Omar

      Today's shoot was a new one for me. I've never done an equestrian shoot before. Firstly - I'm pretty wary of horses after being kicked by a wild one as a child and I guess also the occasion has never arisen. 
      Fran won a portrait voucher I had donated for a charity and rang and asked if I'd mind shooting some images of her horses, two lovely Arabians. 18 year old Omar and 2 year old Rory, so I agreed. 
      I read up on the subject a little prior to going as was going to attempt to use my large muslin backdrop if we had space, my Dad had a book back in the 70s on drawing and painting horses in oils and pastels and I quite liked the idea of creating something a bit 'painterly'........ It started chucking it down with rain as I left my place......all the more reason to hope there was going to be some inside space we could use.
      There was :-) so we set about introducing me 'tentatively' to the horses and figuring out the space. There was plenty of room in the stable for the backdrop which I put up as high as I could. There was also some natural light coming in which I added to with a video light to highlight some of the sheen on the coat, I also wanted to avoid using flash so as not to freak the horses.
      Omar kept wandering off to find hay to munch and wanted to see the other horses in the stable but was momentarily coaxed into staying still by the promise of an extra strong mint, he even gave Fran his hoof - like a dog would a paw......I'm still pretty wary as they are a little big for my liking when they decide to be 'playful', Thank goodness for my new padded camera bag which I'd left on the chair when we ventured outside for the second part of the shoot.......It ended up being flung on the floor by Omar in a playful mood! ......Eek, thankfully all was fine :-)