In an effort to celebrate the impending wedding of two great friends of mine, Cara Blanchard and Matt Kilbourne of Cara Blanchard Training I gifted them the early wedding present of an engagement shoot. Due to some family obligations I was unable to photograph their wedding in a professional capacity, but I did get to capture some amazing moments with these two and their four legged family.
Location?
Since Cara, as a professional Dressage rider and instructor, had such beautiful grounds at her disposal we opted to stay on site and do the entire shoot on her property and nearby grounds. We changed location 3 times, moving from the farm with the animals, to a nearby lake, to a forest off the back.
How to shoot with Animals:
Juggling multiple animals and people can be tricky, its a balance of keeping people focused and both animals and people relaxed.
Here’s how to do it:
Have a beautiful couple (seriously, how could you not love these two and this farm?)
Do your best to keep the horses focused, there are some amazing free apps that play horse sounds that can be a great help
Keep them moving, it helps to keep the focus on the handlers, and their focus on you. It may feel silly, but the effect is amazing. Take more images then you think you need, as all it takes is one horse or animal making an ugly face to ruin an image!
Prepare to spend a little extra time on editing, it can take a while.