On a crisp winter morning we headed to Hillesley in Gloucestershire, to do a photoshoot with Poppy and her brother Orlo, with their ponies on the family’s farm. Their home is set in a beautiful deep valley, surrounded in hills, a stunning setting for a winter session with horses! When the day dawned the light was crisp and clear and the sun was just peaking through a little – perfect!
Poppy is a 13 year old rider and pentathlete, and has a gorgeous bay 8 year old Welsh Thoroughbred mare called ‘Clara’; her 11 year old brother Orlo, has a 13.2 skewbold pony called ‘Belle’. Mum Hetty told me both of them love sport – Poppy has represented GB in her chosen sport, Orlo loves rugby – so it seemed fitting on this shoot to incorporate a few photos of each of them wearing the relevant sports kit.
One of the things I love about a winter sessions is that the light is soft for so much of the day as the sun is lower in the sky than it is in summertime, which allows ample opportunity for gorgeous backlit shots. This was definitely the case with Poppy & Orlo’s shoot, almost from the time we kicked off just after lunch, we had beautiful sunlight to work with. After arriving, we had a quick look around the location, selected our choice backgrounds, then selected clothing for the different parts of the shoot. Hetty had described Poppy as ‘tomboyish’ – so a lot of her shots were to be in more casual jeans with shirts and tops, but we also chose a couple of dresses as a contrast. Orlo had opted to wear jeans and a shirt, then his rugby kit.
It was lovely to see what a great relationship these two have with their ponies – trusting and fun. Poppy in particular, we could see is completely passionate about Clara, who is a sensitive mare – as well as riding for fun, Poppy regularly competes on Clara.There is always a certain amount of hectic going on on a shoot, with us moving around with cameras and kit, making noises and trying to keep everyone’s ears forward, equine and human, and Poppy was brilliant at keeping Clara calm inspite of all this. She also rode her bareback a few times out and about in the lanes near the farm – we could see they have a really trusting bond.
After taking photos first around the farm, we headed up to the hill as the light faded and finished the session with a few dramatic, flash lit shots against the stunning night sky. Amazing!
Here are a few ‘favourites from the shoot – feel free to share.
If you’re interested in an equine or canine photoshoot with us, a 90 minute session with Jo costs £85, a full session with both of us £150 – we also offer yard sessions and Equine Portrait days – if you’d like to find out more you can drop us an email at jo@johansfordphotography.com or message us via our contact page here.
