Horse Photo shoot goes to the dogs

Occasionally my commissioned horse photo shoots may go awry, this one went to the dogs.

Several years ago a local Prescott Arizona horse owner, Lynn, contacted me about doing a photo shoot of her and her horses.  I did my preliminary location check to be sure she had enough open and clean space to setup the horse photo shoot and to meet the two horses she owned.  Barney and Popcorn greeting me with nieghs and got adjusted quickly.

We scheduled the actual photo shoot and discussed areas around her horse ranch to stage the shoot and the type of photos she wanted.  Lynn then asked me about photographing her dogs.  She had this great grassy area in the back yard and I thought we could easily setup the dogs to run around in there and I could catch a few good action shots.

I arrived for the photo shoot and the horses had been bathed and polished.  I took a few minutes for the horses to get accustomed to me and my camera in their face and we started shooting.  A few near the arena, then a few in the long driveway and then a few by the trees.  The horses were not interested at all.  It took all sorts of commotion from helpers and distractions to get the ears perked up and the eyes on me.  Some horses are very animated but it took a while to get her horses to really become awakened with the camera.  We carried on with our antics for a little while and I snapped away hoping to get something good-eye’s open, ears forward, owner smiling. 

Catching Popcorn’s blue eye was bonus for me.  I love the rare blue eyes on a horse.  Once we totally exhausted our time with the horses we moved on the the dogs.

Dog vs horse photo shoot

So, it was not one dog or maybe two.  The goal was to get all three dogs together for the photo shoot.  Our pockets were filled with dog treats-which has good and bad.  The treats kept the dogs attention but they wanted to be right on top of the camera to get the treats sooner.  It was so funny to try and wrangle four dogs to sit still and look the same way and the same time.  We finally did get the shots she wanted and with a quick shutter finger I was able to catch them all in the same spot- no photoshop needed.

Horse Photo shoot creates treasured memories.

The photographs from this shoot and consequent photo shoots are now all over Lynn’s house.  Since 2008 we have done at least 3 photo shoots together of horses and of dogs.  She’s got birds, but we haven’t talked about that yet.  Each time I am over there for a visit I am reminded of the fun from each photo shoot.  The horse photo shoots and the dog photo shoots.  Since 2008 she has lost at least one animal and its great to know she’s got these treasured photographs surrounding her home and filling it with love and memories.

Jody Miller is a professional photographer specializing in Horse Photography, Equine Photography, and Equestrian photography.  Her work can be viewed online here in her gallery section, and she is also featured at Arts Prescott Gallery, AND NOW Sedona’s Village Gallery in Arizona.