Back in December 2016, we had a call from Sarah who wanted to buy a gift voucher for an equine photoshoot to give to her 3 girls – Amelia (12) Dulcie (7) and Felicity (5) as a Christmas gift. The family were planning to move to a new farm from their existing one in Chipping Sodbury, so they wanted a few memories of the girls and the ponies at the farm where they have all lived until now, and Sarah had seem some of our work via friends who have already had photoshoots with us.
In the early spring I popped to the farm to meet them and see the location for their equine photography. I loved the farm backdrop, particularly one of their fields which has beautiful trees lining the hilltop – I could see this would make a perfect spot for some flash lit evening shots for us as horse photographers. While I was visiting, Sarah mentioned that they would soon have access to the new farm, so we decided to use both locations for different parts of the shoot, to give us the best of both.
We settled on a date over Easter, and when the day dawned, Nic and I rocked up one Saturday afternoon armed with cameras. We started over at the new farm, where we met them with the two family ponies – Sasha, an 11hh, 14 year old Welsh section A, and Minty, a 13hh, 13 year old Welsh section B. Both the ponies were amazing while we did some barn and stable shots – relaxed with ears forward, they stood beautifully, with just a little spooking when we got our flash lighting out in one of the barns.
We then got all the girls changed, swopped the ponies from headcollars to bridles, and headed up the pretty lane by the entrance of the farm for some fun walking and bareback shots with the ponies. There was a lovely old gate I really liked by the farm entrance, which made a perfect spot for a few photographs with everyone over the gate.
After a couple of hours, we packed up and headed back to Chipping Sodbury for some photos at their farm. En route back the skies opened and it poured for about an hour – we were pretty sure this would clear quickly, so we just relaxed, had a a welcome cuppa with them all and chatted, while it passed. Sarah and Andrew especially wanted some shots with their home in the background, as a memory for the girls, and a family shot of all of them. Once that was done, we set up our flash lighting, and walked over to the field with the trees on the hill. We were treated to a stunning evening sky – full of colour and a little drama, perfect for this kind of shot! Sasha and Minty were just amazing at dealing with the lighting, so in a few minutes we had a few great shots in the bag…… this is the perfect finish to an amazing and fun shoot which we loved!
This week the family popped in to collect their album and frame of the photos from the session, so we asked the girls what they thought of the shoot ‘experience’ – here is what they said:
Dulcie said “it was fun!”
Felicity said “it was nice, I liked it”
Amelia said “Jo and Nic were great- everything was relaxed which allowed us to have a brilliant time. It’s a day I will always remember.”
Sarah, mum said “you guys are great! You had bags of patience to cope with 3 girls and 2 ponies. The whole afternoon was relaxed and easy going, even when the rain poured down as we drove from the first location to the second it was no trouble, we just went inside for a cup of tea!! Definitely an experience I would recommend to anyone that is thinking about it but worried how ponies and children will cope”
We love their amazing feedback, and had such a fab day capturing them all!
Feel free to share this post if you want to!
If any of you are interested in an equine,canine or family shoot you can find out more by contacting us here – we’d love to hear from you!
