biscuit's space | The blog of photographer Katherine Carver

Jan 28

The Diagram of Dogs

Can you find the Shetland Sheepdog (the breed of Victory and Biscuit) in the image below? (Hint check the herding dogs and collies!)

Pop Chart Lab, a Brooklyn-based company whose goal is to “render all of human experience into chart form,” is bringing their unique infographic style to the world of dogs with their newest poster: The Diagram of Dogs. This poster features 181 different dog breeds!

You can see a larger version of the image below here — after clicking on the link, then click on the image and hover around for a closer look!

Happy Tuesday!

Jan 27

Victory: Photography Project — Part 3

“Dogs have a way of finding the people who need them, filling an emptiness we don’t even know we have.” ~Thom Jones

I have recently begun a weekly photography project with my muse, Victory! I will continue to share this project on the blog! I have also been documenting Victory’s milestones so to speak each month — you can read these here! I think that it is fun to document all of Victory’s changes, while preserving fleeting moments and memories.

Since Victory loves being in our bed so much, I captured a few images of her getting ready to take a nap! She loves to be between the pillows up against the headboard! Each night, she takes turns on each of our pillows during the night! Victory looks very beautiful and she got a bath recently and she is looking fluffy and clean! Victory’s sheltie furs are really starting to come in — her coat is going to be gorgeous! She is our little golden rod!

Happy Monday!

Jan 24

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Not “There” Yet

“Do your thing. Do it unapologetically. Don’t be discouraged by criticism. You probably already know what they’re going to say. Pay no mind to the fear of failure. It’s far more valuable than success. Take ownership, take chances, and have fun. And no matter what, don’t ever stop doing your thing.” ~Aster Roth.

Often we think to ourselves or we have have heard others say, “I’m not there yet.”

Here is the thing to remember about a phrase like that, the thing that you have to understand and remember: The “there” in “not there yet” is not a real destination. And if you put off doing anything until you get “there,” you will spend you entire life waiting to arrive.

The fact of the matter is that nobody is going to tell you that you have “arrived.” I recently saw a card that put it very poignantly, “Do you know what all great professional athletes, writers, and actors have in common? None of them started out that way.”

Ultimately, each person has to make that choice for themselves that is his/her time.

Do the thing that you do not think you can do. This is how you will get to “there.”

Happy Friday and stay warm this weekend — it is super cold here!

Jan 23

The Dogist

If you enjoy viewing photographs of dogs, you can check out The Dogist, a blog dedicated to street photography of dogs, started by photographer Elias Weiss Friedman. Friedman stated, “Every dog deserves recognition, and sometimes a compelling photograph can get a dog out of a shelter, or inspire people to appreciate their dogs more.” You can follow The Dogist on Instagram and Facebook. Enjoy!

Jan 22

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Victory: Photography Project — Part 2

“If there are no dogs in heaven, then when I die, I want to go where they went.” ~Will Rogers

I have recently begun a weekly photography project with my muse, Victory! I will share this project on the blog! I have also been documenting Victory’s milestones so to speak each month — you can read these here, here, and here! I think that it is fun to document all of Victory’s changes, while preserving fleeting moments and memories.

The images shown below were taken this past weekend, before the snow. These images remind me of these images of our little Biscuit. Victory looks gorgeous! I especially like the one where she squinted her little eyes shut!

Happy Wednesday!

Jan 21

Victory: Snow Day!

“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.” ~John Steinbeck

Today we have been enjoying a snow day with our little Victory! We are glad to be home in this weather. The snow is coming down in all directions attempting to blot out the neighborhood colors. Isn’t it amazing how the snow blankets the other noise in your life and you become grateful to be tucked in and witness winter’s beauty?

We put Victory’s pink coat on her and we took her outside for her afternoon walk. As you can see in the images below, the snow is really coming down here! Little Victory was a little trooper in the snow! Here is a link to Victory’s first snow! After her walk in the snow, Victory took a long nap with her Daddy!

Today is also special because it is the 500th post on the blog!

Happy Tuesday!

Jan 20

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What kind of accent do you have?

