Next week I’m photographing dogs.

Not the kind of session I usually talk about here. No blazers, no LinkedIn profiles, no tethered monitors. Just rescue dogs, a camera, and the hope that a good photo helps one of them find a home.

The event is called Second Shot, and it started with a photographer in Tampa named Adam Goldberg.

How Second Shot Started

Adam started volunteering with his camera at the Humane Society of Broward County back in 2013. He had no formal photography training — he taught himself by watching how-to videos and practicing at the shelter. The idea was straightforward: the intake photos shelters use to list adoptable animals are taken when the dog first arrives, usually scared, nervous, and out of focus behind a cage door. Those photos don’t show personality. They show stress. And they’re often the only first impression a potential adopter ever sees.

So Adam started replacing them. One dog at a time, he’d set up a clean background, use proper lighting, and spend enough time with each animal to capture the head tilt, the soft eyes, the goofy grin — the photo that makes someone stop scrolling and say “that one.”

He called it Second Shot — because the dog gets a second photo, and a second chance at a forever home.

Where It Is Now

What started as a once-a-month volunteer session at the Humane Society of Tampa Bay in 2016 has grown into something much bigger. With sponsorship support from companies like NaturVet, ForeverLawn, Paws N Rec, and Pristine Paws, Adam went from photographing around 120 shelter pets a year to roughly 600. He’s now at the shelter weekly instead of monthly.

The program has expanded beyond Tampa. The Halifax Humane Society in Daytona reached out about bringing Second Shot to their shelter, where some dogs had been waiting over 150 days for a home. Adam’s also working with the Polk County Bully Project, the Hillsborough County Pet Resource Center, and other local rescues.

During Pit Bull Awareness Month in October 2025, Adam set a goal of photographing 150 adoptable pit bulls across 16 sessions — specifically to push back against the stereotypes that keep bully breeds in shelters longer than other dogs.

He and his wife Mary also turned their passion into a full-time business — AGoldPhoto Pet Photography — which runs a luxury pet photo studio in Tampa. The commercial side has landed work with major pet food brands, including a multi-day packaging session for Halo that involved over 30 pet models and 500 casting submissions. Their work now appears on pet food packaging in stores. But the Second Shot volunteer work continues every week regardless.

The numbers that matter: Adam’s fundraiser events raised over $250,000 for more than 50 animal shelters and rescues. His Instagram following — over 81,000 people — is built almost entirely on before-and-after shelter pet photos. His TikTok has 5.9 million likes. Sherry Silk, the CEO of the Humane Society of Tampa Bay, has said his work can be the difference between an animal finding a home or not.

Why a Veterinarian With a Camera Had to Be Part of This

I’ve been a veterinarian for over 30 years. I’ve seen what happens on both sides — the dogs who get adopted quickly because they photograph well, and the ones who wait months because their listing photo was a blurry phone shot through a cage door. The photo is often the only first impression a dog gets, and I’ve watched that single image determine outcomes for animals I’ve treated.

When I learned about Second Shot, it wasn’t a question. Of course I’m doing this.

Photographing dogs is nothing like photographing people. There’s no “turn your chin slightly left.” There’s no “relax your shoulders.” You work with what the dog gives you — and you have to be fast, patient, and flexible. Some dogs are terrified. Some won’t sit still. Some are so excited they knock equipment over. Every one of them deserves the effort.

What my veterinary background brings to this is something a little different: I can read the dog. Thirty years of emergency medicine means I know when an animal is shutting down versus warming up, when to push and when to give space, and how to make a stressed animal feel safe enough to show who they really are. That’s the photo that gets them adopted.

Follow the Work

If you want to see what Adam and Mary are doing — and the before-and-after photos are genuinely incredible — here’s where to find them:

If you work with a rescue organization in the Philadelphia area and want to talk about doing something similar, reach out. This is the kind of work that matters.

[email protected] | 484.320.7535

Isolde Baylor is a headshot photographer with 173+ five-star Google reviews, serving Philadelphia, the Main Line, and King of Prussia. She’s also a veterinarian with 30+ years of emergency medicine experience — which is why she can’t say no to a dog who needs a better photo.