WESTBROOK — Prada was sleepy, right up until someone set her on the bed.
That’s when she wanted to play. Explore. Leap into the arms of art director Meredith Brockington for a cuddle.
A puppy diving off L.L. Bean’s green plaid comforter? Not quite the cozy photo the company was going for in its 2015 holiday catalog.
“We do not have it,” photographer Benni Spinelli announced, just in case that wasn’t obvious, and everyone on set — nearly a dozen crew members-turned-puppy wranglers — burst into laughter.
Prada rolled over for a tummy rub.
The calendar said June 18, but at Studio 1912 in Westbrook it was Christmastime. A knit stocking hung by the (faux) chimney with care, the scent of pine wafted from tree boughs nearby and pristinely wrapped gifts sat on a shelf.
And, most importantly, a pair of fluffy 7-week-old golden retriever puppies — Prada and her brother, Gunther — awaited their debut, complete with red bows around their necks.
“They’re so cute, how can you go wrong?” Brockington said.
Three or four times a year, L.L. Bean catalog designers drop the Bean boots and backpacks in favor of Puppy Photo Day. It’s about as adorable as it sounds. And fun. And work.
After hours of herding puppies, the team will have hundreds of shots, but only a precious few will be right for the iconic Bean catalog.
The designers know what they’re looking for.
“Magic,” Spinelli said.
Take two.
* * * *
L.L. Bean’s first catalog was a three-page flier distributed in 1912. It lacked puppies.
In 1980, the first pooch appeared in an L.L. Bean catalog, showcasing a Bean dog bed. In 1987, dogs began showing up in the company’s hunting, seasonal and general catalogs.
A tradition was born. L.L. Bean fans were — and continue to be — delighted.
“There’s a lot of comments. Especially on the web, we get a lot of comments. On our social media platforms, on Facebook, on Instagram. On people sharing their dog photos and we share ours,” Brockington said. “That’s definitely what people gravitate most toward.”
For years the company has used local dogs and puppies. Often they’re springer spaniels and golden retrievers — sporting dogs that are both photogenic (read: too adorable to ignore) and tied to L.L. Bean’s hunting heritage.
Typically, the puppies earn their owners either a gift card or a couple hundred dollars for their two to three hours of tireless work looking cute.
Mary Dickinson Cashin, co-owner of Goldiva Goldens in Cumberland and North Yarmouth, began offering her championship dogs to L.L. Bean for photo shoots a couple of years ago. Her sister-in-law was a Bean web designer who knew people in marketing. People who needed dogs.
“They called and asked if we had puppies,” Cashin said.
Oh, she did indeed.
Goldiva Goldens’ dogs, with their big brown eyes and affable, easy-going natures, have since graced L.L. Bean catalogs, the cover of the company’s holiday gift guide and aww-inspiring Bean gift cards. It’s a source of pride to Cashin.
“I’d do it for free if they gave me a byline that said the puppies come from Goldiva Goldens,” she said with a laugh.
In June, the company needed a couple of very young puppies for its upcoming holiday catalog. Enter Gunther and Prada.
He had a lighter coat, a round tummy and a mischievous streak. She was slightly darker, quieter, happy to fall asleep in someone’s arms but less so anywhere else, including the large bed dressed with a thick Bean comforter and flannel sheets.
Flannel is a big deal for L.L. Bean, but maybe not so exciting to look at in a catalog.
“We kind of jazz it up with the dogs,” Brockington said.
The day of the shoot is jazzed up with dogs, too.
“They’re like celebrities,” said stylist assistant Heidi Andrews, cradling a sleeping Prada.
On a scale of one to 10, she gave Puppy Photo Day a firm eight. She looked down at Prada and upped that to a 9.
“Actually,” she said, after a moment of quiet puppy bliss, “maybe it’s a 10.”
Suitably worn out after Cashin and her husband brought them car shopping earlier in the day, the puppies were now bedecked in red ribbon and ready for their closeups.
Photo assistant Thomas Huot slipped behind the bed to play his role as the day’s official puppy spotter. Although several people would be ready to — and did — dash forward to catch a diving dog, he would be the only one on the far side of the bed, squeezed between it and the faux wall, hunkered down out of sight of the camera.
Brockington set Prada on the center of the bed.
“You’re not going to move once I put you on the bed, right?” Brockington pleaded quietly to her. “Don’t get curious. Don’t get curious.”
She got curious.
On the bed, the once-sleepy puppy was suddenly wide awake. Although Spinelli’s rapid-fire shots caught a couple of decent photos — “That’s pretty cute,” Brockington said, appraising a picture of a happy, camera-facing Prada that popped up on a nearby monitor — they weren’t magical.
“Puppy alternate,” quipped videography intern Pip Kolmar, sweeping in with Gunther.