What kind of accent do you have? I recently came across this dialect quiz that has spread all over the web. I grew up in Michigan and after taking the dialect quiz, the results concluded that I have an accent from three possible geographic areas: Rockford, Illinois; Toledo Ohio; and Detroit, Michigan. So, the test seems pretty accurate as I grew up in Southeast Michigan! Doug said that he can sometimes still hear the Michigan accent with certain words even though I have not lived in Michigan for about twelve years!

Have fun taking the dialect quiz!

Happy Monday!

Jan 17

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Victory: Tuck In Ritual

Do you have a “tuck in ritual” before bed with your furry family member? We have a nightly routine and “tuck in ritual” with little Victory each night. When we come home from the gym after dinner during the week, we play with Victory and watch a little TV with her — She is a Sons of Anarchy fan! I think Doug wants to get little Victory a cut — but I think Victory is much more sophisticated! Then, we take Victory for her nightly walk around the neighborhood. She always gets a little treat after each walk as positive reinforcement for doing a good job on her walk!

Then, we head up to bed, and then little Victory comes up the stairs behind us and she literally runs and hops into bed squarely between the pillows and our headboard waiting for us to come to bed. (On the weekends when we are able to stay up later, sometimes, Victory heads up the stairs on her own and puts herself to bed!) Once in bed, we then give Victory a bowl of water in the hopes that she will not wake us up for a “midnight drink of water!” However, around 2:00 a.m., recently without fail, Victory runs up and down the middle of the bed waking us up for a drink! Usually Doug gets up and gets her fresh water! We are working on Victory getting out of the bed to get her water on her own!

Additionally, instead of Victory immediately settling down and going to sleep between one of our heads and our headboard, as Victory had been doing since we adopted her, Victory has recently been quite active at night. She keeps us up most nights for an hour or so wanting to play! We think this is a good sign that she is getting more comfortable with us and her new home! However, both of us, including Victory, are pretty tired in the mornings! However, unlike us, Victory has the luxury of sleeping all day! Victory does let us sleep in on the weekends, which is really nice! We do think that Victory enjoys the predictability of our night-time ritual.

We had a somewhat similar night-time ritual with our beloved Biscuit — except he slept on his Orvis bed next to my side of the bed and he usually only woke us up if he had a potty emergency! Sometimes on the weekends, Biscuit would join us in bed so that we could sleep in a little longer!

The ordinary moments are the moments I most savor.

Happy Friday!

Jan 15

Critiques

I very much miss the classroom based critiques from college. It was always nice to put up my work and receive feedback from peers and my professor on my work.

However, since I am not currently in a traditional classroom setting, I find the following helpful in terms of obtaining feedback on my work — projects.

1. Critique Partner: Find a critique partner in order to help give each other feedback on your respective work to help ensure that you are making ‘strong work.’ I believe having a critique partner or regular critiques, with people you trust is a nice way to receive feedback on my work.

2. Artists You Admire: Contact artists whose work you admire to see if he/she will provide you with feedback on your work. Most people are happy to help. I have reached out to photographers whose work I admire, and I have formed some nice relationships with other photographers and artists who have provided feedback on my work, which has been very helpful.

3. Former Professor(s): If you still have relationships with former professors, you can reach out to him/her and request feedback on your work.

4. Photography Conference: Attend photography conferences such as the Society for Photographic Education, where you can have access to many artists in one location to receive feedback on your work.

5. Galleries: Contact Galleries and determine whether you can pay for a consult to have a gallery review your work.

6. Organizations: If the intent of your work is to communicate for a specific cause, belief, political issue, etc., you can reach out to organizations who might be able to put you in touch with someone like-minded who can also provide feedback on your work.

Jan 14

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Preveal: Hanging Images at Home

Doug and I have just about finished hanging all of our art and photographs on the walls of our new home. However, there is still space to hang more images and art in our home! I came across this neat program, Preveal, an ipad app. As shown below, Preveal allows you to take a photo of your living room, bedroom, or any room in your home — wherever you would like to hang your images and display accurately sized renditions of various wall displays! I am very visual, and this app makes it easy to see what a framed image will look like prior to actually hanging it!

I am a strong proponent of making physical copies of my images versus having them sit on my computer and external drives. Images make a nice addition to any home! Plus, it is a ‘happiness boost’ for most people, including myself, to view their images regularly — this is why Biscuit and Victory are shown throughout our home so that we can enjoy them everyday!

1. First, take a photo of your wall with a letter sized piece of paper on it.