Ah, one of my favourite times of year has to be during Spring - the vibrant flowers, the longer evenings, the foals, and less mud! The month began with a couple of days spent at Badminton, fulfiling various comissions. It was an exciting week with results right down to the wire!
Here are a few images of Lissa Green and Ali G - a partnership that caught the eyes and hearts of everyone!
There's no rest for the wicked though and on Monday morning, Badminton seemed like a lifetime ago already! I headed over to Frieze Farm to meet Anna and her handsome boy, Bertie! Anna had booked the shoot in so that she could have some photographs taken in her wedding dress as she'd always wanted Bertie to go the wedding, however as it was over in Canada, he couldn't make it!
This month has been full of playful puppies and beautiful dogs! Both Esther and Helen were lucky enough to recieve gift vouchers at Christmas from their friend Fran. Esther has 3 spaniels, one of which, Gracie, recently had a litter of puppies! It's hard not to enjoy your job when it involves lying on the floor playing with them!
Helen's 3 beautiful labs, with slightly unusual names were absolute stars! Being working dogs, their manners were impeccable which made for a lovely, relaxing shoot for us all. They sat and posed beautifully and they loved jumping in and out of the water to retrieve dummies!
Later on in the month I caught up with Haygain to photograph some images for a competition they were due to launch. I was also introduced to a lovely new company to work with - all the way from Australia: Belle Equestrian. Alicia contacted me to arrange a shoot at Enbourne Farm - we had 3 beautiful models, all dressage bred - I was in my element with such exquisite horses! We had a variety of different products to photograph - the key features being the beautiful bridles! Made with such attention to detail and anatomical cuts they really were lovely! Belle Equestrian has recently just moved to the UK and with a tight deadline to work to and a boiling hot day forecast we wasted no time and set up the shoot at 6.30am that Friday morning!
Bex came down to visit Becka and I too - it was a sweltering hot day but we had a great afternoon. It was great to catch up with the girls but also see how Wanda has changed in the last few months whilst being with Becka. Bex and I went for a much needed pub lunch in the sunshine afterwards to discuss some future shoots and collaborations.
I also got to meet Courtney and her very pretty mare, who she's owned for 4 years - Passion. The weather forecast was far better than expected - with a week full of sharp showers, we kept an eye on the forecast but we were treated to a lovely morning!
May was definately the month of the foals! First up was Merlin, owned by Meghan. I spent a lovely morning with Meghan, her dog Gizmo, ex-racer Casper and of course her mare and foal. At just three weeks old, Merlin was enjoying dozing in the sunshine whilst I snapped away. Casper and Meg made for brilliant models and I really enjoyed my time with them, spoilt once again by a beautiful location.
Jo-Anne kindly agreed for me to come and photograph her colt, Gus. He was the most laid back foal I've ever met and he too enjoyed the beautiful spring sunshine we enjoyed! Jo-Anne also has several other horses that are used as therapy horses as part of her work with childeren and teenagers. It was lovely to see how the herd interacting and learning more about how the horses help people.
On the 27th May I headed over to Pangfield Farm - Belinda had organised a yard day shoot with the liveries at the yard run by Hailey Weston. Now, I know I often say how beautiful my backdrops are for shoots, but this one really was a dream! There were so many little places to work in, all within a short distance. We were really able to make the most of the hour sessions during the day. I'm always concious to make sure everyone's set of images are unique and the variety of locations allowed that to happen - we had gateways, fields, fields full of flowers, a sweeping driveway, tracks, a barn and some lovely brickwork to work with! Everyone was a complete pleasure to work with and I'm so pleased that everyone enjoyed the day and loved their images!
I also headed to Windsor Horse Show mid-May to photograph for various outlets and brands! It was so nice to catch up with friends and meet some new faces!
