Here we are in Autumn, and I am only now just sharing a post which I planned to share back in the spring after the talented Equine photographer Sophie Callahan visited us at my mothers back in April.
Typically the days leading up the the shoot had been glorious warm spring days, yet when Sophie arrived the weather turned chill, regardless of the weather, we had a wonderful couple of hours, and now have beautiful photos to treasure.
Not long before of shoot with Sophie, Rupert had discovered the ability to walk and was enjoying this new level of independence and the mischief he could now cause.
After years of admiring Sophie’s work, when we booked a session with her I never doubted that we would not love the end result and have some really special photos to hang on our walls and look back on.
I had always wanted to have a photoshoot with my horse Daya, who is a Selle Francais mare, and knew Sophie would be the person to capture the bond her and I have together perfectly. Daya is my horse of a lifetime and I absolutely adore her.
Daya was completely not the horse I was looking for when she came in to my life, but it turns out she was exactly what I needed, and in turn I was exactly the person she needed in her life too.
Daya like most mares can be a madam, but there is not a nasty bone in her body and she is a joy to be around, full of love, fun and sweetness and spark! There is never a dull moment together.
As well as having some really special images of Daya and I, there was another reason behind me booking the photoshoot. I think most brides would agree that having moments captured with their mother by their side on their wedding day are extremely precious photos to have to look back on, so you can imagine my utter heartbreak to discover these had been missed on our wedding day, (granted my mother was a little elusive on the day), it appeared no effort had been made to capture the mother of the bride and bride together. Therefore to make up for these photo opportunities being missed, which can obviously never be recreated, I thought the next best thing would be having some photos together which included our greatest passion in life, our horses.
I will admit that having never booked a photoshoot before, I was nervous and was unsure about what to expect on the day, as well as feeling lost as to what to wear. All I knew was that I wanted the photos to look natural, timeless and a true reflection of us.
Thankfully Sophie puts herself in her clients shoes and posts out a pre-shoot welcome pack which covers every aspect of a photoshoot with her from what to expect at each stage, from outfit ideas, shoot locations and preparing both horses and owners. I found this really helpful.
We all dressed as we would normally at the stables, maybe just a teeny bit smarter. Neither my mother or I wear much makeup so we kept this minimal, however I did book us both in with a friend to do our hair as a treat.
When Sophie arrived, I think we all immediately felt at ease in her presence, and knew the shoot would be a giggle. Sophie was a calming influence, unrushed and relaxed, natural and fun to have around.
My darling Daya was a pro, and really got in the the role of showing off her best side.
Astro, Rupert’s rescue pony, on the other hand was rubbing me up the wrong way as all he wanted to do was nibble at pockets in search of treats (something he never gets for this very reason, he was clearly spoilt in his previous home). I think Sophie picked up on my frustration with Astro and his bad habit as she said to me at one point to try to look like I like the pony! Of course I do, he’s a cheeky fellow who is a pleasure to be around when he’s not trying to nibble away at you. Thankfully these days he’s now much better with this and can be lead without the need to search you for treats or just nip at you for the hell of it.
Salome, my Mothers horse was completely full of they joys of spring and was quite a handful, yet Sophie was able to capture some beauties of her too.
Soon after the shoot Sophie shared with us a sneak peak of some of the images taken on the day, and later followed the full gallery. Best yet was personalised wooden box that arrived with all the printed images and a memory stick in a glass bottle of all the images. A lovely finishing touch I feel.
These photos are a small selection of the ones I love the most, we now need to decide which to have printed and hang up on the walls of our home, this will be a hard task as we love them all!
Ones I know that will make the cut will be these two headshots of Daya and Astro which I plan to have enlarged and hung side by side.
You can see more from our shoot here as well as taking look at Sophie other work with clients and their equine companions.
If you are looking for an equine photographer I can highly recommend Sophie. I am sure that we will be booking in other shoots with her in time ourselves.
Love Emma x