I am fortunate enough to have the opportunity to work with many great equine photographers on a regular basis. So when I got engaged, I couldn’t imagine going through this exciting time without Dexter (and Indie) by my side! They’re a part of our little family, so it’s only natural that they would be included in our engagement session with Lindsey K Photo. If you’re also looking to include your horse in engagement photos, then you need to keep in mind these 5 suggestions based on my experiences:
1. Choose the right photographer. Find someone who either has a horse or works with them regularly as they will be more aware of to best capture your horse’s attributes. I’ve known Lindsey for years (we used to work for the same parent company), so she was the perfect person to work with us as she already understood my relationship with Dexter.
2. Accessorize your horse (yes, seriously). As cute as your horse is au naturel, it’s also fun to think about how you can adorn him with a flower garland or a leaf wreath. I made my own flower garland and matching dog collar for less than $100.
3. Avoid long sessions. Limit your horse’s participation to a short segment—especially if you have a young or fresh horse. After some time, they’re bound to lose interest and stop behaving altogether, giving you less of a chance for a good shot. Since Dexter was still on partial stall rest at the time of my shoot with Lindsey, it was especially critical that we allowed him to take breaks and stopped when he had enough.
4. Enlist help. Having an extra hand to hold your horse or capture their attention during portions of the shoot is the best way to go! For my session, Lindsey only included Dexter in about one-third of the photos, so it was helpful to have my friend Mary join us to assist and keep Dexter occupied while Lindsey focused on portraits of just Matt and I.
5. Keep moving and interacting. No one likes stiff, obviously staged poses. Doing things that you would regularly do with your horse will really help get in-between candids that ooze raw genuine emotion. Instead of instructing poses, Lindsey gave us prompts that made room for real reactions so she could capture us for who we really are.
I loved having Dexter be a part of my engagement session because it was important to me that he be included in this milestone. In the past six years, Dexter’s been there with me through the good, bad and ugly, never passing judgement (no matter what) and always listening. He’s such a big part of who I am, it was only fitting he would appear in a few shots!
