Elkhorn Family Pictures for a New Family Member - Quail Run Horse Centre

Updated family portraits are always a good idea when you add to your family. And it’s no different if that newest addition isn’t human, but rather of the equine sort! When the Moore family reached out to me about family portraits that would include both their new horse, Charles (Chuck for short) and their dog Bailey, I was up for the challenge.

Truth be told, any time animals are involved in a photo session, it always adds another layer of unpredictability, but knowing how important their animals were to the family, I couldn’t wait for the opportunity to photograph this family and their beautiful relationships with each other. With Chuck staying at the Quail Run Horse Centre, the first step was scouting the location, and it did not disappoint! A tree lined path, clean white fencing, and a large barn that was deep enough to play around with the inverse square law (more on that later!), I knew that this session was going to be so fun, and I was right.

After scouting the space, I added some ideas to the Moore’s personalized client portal, with ideas on colors for clothes and wardrobe advice that would work well with the foliage and background of the horse centre. This is a service provided to all clients and it gives them all of the necessary information to prepare, know what to expect, and style advice that all works together to create the best possible session for them.

After a few texts back and forth helping with outfit choices, we were ready for the big photo day. Remember that inverse square law I mentioned earlier? That’s what we started with after Chuck emerged from his stable. Basically, it means that the intensity of the light on your subject will decrease as you move the light away from your subject. So you if place your subject at the front of a deep, long garage or stable, the things behind your subject can fall into shadow and create a clean, black background. Check out the lower left image I took after we placed Chuck right at the edge of the stable entrance.

It took a little patience and time just to let Chuck get used to me, and the dog, so we stayed really flexible and gave him all the time he needed to relax and settle down. After grazing in the grass, we went for it with the whole family and headed to that tree lined lane I was so excited to use. I’m fairly certain this was one of the first images I took at that location - and when that’s the first image, you know it’s going to be a great session!

After a few more tries of crinkling paper and holding dog treats to get Chuck’s ears forward and Bailey’s attention towards me, we got a few more shots before I gave Chuck a break with a little alone time with Bella, his rider and partner.

Bella’s bond with Chuck is incredible, and as I put my camera down at first to just watch the two, I felt like I was observing something almost sacred. Their connection is palpable, and you can tell that they really love each other. It was such an honor to create portraits of them and their special relationship.

After a few more family pictures and a few individual pictures of the kids, Chuck and Bailey called it a day with full tummies of treats after a job well done.

And I left the farm that evening content, happy and with my creative bucket filled. After culling through all of the photos and a first pass edit, the images were ready to be revealed, along with a few ideas for displaying them using pictures of the Moore’s living room. Another service provided to all clients, visualizing your portraits on your own walls to scale really helps when determining what size and type of art you’d like to go with.

Ultimately, the Moore’s chose 4 square canvas art blocks for their walls, a first edition print set, a mobile app and an acrylic block for their final collection. The pieces are gorgeous, and after inspecting all of them for quality, the artwork went to it’s forever home to be enjoyed by the family for many years to come!