Meet Vicky and her two lovely boys - Podge and Spinner. It was a beautiful early late-spring morning when I headed over to meet them all! Based on a a picturesque private estate, where Vicky and Sean are lucky enough to live - we were spoilt with gorgeous locations and a hazy morning light.
I headed on to the yard with Vicky to meet the boys, but first, we were greeted by a small herd of very nosey sheep, who came to investigate us! The sheep have free roam of the land and can often be found chewing the trees and flowers, as pointed out by Vicky's boyfriend, Sean, pointing at the flower beds around the yard.
The star of the show was the adorable Podge - a Welsh Section D gelding, who Vicky has owned since 2003. They spent their teenage years together, but he's getting on a little bit now and they'd like some lovely pictures to remember him by.
Vicky said she loves this time of year with the landscape slowly turning green, and of course, the bluebells. So with that, I was given a little tour of the property and Vicky showed me her favourite parts, and some ideas she'd had for the shoot.
The boys posed perfectly for their black background shots - Vicky had warned me Podge might not want to play ball putting his ears forward, but he did once the bucket of treats arrived! We then popped up the drive way with both Podge and Spinner for some shots of them both together with Vicky and Sean. The dogs also joined in too!
Spinner was a flat racer, he's now 19 and has been with Vicky for 12 years - I was told all about his quirky nature, and some of his party tricks, so after the group shots, Vicky was keen to do some photographs of just her and Spinner, before he got too bored. He was a very good boy though! Sean was working hard behind me walking Podge around and waving various things to get Spinner's ears forward. He was a total star and not a bad model at all!
Podge had the spotlight all to himself now - Vicky said she'd spent her teenage years with Podge and they'd enjoyed a bit of everything together over the years. He is a typical cheeky welsh pony and still like to keep everyone on their toes! It was such a pleasure to capture the bond between Vicky and Podge - he was very sweet and stood there whilst he got plenty of kisses and cuddles!
At the bottom of the driveway there was a track down in to the woods, we weren't quite sure if the bluebells would still be out, but everyone had been keeping their fingers and toes crossed, and they were probably just about in their prime. It's funny how just 20 minutes up the road where I'd been doing my canine shoots, the bluebells had turned over, but over in Newbury, they still looked amazing!
By now the sun was starting to peep through the tall trees, creating dappled patches on the floor. We found a little ledge on the base of a tree for Vicky to sit on, whilst Podge ate grass from her lap.
The shoot finished up with all of us heading down to the bottom fields to turn the boys back out, followed by the sheep! We headed back in to the woods with Moss and Willow their dogs. The dogs are both lurchers: collie cross whippets. Moss and Willow are father and daughter - trying to get them to sit together was quite fun because they were too busy looking around at something in the bushes. We have 5 lurchers of our own at home, so I had a particular soft spot for these guys!
It was such a pleasure to spend the morning with you Vicky and Sean - I hope you enjoyed the shoot as much as I did, and that these images capture your boys.
