Meet Suzanne and her 18hh gentle giant Trackhener, Jeremy, better known as Jezza. Suzanne contacted me after seeing some of the photographs that I’d done for other people at her yard. We chatted over a few messages and we worked out a plan of what photographs Suzanne wanted. She had two black Labradors who she also wanted to include in the photographs. She did warn me that this may be a challenge getting them all to stand together, but I had a plan up my sleeve!
After initially postponing after a very cold morning with a flurry of snow that quickly turned to slush, the day we’d re-arranged too was even colder; -8 when I got up in fact! Wrapped up warm with several thermal layers and waterproofs, Suzanne took me down to the fields she had in mind for her photographs. The sun was glistening off the frosty ground and it look magical with the steam rising off the woodland behind the fields. Jeremy had, had a gentle lunge before the shoot to make sure he was relaxed and ready to focus on us.
Suzanne particularly wanted photographs of Jeremy loose in the field without any tack of headcollar. We kept his attention with lots of treats and he played ball the majority of the shoot. Suzanne told me his story about how she came to have him: he was bred to be a dressage horse but after an accident he was passed to another home and wasn’t ridden. Suzanne came to know Jeremy and couldn’t believe he was considered to be sold for meat! Suzanne showed me various clips on her phone of his movement; he floats along the ground!
The funniest part was when Suzy showed Jeremy some of the videos of himself. He was snorting back at the phone! Jezza has a very kind eye with an expressive face. Suzanne absolutely adores him and admitted he is a very spoilt boy!
After we’d spent a good hour down in the field, we headed in to the woods for a few shots. I regularly visit this yard to do shoots so and we are always spoilt for choice for beautiful backdrops. In the woods there are several fallen trees which make great benches for the owners to sit on. Jeremy decided the logs were much more fun to eat however!
We all headed up back towards the yard for some black background shots. I knew Jeremy would look stunning with this effect! Not only is he an exceptionally handsome horse, I often find the darker horses look particularly striking with the blacked out background behind them.
To conclude the shoot, we photographed the dogs using the same technique to get the black background effect. However it became quite a challenge to get both Tarmac and Brewster to sit with Jeremy. Whilst editing the photographs I was able to select the photographs of the three animals on the black background and layer them together to create a beautiful portrait of Suzanne’s handsome boys!
Thank you Suzy for having me and introducing me to your pets. It was a pleasure to meet you all and I hope you love your photographs!