In this video it’s just me and Stanley (and his lunch sitting right by the camera) because we’re doing a full calendar photoshoot—one themed set for every month. If you’ve been around for a while, you’ll remember I did this with Stella when she was a puppy, and I still love the idea because you get to “keep” those puppy ears forever. I’m a full-time photographer, so I pulled out my backdrops, props, and even used Stella’s old calendar photos on my computer as references while I built each setup. Stanley is five months old, a lot bigger than Stella was, and very food motivated—so I used his kibble as “treats” and worked his sit and stay through each scene. I shot all the white-backdrop months first, then moved to blue, brown, and finally black for Halloween. Realistically, it took time (three and a half hours), and I had to use his crate between set changes because puppies will absolutely try to chew rose petals, rugs, balloons… everything. The big takeaway: keep it simple, work in short bursts, and lean on basic training + food motivation to get adorable, frame-worthy photos.