Frontier Dreams: If You Give a Dog a Pancake

Monday, June 27, 2011

If You Give a Dog a Pancake

S/He will want to join you for breakfast...

and steal your bread from the table

Maybe even sit in your chair if you get up for just a second.

*sigh* This is why our dogs are not invited to meals in our home. Those rascals.

On another note I wanted to share this beautiful post from Amanda on photography and, for goodness sake, not using Photoshop or other photo editing software. Please do check it out, and I hope it will inspire you as it did me. I sometimes feel like those of us not using Photoshop are an endangered breed going into extinction. It feels so good to know there are others out there. Thanks Amanda!

Also on a slightly similar subject. Did you all see the beautiful comment left by Carrie on Friday's post?

"Those are really precious pictures, but I empathize with this mirror your daughter has held up for you. My daughters can tell when I'm trying to capture *them* in a photograph, and when I'm trying to capture *the* photograph. When it's the latter, they squirrel up their noses, and make sour faces, and turn their backs. They know that I'm more focused on getting a nice picture, and not paying attention to the child on the other side of the lens."

Such wisdom in her words, wouldn't you agree? Thank you Carrie for your insight.

I hope you are all having a beautiful start to your week. See you in this space tomorrow.

Comments (27)

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boatbaby · 718 weeks ago

Your pups are such beauties! I have a soft spot for Shepherds and such. One day when we decide to live on land again (a long long time from now I suspect) I will surround myself with shepherds and feed them pancakes all day long ;)

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Melanie · 718 weeks ago

Dear Nicole, I very much appreciate what you say about editing photos! I have been thinking of this as well- I do not edit my photos in any way, I usually do not even crop them at all. I see so many doctored up photos online and it was making me feel like I was at a disadvantage- but also I like photos more raw and real.
I love the dogs peering over the table. . .

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uaspu · 718 weeks ago

I agree with what Carrie said, keep the focus on the child, make it fun! Also, love those pups!!!

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luckybeans · 718 weeks ago

Thank you for the link. Every once in a while I play in photoshop, and I am always left feeling dissatisfied with the end result. The whole idea of photography to me is learning how to see what is right in front of me and finding the beauty in it as it is.

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~carrie~ · 718 weeks ago

First of all, I'm so flattered....I had text messages from girlfriends this morning declaring me famous. ;) I am going to have to post about this myself, as I have a series of photographs that illustrate what I was saying. It was from the day we discovered my eldest had her first wiggly tooth!

Our dog isn't invited to the table either, and if we don't promptly clean up, she'll be nosing around for crumbs up there. I do appreciate her vacuuming skills on the floor though!

I only use photoshop for cropping/text for a banner, and I prefer unedited photographs (probably for the same reason I don't wear makeup, I think it looks good and natural on others, but it looks fake on me)....but it also takes time to edit photographs, and I barely have time to throw up pictures on my blog! I'll have to read that post in depth one evening, so I can work on getting better pictures (ahem.....I mean, the subject shall remain the top priority)

~carrie~

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earth mama 101 77p · 718 weeks ago

Yay, your blog looks great now. Glad to hear you got your pictures fixed. That can be frustrating. I am also from the non photo editing breed as well. I shoot and upload and thats it! Au natural! I love the look many bloggers have using some editing, but its just something Ive never gotten into. Thanks for stopping by mama!

:)Lisa

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1 reply · active 718 weeks ago

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erin · 718 weeks ago

What a sweet pup & beautiful photos! Its funny, I got my BA in art. Half the time I spent in the darkroom and the sunlight making gumbichromates (the oldest form of photography) and the other half I spent in the graphic design room using illustrator & photoshop (the modern, computer stuff). I love Amanda's post, even if using photoshop a whole lot of work can be avoided if you know your camera and composition well. I also agree Carrie's comment, wise words. :-)

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1 reply · active 718 weeks ago

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boatbaby · 718 weeks ago

I have to repspectfully disagree about photo editing. I don't think cropping or color correcting or heck even splashing in something fancier is impure any more than frogging a row of knitting that didn't turn out. It's a way of making your vision and art the way you want it. One thing I do NOT do is ask my kids to pose or move to get a shot. Either I catch it, or I don't. But I never tell them to put on certain clothes, or move here or there, or do this or that. If the kids are doing something sweet I grab my camera. if I miss it, I miss it. C'est la via. I save the directing for work, not my family. But if I get it and it's overexposed or needs cropping I am not worried about that.

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3 replies · active 718 weeks ago

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jumbleberryjam 58p · 718 weeks ago

Photoshop - what's that? ;-) None of that for me - who has time to futz with photo fixing?!? I'm lucky to get them off my computer and uploaded to shutterfly for distant family viewing in the same month they're taken, let alone fancy them up! Anyway, your naughty puppies are so cute!

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1 reply · active 718 weeks ago

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Provincial Homemaker · 718 weeks ago

That is too cute. When I was a child we had a dog that could drink milk out of a glass on the table - because I never liked to drink the stuff, I didn't bother to tell my mother. She was unaware of the phenomenon for months.

Your dog certainly looks happy with his pancake.

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erin · 718 weeks ago

i've missed you too. thanks for stopping by today.

(belated) joyful welcome wishes to your newest little one. congrats, mama!!

xo

~erin

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1 reply · active 718 weeks ago

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jeanene · 718 weeks ago

Oh boy we have the same problem with our dogs, we have 6 of them sitting around the table when we eat, and our latest little street dog even joins us on the bench now. Not to mention 4 cats... and sometimes our pony finds our kitchen to. :) Love the photos in your last post, your little ones are adorable.

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