A Springtime Equine Photoshoot with Izzy Scott & Frank

the Inspiration

After a visit to Batsford Arboretum in the Cotswolds back in March, an equine photoshoot in blossom was firmly on my radar for this spring! Spring is probably my favourite season of the year - everything and everybody coming out of hibernation. Signs of new growth in nature, the feeling that washes over me in the first few days of sun that gives that long awaited glimpse of the warmer weather! Daffodils blooming, wisteria awakening, blossom on the trees swaying in the breeze, the lawn just beginning to look that bit greener than it had throughout winter...

Planning the shoot

When Izzy and I planned this equine photoshoot, she mentioned two things to me: 1. their blossom trees including her mums love of a beautiful garden, and 2. her handsome chestnut show jumper, Loughway Alert - AKA Frank at their beautiful private home based yard in Stevenage, Herts. Instantly I knew that we were going to have the best time but when I arrived on the day of the shoot, their beautiful home embodied everything I love about Spring in the UK more than I could have hoped for! The Hertfordshire countryside at its best. However, don't be fooled. We were fortunate to make the most of a break in the clouds this very day. Despite meticulous weather-watching in the days leading up to the shoot, I was caught in a downpour on the A10 during my drive over to Izzy that could only be described as biblical. The rain fell faster than my windscreen wipers could clear! Thankfully, by the time I reached Izzy, we had a cup of tea and let the clouds sort themselves out before heading out to begin shooting. The rain held off until my last set of shots, but we thankfully still managed to get what we needed before coming to an abrupt finish!

The models

We had the BEST time, Izzy was an absolute style icon QUEEN with the outfits she produced of her shoot! We set up a walk-in wardrobe in the tack room which gave us plenty of hanging space to piece together each outfit. She had fedora hats from House of Tweed and beautiful shirts and blazers from Zara and Karen Millen. Meanwhile, Frank, Izzy's beloved show jumper stood waiting quietly munching his hay in his box. Frank was the horse who got her back into it after she thought she was 'done with horses'. After just 6 months of being away from it all and selling everything relating to the horsey lifestyle, along came Frank and she found herself back in the game! He's a total gent - stood where he was put and only protested a small amount over not actually being allowed to graze on the grass we asked him to stand on! He was bathed and ready having had a session under the solarium earlier that morning. We walked each of the locations and planned each shot. Ted, Izzy's cockapoo even got in on the action too! The fact her horse and dog are practically the same colour and were almost a matching set was just the best thing ever!

A special thanks!

The photos below will give you a fantastic idea of how the shoot went down. I have to offer special thanks to Izzy's mum, Sharon, for generously allowing us free-range of the garden in order to make these shots work so beautifully! She also kindly flapped an empty feed bag to get Frank's attention at one point, over my shoulder also which was a grand help haha!

The photos of Izzy & Frank in the tulips are some of my personal favourites, along with the photos of them both standing beneath the blossom tree. To be the one to be able to capture these special photographs for Izzy really means the world to me. So often we head out to competitions and have shots of us competing, but equine lifestyle portraiture is just completely different. It shows an entirely different side to our horsey lifestyle, and captures the companionship our horses give us.