It's all well and good me telling you what's involved in an equine shoot with myself, but I'm sure you'd much rather hear it from someone who has experienced being in front of my camera:
"So if you are like me you probably already have dozens of photos of your horse but I imagine like me, half of them are taken on a phone or are screen shots from a video which means they are poor quality and not the type of photo I would like to frame at home.
I thought I would treat myself and my boy Bailey to a shoot with Rose and I am so glad I did! Not only have I now got some beautiful images to put around the house but to me each image has really captured Bailey’s personality and the bond that we have.
Before our shoot Rose and I had a chat about the types of images I was hoping for and to be honest as she is the expert, I was more than happy for her to take the lead on this, so we just talked through the different areas that we could shoot in at the yard."
Every location I visit is different, and many people think that their yard is too messy or boring to get any nice shots in. We will walk around the yard together and I will be busy plotting out a plan in my head. You see the same location day in, day out, but I will visit there with my creative eyes on, taking in to account the lighting to work out the best places to use. You'd be suprised at how little space we need during your shoot and the tricks I have to hide the less attractive aspects of the location. Luckily for me, the yard Angie and Bailey are stabled at provides me with many different spots to use: tracks, fields, a picturesque yard coutryard, an indoor school for black background shots and some beautiful woodlands.
"Rose also suggested I had a few different outfits in-case I wanted to change depending on the background setting of each photo. Another great bit of advice from Rose that I wouldn't have thought of! Initially I wasn’t too sure what to expect on the day and a tad concerned that I wouldn’t know what to do and how co-operative Bailey would be but to my shock he decided that modelling was just for him! I think secretly he wishes he could be on the front cover of a magazine!
Even when he was a bit cheeky at times and wouldn’t stand still, Rose was so patient and knew exactly where she wanted him to stand so would wait for him to settle. She also made me feel so comfortable and relaxed which shows in the end results as none of my images look false or over posed. I can only assume that Bailey was being such a fidget as he was trying to let Rose capture his best angle, clearly not camera shy! There was never a moment where I felt uncomfortable or concerned that Rose wouldn’t have captured the images I was hoping for. At the end of the shoot Rose gave me a quick overview of some of the images from the back of her camera and asked if there were any other ideas that I would like to try. From this I now have a number of beautiful images at home which capture everything I could have asked for!
Many people often worry how their horse will behave during the shoot, just as Angie did. But I'm very patient and laid back about the whole experience - it should be enjoyable, and at the end of the day, horses are horses and don't understand that they're having a photoshoot! I'll take in to account the horses body language, if he looks bored, we'll move on and try something else. If he looks a little nervous or tense, we will have a chat about what could be causing that, and take appropriate measures to relax the horse as much as possible and remove them from the stressful situation.
