Robyn and Vienna

My Saturday started at 5:30 AM, not usually how I like to start my weekends but as a photographer you are always chasing those precious hours of beautiful light, and they are worth more than sleep. None the less, I was still excited for Robyn's session with her 13 year old Friesian sport horse, Vienna. My bag was packed with carrots and my camera was charged with an empty memory card, other than the lack of sleep, it was the perfect start to my day.

As I was driving down the dirt road, the early morning light was beautiful with stunning sunshine lighting up the golden canola fields. 20 minutes later when we were ready to start the session though? Cloudy. Considering the weather report had called for nothing but sunshine, I was a little disappointed but it was nothing we couldn't work with.

Robyn had picked out a few spots a head of time and so we began the trek off to the first spot, an old wooden barn. We both might have been tired but her dog Bas could not have been more excited and she had enough energy for all of us.

The start of the trail had been mowed the night before but we soon came to the point where the grass was hip height. Within 5 minutes I was soaked up to my thighs and my shoes sounded like I had just walked across a lake. I honestly didn't mind though. It was enough of a joy to capture family photos of Robyn with her equine and canine that I didn't mind the wet toes. Robyn had picked a beautiful trail for the photos that took us all the way down to the Sturgeon river. Even without sunshine, it was magical.

It was a treasure to spend time with these three and their friendly company certainly made waking up at 5AM all the easier. Vienna couldn't have been a better model and was a dream considering that the bugs were swarming us constantly, although by the end of it she wasn't the most keen on putting her ears forward, I don't blame her. Robyn was just as happy to get soaked as I was and was a joy to work with, our images were filled with plenty of laughter and smiles and she was a natural for the camera.

Sessions like these remind me why I am a photographer, because the moment may not always be perfect to capture, the sun may be hiding, your feet may be soaked and you have god knows how many bug bites, but it is still a priceless moment and one worth a thousand bug bites. Thank you to Robyn, Bas and Vienna for such an awesome morning!