day. Never give up!

Happy Tuesday!

Jun 9

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Patio Inspiration

We have been working on decorating our new home. We finished our deck and gardening last weekend! Below is some patio inspiration, the remaining outdoor space we need to furnish and decorate! Doug has always wanted Adirondack chairs so I am sure that we will eventually get a few of them!

Happy Monday!

Jun 3

Creative Life: Perfectionism

I came across this quote from Anne Lamott in her book, Bird by Bird, on the topic of perfectionism. (Bird by Bird is a wonderful book if you have not yet read it).

“…Oh my God, what if you wake up some day, and you’re 65, or 75, and you never got your memoir or novel written; or you didn’t go swimming in warm pools and oceans all those years because your thighs were jiggly and you had a nice big comfortable tummy; or you were just so strung out on perfectionism and people-pleasing that you forgot to have a big juicy creative life, of imagination and radical silliness and staring off into space like when you were a kid? It’s going to break your heart. Don’t let this happen. Repent just means to change direction—and NOT to be said by someone who is waggling their forefinger at you. Repentance is a blessing. Pick a new direction, one you wouldn’t mind ending up at, and aim for that. Shoot for the moon.”

Things quote rings so true — it is better to shoot for the moon and pursue something that you are passionate about and make a lot of mistakes along the way rather than wonder “what if” and having regret. In the big scheme of things, it does not matter what others think — so don’t be afraid to follow your true path and, most of all, always be true to yourself.

Happy Tuesday!