Honestly, how could I turn down an opportunity like this? I was at the Klemer Ranch last Saturday for the yearly branding–a photographic opportunity to make any documentarian swoon–when I happened to walk between two horse trailers, one towed by a flatbed truck. Three dogs, two on the flatbed, one on the ground, were eying each other, and I quickly made myself ready for what might happen next.

My mentor always talks about compose and wait, and the possible photographic gift: a random or unlikely occurrence that adds, as he calls it, life to the photo. I hoped something like that might reveal itself, but I had no idea I’d get this lucky. I made five photos in the 10 seconds while the exchange happened, and the above is my star.

Why? In the Italian High Renaissance, Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel, including the Creation of Adam. In that ceiling fresco, God is about to give Adam life, and the tension of the moment before the gift is how the great artist chose to depict the scene.

In some tiny canine way, I tried to do the same.