Maddy and Diesel were something a little different for me as I haven't really photographed portraits for someone and their dog, but it was a lot of fun! We were originally going to do this shoot back in the fall with all the leaves on the trees, but due to unforeseen circumstances, we had to change the date which led us into winter .... pre-snow winter.
This time of year the "lake" where I live gets drained out, not completely but quite a bit gets sucked out through the damn which leaves a nice, sandy beach look. Later in the day as the sun set we headed on down to utilize the park area and of course out on to the sand. Diesel was having a ton of fun running around and finding sticks to bring a long for the walk, which ended up in a few of the shots because getting that stick away was near impossible lol. Over all, with the sun set, the beach vibe, the lake and a great person and dog, it was a fantastic shoot!
- Shutter Click.
Girl
A GIRL & HER HORSE
When my sister-in-law said she wanted to do a shoot with my niece, Madyson and her horse Claire, I was all in.. I had not done a shoot involving a horse yet so I saw some potential for something new and challenging!
Let me tell you..... you take a horse that never gets to eat grass and you take it out on to grass to do a shoot... that horse will do whatever it takes to eat some of that sweet sweet green gold! Claire was grass hungry and we had to give her a little bit of time to chomp down some green goodness before she would even think about lifting her head up for some shots lol. Once Claire's belly had some green goodness in it she was ready to be a star.
We were on location at White Willow Equestrian Centre in Thamesford Ontario, a great facility if you're looking to learn some horseback riding, I believe they do English riding and Western Riding. It was a great place, clean, very friendly and accommodating staff, an outdoor arena as well as an indoor and a lot of grazing space for the horses. They also have a spitting Lama (keep your distance or get wet ) and a free roaming goat who likes to head butt your butt for attention.. I think her name was Lilly ... maybe..
Madyson was a natural.. she has this very model-esque look to her with a straight gaze that works perfectly for this kind of shoot, and if you've shot with me I like my clients to be themselves.. I don't tell you to smile (usually) I let you do your thing because thats.. well.. you! so in these pics you will see Madyson doesn't smile, but it works soooooo well for this. Claire and Madyson have a bond so we were able to get them with their heads together for a few shots and in most of them we just let Claire graze because thats what she does so we just roll with it. We used the driveway into the facility as it's lined with trees, some grassy area's off to the sides and did some silhouette work using the stable, which really looked nice. I was hoping for more of that golden light, but with the time of year the sun doesn't quite set until around 8pm and we didn't have the time as there were classes going on, cars going in and out and we were there at 6pm so we worked with the light as best we could.. I think it worked out well.
White Willow Equestrian Centre
©Kevin Vyse Photography 2017
