You may not know the name Elias Weiss Friedman, but I bet you have heard of The Dogist, the New York City-based photographer known for personifying dogs in his iconic images.
With squeaky tennis balls, treats and a couple weird noises, Friedman is able to take an amateur pup and turn him into a professional poser. Which is exactly what he did with Bobby, a 6-month-old maltese.
Related: 10 Things You Didn’t Know About The Dogist
While Friedman was snapping away, Bobby’s owner, E.J. McLeavey-Fisher, struck up a conversation with The Dogist, which led to a short documentary about the famed photographer and how he got his start.
Before having 1.8 million followers on Instagram, Friedman was unemployed, jaded and just wanted to hang out with dogs. So two years ago, with camera in hand, he started asking people to snap pictures of their pups on the streets of New York City.
“New York is a special place to be a documentarian street blogger,” Friedman says. “I can’t imagine doing this blog anywhere else. The city has its canine personalities in each of the neighborhoods.”
Related: Instagram Sensation ‘The Dogist’ on His New Book, Life and Living His Dream
Fast forward to today, and his Instagram posts garner about 500 “likes” a MINUTE.
Check out the short documentary below:
The Dogist from E.J. McLeavey-Fisher on Vimeo.