Ashanali

I just want to know if ethical breeders are going to be caught in the 'abolish the puppy farm' net before I sign anything. I had a run in with an animal rights activist/extremist who said, "if ethical breeders are a casualty then it's a small price to pay." Ummm... then where do people get their dogs from?

Last litter born 10/5/10 (nearly 8 weeks old) Born in a homemade whelping box in the laundry. Stayed in there for the entire first three weeks, only coming out when mum had to go to the vet to have her leg sown up when she decided to jump out of the window. The whelping box is made of mdf, 50cm high on all sides with a pig rail on the inside. There is no bottom as being in the laundry the floor is tiled and there is a drain for easy cleaning. For the first few weeks I laid thick cardboard, then newspaper, then polarfleece blankets, the blankets are the right size to be held down by the edges of the whelping box so they can't be scratched out of place. I put a couple of rolled up towels under the blanket and this gave the pup a bit of traction to get around the box. The room is warmed to around 26 degrees, the heater is placed up high and there is no direct heat/air forced onto the pups. I have a 'grobag egg' in the room to monitor temperature (it's a left over from when the human babies were little and we monitored temperature in the room.) Now the pups are older, the heater is no longer on unless the temperature drops below about 21. ETA: The room is at the back of the house near my older boys bedroom. My older kids handle the puppies daily and are typical loud kids. As you can see by this video, not much phases them even with my son stomping around and jumping over their heads. Also being in the laundry the pups have lived with all the loud laundry noises such as the washing machine spin cycle.

Not a wry bite but I had a pup that was overshot by about 7mm at 10 weeks old. I had him listed to sell and there were no takers. I looked at him again at 14 or 15 weeks and he had a perfect scissor bite.

Tess, how can you even say that? Your work is just so awesome, unplanned or not who cares it's fabulous!! I don't think I'd have any skill in setting shots up.... I like to just wait for shots I suppose. but the skill there is in knowing WHEN to capture the moment. Put it in terms of weddings... there are people who shoot weddings and will take over 5000 photos in the hope of getting 300 passable shots to give to a bride and groom. Then you have some freaks who shoot 600 photos and they have 500 fantastic photos they could give the bride and groom. The first person is shooting and praying that they have the moment, the second person has the skill to see the moment and know when to shoot. I think you're more like the second person than the first.

I clicked on the link and apparently I already 'like' it.

Alex just said to me that he hasn't gone through any of that. I pointed out to him that he's currently in the "HDR hole" (he's obsessed with it. ) btw - you can alternate, "HDR" with spot colour and bad sepia toning. Whatever the going fad is.

One of our often quoted lines "I might have fender stratocaster guitar, but it doesn't mean I can play like a rock star." Hmmm... photographers have won awards with images taken on iphones. Maybe someone should turn up to take the photos on an old 3mp point and shoot. It's not the song you sing, but the way you sing it.

Sorry folks and particularly Raz... I've had a few knives thrown at me recently and I'm a little bit twitchy and I jumped at the wrong time. Just ignore my last comment.

Thanks Raz. Nice to know what trying to help people to understand that there are different phases that people pass through with photography and that it's totally NORMAL to be anywhere on the scale comes across as being a "self obsessed, precious, pontificating wanker". I'll never try and make people feel good about themselves and their direction again. It obviously came out wrong, but thanks for the tact.

