Behind the scenes

Here is a tip from your local photographer; don't expect your non-horsey boyfriend to be able to pose your fidgety and high-strung horse with ease while you capture stunning images. Just don't, cause it's not going to happen, and yes, I'm speaking from experience.

I had an artistic vision and as per usual, my trusty horse would be my guinea pig for this vision and since it wasn't a paid session, I would be hauling along my boyfriend as my assistant. In my head this was going to go perfectly and I would be leaving the barn with beautiful images in hand. Although I did get some beautiful images, the trial and error to get there was not something I would go through again, and it was not a talkative car ride home.

Posing horses is one of the trickiest things because they do not understand what a photoshoot is, and why they are standing in the middle of the road, being taunted with a carrot and peppermint wrapper. Even with an experienced equestrian, posing is difficult and here I was in the middle of a dirt road, asking my barely not afraid of horses boyfriend to pose my horse. Now I love my horse, but he is difficult and probably always will be. Between the tall grass on either side of him, being 100m from his friends and just not understanding what was going on, he was not making the job any easier.

Performing under such conditions, which were of my own making, and still being able to produce images which I am proud of and execute my vision has given me confidence to excel under future stressful situations. Not every horse is going to be perfect, not every assistant is going to be excellent and sometimes you don't even have an assistant but the number one goal always has to be to capture that horse in their best light. As a photographer, it is our job to always remain calm so that the client can enjoy their session and be confident that we will capture their vision and produce beautiful images which they can treasure. I am lucky to have two willing subjects as guinea pigs so that when it's the real thing, I know I can execute under pressure and produce images that clients will love every single time.