Meet Tilly and the horse she rides, Rolo. Rolo is a beautiful dark bay gelding - he's 17 years old and stands at a rather large 17 hands!
Tilly was given the shoot as a Christmas gift from her sister, Lauren. I met Tilly and Rolo at a beautiful yard, which is where Lauren works. He's a gentle giant together they enjoy a bit of everything, Tilly said he's fantastic at dressage and she's started jumping too!
Our location could not be more idyllic for the shoot. Tilly had got up early (I think it was around 5.30 to be a bit more specific!) to get Rolo ready for the shoot. When I arrived she was just putting his tack on. With several outfits laid out, I was shown around the yard and we picked the first spot, for the first outfit. Tilly wanted some shots in her show gear and we thought what better place than in front of the beautiful house on the grounds the yard was situated.
Tilly did laugh at the rather large size difference between her and Rolo - she thought it might be nicer to have some shots on him, so that's where we began! Maisie and Lisa were on hand to wave the octopus, squeak toys and treat buckets to get Rolo looking. He looked super smart!
I enjoyed chatting away to both the girls - when I first lokoed at them I did have to do a bit of a double take, I did wonder if they were twins, or just looked very alike. It turns out, they are in fact twins! Both girls share the love of horses, however after loosing their pony just over a year ago, it's only Tilly who carried on riding out of the pair of them. Maisie even said she didn't realise how big Rolo actually was!
The grounds were spectacular - the Daffodils lined walk ways along the perfectly mown grass. There were archways and benches around flower beds and a beautiful pond with a perfectly placed tree trunk. And I'm super greatful to the owners for allowing us to make the most of their wonderful gardens during the shoot! More often than not when I get to a stunning location like that (full of excitement!) I'm told that the ground keeper doesn't like horses on the grass, so this was a welcomed treat!
After a quick outfit change in to something more casual, we carried on shooting. Tilly had lots of ideas for us to try out! At the end of the shoot, the girls wanted me to get a picture of Rolo for his owner - if possible, a black background picture. The lovely barn was just a little too light inside, but I had a plan up my sleeve to get the image I wanted, I just needed to wait for the bright sunlight to disappear. We had Rolo in position and just as a large cloud covered the sun momentarily, Rolo moved! We quickly rushed him back to where he needed to be stood and it was all hands on deck to get those ears forward when the next cloud appeared!
Lauren had also organised for Maisie to have a shoot with her handsome doggy - Prince! He is a rescue dog and after a sad life abroad, he was brought over to the UK and adopted by the Harris family.
Maisie said he loves nothing more than playing with his football and that they spend many hours together at the park kicking the ball around together!
We drove a short way up from the house to another part of the farm - Prince clearly adores Maisie and he was more than happy to play for the camera and give out kisses and cuddles!
Maisie said she'd love for me to get some close up shots of his face, in particular of his eyebrows which are her favourite feature of his.
Thank you all for such a lovely day - it was a pleasure to meet you all and I am thrilled that you love the images!