This graph has been made by a professional photographer on another forum I'm on. It's all tongue in cheek but he has hit the mark so close it's not funny. Lots of people on the forum had a bit of a giggle because they could see themselves in this graph. Some more food for thought... and the same thing, but in the words of Bruce Lee (but start thinking about it in photography terms for the sake of the exercise.) It's true. Everyone goes through these stages. I was stage one for about three years and it embarrasses me to think about it. I looked at my work and I looked at the work of the big names in the photography world and I honestly saw mine as being equal. I think back now to the things I used to say and do and I want to crawl into a hole and hide. I can't believe that I thought my work was really so awesome. During this stage I faked it - as the saying goes, "fake it until you make it." I talked my way into some high profile jobs without having a clue what I was really doing. It really is scary when I think about it. Then I hit stage 2. I knew I was in stage two when I was getting more and more embarrassed describing myself as a photographer and having people question my work. Inevitably, there would be a person who knew a little bit more than me who would grill me and I struggled to keep up with the conversation. This is when I studied and studied and studied. Formal and self taught. This stage really only ended for me about 3 years ago. (and I periodically revisit here when I want to learn new stuff... but never try to learn new stuff on the job - always at my own speed in my own time.) Then along came stage three. These are the times that I go out and shoot and no matter what I'm hit with I can consciously draw from my experiences and know how I'm going to shoot and why and the result I will get. eg. Mottled light? Turn them around and backlight, change settings, take a reading, check histogram, alter where needed shoot again, check histogram, all is good so keep shooting! This is also a stage full of second guessing. I find that sometimes I go through my images in lightroom and the settings I had for the very first image in a series are spot on but for some strange reason, I've changed them for the next few photos and find myself trying to make them look like the first photo. I still see myself as spending 3/4 of my time in stage three. The other 1/4 of the time, I have stage four moments. Like walking around the Ekka and simply taking photos of moments that appeal to me. I can't change the light, I can't control the angles, I can't interact with the subjects, I just have to 'feel' what's happening and take the photo. There's no time to set up your camera, you have to look at a scene, flick your settings and be satisfied that you have it right first go. This is where you need to be when shooting weddings also. If you spend half the time during a ceremony checking your camera settings to try and get it right, you will miss the important moments. I'm human. I stuff up. But I think it's important to remain realistic when you evaluate where you are on the scale. Of course everyone likes to think they are stage four, but there's nothing worse than thinking you're a stage four when really you're a one. Been there, done that.

This was a popular one last year so thought I'd bring it back again. The challenge is to work your way throught the alphabet with things you can shoot A - apple B - bottle C - cat and so on. As much as it's easy to take photos of some things, challenge YOURSELVES to think of them differently and look at thing in new ways. HAVE FUN!!

It's one of the only things one of my dogs will eat consistently... he has 2 a day, nothing is removed before giving them to him.

Starry Starry Night Twinkle Twinkle

current litter - 2 matings, 8 pups Mine are usually one mating though. Have had litters of 11 and 12 from a single mating with a good tie.

not at all :D

Just out of curiosity, if someone has a dog that is a champion, then is desexed ... can they show the dog and also earn the 'neuter champion' title on top of the title they already have? Would that make a dog, CH, NC Dogs Name Goes Here ?

I voted 'other' and these are my reasons

As a wedding photographer who has seen it all before... dogs as a part of the ceremony are fine as long as there is someone capable to look after them/deal with them. (which means that any outdoor venue will be fine for a ceremony) Dogs as a part of the reception... NO. The bride and groom don't have time to pay them attention and what an absoloute drag for the person who is looking after them AND the dogs get bored (unless it's in their own back yard). If they have to be crated for the reception, then what's the point of having them there? Best compromise - have them at the ceremony, get photos taken with them as soon as the ceremony is finished then have the capable person take them to a kennel or their home so the bride and groom can enjoy the day stress free. ETA: I hope your friend finds a way to include them that she's happy with.

If the judges are photographers - dutch tilt is a huge NO If the judges aren't photographers - then you may get away with it. Some people say, "wow - interesting" others will say, "I don't get why it's tilted". Play safe - no tilt.

streetscapes and landscapes MUST have a horizontal horizon... no dutch tilt!! Judges will pick up on that straight away. The second image (the black and white) is the strongest. ;)

nice photos this month everyone

:p How do you know that? I thought that might happen - I hope he doesn't mind me posting! I only wanted to share because I found the blog post really interesting and so relevant to this topic. He's on another forum I'm on. Apparently he was wondering why he had so many hits from a dog forum (lots of photographers use google analytics to keep track of where their traffic is coming from. If you post a link to someone's website on a forum, the website link owner can track it back to where it has come from.). (and no he doesn't mind. )

Actually it's not stupid at all