2011 was a great year for us. We are lucky to have so many great clients with beautiful horses and dogs for us to photograph and that makes us very happy! Last year we photographed all shapes and sizes of horses. From shires to shetlands, polo ponies to dressage horses, warm bloods to hairy cobs – but they all have one thing in common, they are greatly loved by their owners.
I have chosen a few of my particular favorite shots from last year. Many of them I really like because I can remember what it was like standing in that particular field, barn, forest etc and what we had to do to end up with the final image. I hope that you enjoy reviewing them with me.
Bluebells
Possibly one of my favourite images of last year, I love everything about this photo. This bluebell wood is hidden away from view and I’m not sure that I could ever find it again, but on the day that we took this shot we had police helicopters flying overhead and two very surprised mounted police looking on. My only regret on that shoot was that I didn’t have a business card handy to give to the police horses!
Barn Door
This client was very limited as to when we could do her shoot as the horse in the photo was going to a new home the very next day. We arrived at her yard and it was the hottest and brightest day of the year and there were very few shady areas in the paddocks to shoot. But this shot taken in an open barn door in full shade with the light pushed back into the barn with a reflector worked really well and it is a technique that we have used several times since then.
Polo Pals
This photo of Millie and her five polo ponies looked so relaxed and natural. I do have some photos taken before this frame however, that prove that maneuvering five ponies around in a very tight space on fresh grass is indeed quite a challenge even for me! Here is one of the ‘before’ shots that shows the chaos before the calm!
Sepia Cow Girl
This was the only shoot last year that Nigel wanted to shoot in Sepia rather than colour as it matched the subject of the girls rounding up the cows on horseback. It was also during this shoot that I realised that standing in a gate way holding a sack of cattle nuts while a herd of cows gallop towards you is not for the faint hearted.
Grey on Bridge
I never thought that this shot would ever happen. Nigel had talked about getting a horse to stand on a bridge for ages, and this lovely horse would have stood up there all day!
Blue Eyes
I just love this photo, it is so different. It would not have worked without the help of the lovely Fjord mane in the foreground.
Circle of Trees
Nigel has been wanting to stand a horse and model in this circle of tree stumps for years. They are just a few minutes away from our house and they look different in every season. We waited until late autumn for this image as the colours really complemented the horse. What was really strange about this shoot was that when we did some close ups later in the shoot we noticed that the name of our model, Anna, was carved into the tree stump that she was leaning on – bit of an X-Files moment! Below is a personal photo taken in the summer at the very same location of me and our dogs. I think that Nigel also has another shoot planned here for 2012 so watch this space!
And now of course I am left wondering who, what and where we will be shooting this year. Please get in touch if you would like to have a chat about having a shoot with Nigel, we are already taking bookings for Spring.
I am sure that Nigel will yet again produce some stunning work this year one of his favorite quotes is ‘the best photograph I have ever taken is the one I’m going to take tomorrow’.
Nigel getting his feet wet for the perfect shot!