Prada had lasted a few minutes on the bed.
Gunther lasted a few seconds. Spinelli only had time for a quick burst of shots.
“Tom, get ready!” Brockington called, jumping forward as the puppy tottered toward the edge.
She got there first, scooping up Gunther, doggy disaster averted.
Walk. Maybe the puppies needed to walk.
Take three.
* * * *
Gunther roamed around the set. He and Prada got some water. They hung out together in a puppy pen, where Gunther took to the serious task of tugging off his sister’s bow.
Gathered around a computer monitor, the humans talked cropping and design possibilities.
“That would be a stinking cute banner,” Brockington said of a shot of Gunther sitting up in the center of the bed, stuffed animal-like, an instant before he decided to make a break for it. “He doesn’t look real.”
With Gunther still too excited to settle down, they decided to try Prada again.
For a few moments it looked like it wouldn’t work. She shuffled forward on the bed, got up, sat down again. On set, someone made a kissy noise; Prada looked up, curious.
“I think we might have something now,” Spinelli said, clicking away with her camera.
There was a problem with Prada’s bow (not showing), then a problem with the bedding (creased). But Prada settled down, shifted and laid her head between her paws.
From the dozen crew members on the set came a collective “Aww.”
“It’s getting there,” Spinelli said.
But that sheet fold was off and the comforter wrinkled and maybe if they tried a different angle . . .
“Tom,” Brockington called to the hunkered-down puppy spotter who’d only moved once in the past hour, “Starbucks on me tomorrow, buddy!”
Take four. Or was it five . . .
* * * *
Someone set Prada on the flannel sheet-covered mattress, cozy between plush comforter and fluffy pillow. A new position, a new image. It may not work, but . . .
Prada sat, stretched, laid down. She tucked her nose next to the soft covers and closed her eyes, her red bow listing to the side.
Another collective “Aww” rose from the set.
“Puppy sold separately,” Brockington joked as Spinelli shot and shot and shot.
The lighting still wasn’t perfect and Prada’s bow needed to be re-tied, but when the puppy shifted sleepily so that her nose was practically under the covers . . .
“Awwww,” Brockington breathed. “That’s it, right?”
“Yes,” Spinelli said.
* * * *
But they had two puppies. What if they put Prada and Gunther together? Gunther was added to the scene on the bed.
“Great. Perfect. Perfect!” Brockington said as Gunther sat and leaned against his sister, the two puppies tucked between covers and pillows.
Gunther nibbled Prada’s bow. Prada looked at the camera.
“They’re thinking, ‘I wonder what thread count this is?'” Brockington joked as Gunther joined his sister lying down.
The two puppies panted a little; in the photo displayed on the monitor they seemed to smile.
“It just gets better as the day goes on,” Brockington said.
* * * *
Prada and Gunther were too big to fit in a Christmas stocking. That had been part of the plan: a puppy in a red knit stocking on the bed. But they were larger than other 7-week-olds, fluffier and chubbier with their round tummies and big paws.
So the designers scrapped the stocking. Presents instead, they decided. A puppy with a present on the bed.
Off went the plush comforter, on went Prada and a red-wrapped gift box.
She grinned at the camera. She chewed on a corner of the box.
“She’s, like, getting into it,” an assistant said.
Prada flipped a second box between her paws, then on her head.
When it was Gunther’s turn, he proved to be just as adorable. He sat up, pawed at the gift box bow. He only tried to wander toward the edge of the bed once or twice. Or three times.
“I think,” Brockington said, scrolling through the images on the monitor, “we got it.”
* * * *
Spinelli took 237 photos in two hours.
“It’s hard to choose. It really is,” Brockington said. “We narrow it down to 50, then ultimately one or two will be used.”
Puppy with eyes open: Good.
Paw sticking out awkwardly: Not good.
The spontaneity of a pink tongue poking out a little: Great.
“The most challenging part is being focused on, actually, the monitor and making sure everything is in focus and sharp and making sense,” Brockington said. “Because they’re so distracting, you kind of want to have your eyes on set the whole time.”
But when it works, it’s amazing. Brockington still remembers the photo that came from a dog bed shoot with seven or eight golden retriever puppies on location in Falmouth.
“They were spooning each other, all asleep, which was a miracle,” she said. “They just happened to all get tuckered out at the same time and pass right out. Then we kind of molded them to all be spooning one another. There’s this big line and we took this aerial shot of them all lined up. All goldens, all different shades, which was fun.”
It would take some time to go through the 237 photos taken of Prada and Gunther to see if any had that same magic. But there were some early contenders.
The shot of Prada sleeping with her nose practically under the covers. Gunther and Prada tucked together between covers and pillows. Prada with the present.
“We did find some great shots,” Brockington said.
Plus, they got to play with puppies.
“It felt like Christmas today for us,” she said.
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