Meet Claire and her 25 year old gelding, Jamie, along with her husband James (yes, the whole Jamie and James thing did get rather confusing!) and their 14 year old staffie, George. Claire had organised the shoot as she's rather concious that both the boys are getting on a bit now and she wanted to capture some special memories with them.
As well as that, she also wanted some photographs of her whole family together, both two legged and four legged. She said it's rare that everyone's together in the same space so the shoot would be special, just for that reason.
Claire had worked hard in the build up to the shoot, she'd found lots of ideas and examples of images that she'd like. Of course, she was really keen to get some black background images of Jamie!
As I arrived, she was just putting the finishing touches to Jamie. With several different bridles hanging up - doubles, snaffles, fancy browbands, you name it, it was probably there! Jamie, the bay gelding was plaited up, enjoying his haynet whilst Claire showed me around the lovely little yard where they're based.
Together they enjoy a bit of everything, they do a lot of showing, competing in turnout classes, veterans, riding horse and concours d'elegance classes! She's known Jamie for 10 years now and has been lucky enough to call him her own for the past 7.
James arrived with their family dog, George, along with friend Sara we all headed up to the little track leading down to the fields. With lovely dappled light being cast between the trees above, it was the perfect spot to begin the shoot! It was so lovely seeing everyone together and you could see how much it meant to Claire having all her boys together in one place! We even managed to get a shot of Jamie and George stood together, after much hilarity in trying and almost admitting defeat and having to photoshop two images together, I found a little hidden gem amongst the images!
It was so clear to show how much Claire simply adored Jamie. She said he can be quite quirky at times and definately has an opinon to share, but she loves him dearly! I know how much Claire had been looking forward to the shoot so it was an absolute pleasure to finally get to meet her after so many weeks of chatting and planning!
James and George headed off home and we headed back to the barn for a quick outfit change. Claire jumped on board Jamie for some bareback shots back up near the fields. Jamie was getting a little distracted by this point, however Sara was coming up with plenty of inventive ways (much to Claire's amusement!) to get Jamie's ears forward!
It was almost the end of the shoot, but we headed back down to the barn to get some black background images. Doesn't Jamie look amazing, what a handsome boy! A massive thank you to Sara from Total Impact Equestrian for recommending me to Claire and for coming and helping out on the shoot.
George had got a little stressed during the shoot so we arranged for me to head over to Claire's house to get a few more shots. I was unfortuanately due to go away on holiday for a week and I couldn't fit much else in before I was due to go. It was a little touch and go due to George's health, but fortuanately we arrived home from our holiday a little earlier than planned due to the weather. In the car coming home, I was straight on to the phone to Claire to let her know we were going to be home soon, the following morning at 8am I was able to drive over to their house to get some lovely shots of George at home, where he was much more relaxed. He thought it was the best morning ever because he got chicken for breakfast!
Thank you so much for having me Claire! I'm really glad you love the photographs and for such amazing feedback:
"I loved it and can't recommend Rose enough!! My dog got a bit stressed with the new surroundings and Rose arranged to come back at a later date to take more pictures just of him for me which I really appreciated. She gave a really helpful list of what would be good to wear and how to best turnout my horse. Very well organised! My favourite part was seeing the photos after! I did enjoy getting my whole 'family' together for some pictures though! It's never happened where I've had my hugband, pony and puppy in the same place for that length of time before which made it all even more special! The pictures are amazing and better than I could have wished for. Thank you for everything! A very well organised and extremely special photo shoot with a Rose. She captured all of us perfectly and so wouldn't hesitate to use her again. I'm particularly thankful for her fitting me in at the last minute to make sure I got the pictures that I really wanted. Thank you Rose xx"
