A Summer Evening with Zoe, Four Horses & Dobby

When Zoe first got in touch, she was looking for some beautiful photographs of her 4 horses, two very special boys who had been part of her life for some time, alongside two more recent additions to the family.

And, as we all know, horses have a funny way of becoming projects we absolutely adore… which makes the decision to sell them on particularly difficult when the time eventually comes, so everybody was included in the shoot!

For Zoe, the aim was to capture some beautiful memories of her horses as they are now. She originally had her heart set on mainly headshots of each horse, with perhaps one or two photographs of herself and Dobby, her dog, included along the way.

One of my favourite parts of my job is encouraging clients to step into the photographs themselves. It can be very easy to say “I just want photographs of the horses”, but years down the line, those photographs of you together often become the ones you treasure most.

So, I managed to persuade Zoe to get involved a little more, keeping things super casual made it very easy to feel at home during the shoot, which always helps massively when being in front of the camera can feel. little daunting.

We started by photographing each horse individually, taking the time to capture their own personalities and quirks. They al deserve their own time to shine!

Zoe had a lovely barn which gave us a beautiful setting for some of the photographs, before moving outside into the field. We also discovered that the little lane behind the barn was rather special, with a canopy of beautiful mature trees creating the perfect backdrop. There wasn't a huge yard, acres of manicured land or endless different locations to choose from. Just a lovely spots, awesome horses, and some special relationship between them all.

As we worked our way through the evening, the sun decided to make an appearance, we've had a scorching summer so shooting later in the evening meant we got some lovely twinkly sunshine peaking through.

There is something particularly special about an evening spent with horses. The pace slows down, everyone relaxes, and you start to capture those little moments in between the more formal photographs.

The final images really do feel like home, let me show you our favourites below.

After the shoot, Zoe chose her favourite photographs and went home with a beautiful 4-in-1 frame, featuring one portrait of each of her four horses. Because really, if you're going to have four horses, why choose just one?

She also chose digital copies of some of her favourites, giving her the flexibility to enjoy the photographs in different ways.

I loved this shoot. It was about taking one evening, four horses, a dog, a beautiful little corner of home and turning it into something Zoe can keep forever.

Love this idea of just having an evening at the yard documented, capturing all the little moments we so easily miss? I'd love to hear from you. Get in touch below