Meet Fiona and her very handsome gelding, Boris! A lovely client of mine, Karen organised for Fiona's shoot as a gift to her - she also came along to lend a hand on the shoot. I can't believe it's already been a year since Karen and Dee's shoot! It was great to see you again Karen, and Dee!
Fiona has owned Boris for a long time, he's now 25 years old! They enjoyed competing in dressage together, but now enjoy a more quieter life. Fiona is lucky enough to travel abroad to train with some fantastic dressage horses each year!
Having already been to the yard once before, I was really excited to be heading back. There's the most amazing drive down to the yard, you pass through the common. Last time I was there it was just turning orange as we went in to Autumn - this time at the beginning of Summer the land was a beautiful shade of purple with the flowering Heather.
However, we began the shoot getting some black background images in the stable. Boris is very handsome, they're not quite sure of his breeding but they said there was some Welsh and potentially Spanish lines in there somewhere!
Boris was then tacked up - he looked very smart in his new fly veil! Fiona wore breeches and a white shirt, she also alternated her waistcoat several times throughout, to add some variety. I always love it when people have little acessories they can swap and change throughout!
Karen had shown Fiona the album she'd had made after Dee's shoot so she was already very certain she'd like one of these albums. Having owned Boris for a number of years, she wanted something that she could admire and look back on for years to come.
We explored the beautiful common land putting Fiona and Boris in to a variety of different poses, whilst being sure to capture the spontaneous moments that happened between set ups. These are always my favourite images to get as it really captures the bond between horse and owner.
Both Fiona and Boris were very amicable throughout the shoot, happy to crouch down and get right amongst the Heather. It was completely worth it as the purple colour really comes through in the images!
Capturing Boris in Piaffe and Passage was really imprtant to Fiona. She says: "this is the pinnacle of our achievements together and I am very proud of him for learning it." Fiona hopped on and worked him whilst I stood back and snapped away.
Fiona then asked Karen to bring Dee out for the end of the shoot. The boys have lived together for a long time and both ladies wanted some photographs of them together. Boris was loving being in front of the camera, keeping his ears forward and looking at us. Dee on the other hand had other ideas! He didn't look impressed at all! After a while of trying, we finally managed to get both boys looking relatively happy!
Thank you so much Fiona for having me come and photograph you and Boris, it was a pleasure! It was lovely to see Karen and Dee again and of course have such beautiful surroundings to work in. I am really glad you love the images as much as you do, Fiona and I wish you and Boris lots more fun together!