An Unexpected Guest

Inna Tregub Berman greets her first dinner guest, Boo, an American Pitbull.

When I asked Inna what motivated her Boo, she quickly replied "parties". And "food". So it was only logical that we host the best dinner party ever for this precious Pit Bull.

Inna bought a lovely pot roast, and I set up the table. The hardest part of this shoot was getting Inna to stop laughing at Boo's antics. My first instruction to every client is to ignore what their furbaby is doing, because I will be getting them to do things they've never seen before. And in Boo's case, it was head-tilting. Yes, she turned out to be a master head tilter. A full 90 degrees. To both sides! Quite a talent. And Inna simply could not contain her amusement.

"Inna!" I reprimanded. "You're wrecking all the shots!"

Boo was very frustrated by it all, with such yummy smells coming from inches away, teasing her mercilessly. First she just putting her nose on the table. Then sat on her haunches with just her paws on the table. Then standing on her hind legs with her paws on the table. Each time getting closer and closer to the meat. Then, as with so many of my shoots, everything went into slow motion and I watched as she put her elbow on the table and then paw at mom. It was absolutely perfect. It was the only time she did this motion. And for this one image, Inna managed to stifle the giggles and react perfectly to her buddy.

In my job, you have to always be ready, and NEVER take your eyes off the subjects. Because sometimes you only get one shot at the perfect shot.