When I realised at the age of 36, that my brain had this incredible creative side that had been hiding behind science for the past 2 decades, I decided to fully lean into it.
One of my plans for this year was to seek out things that I wanted to capture and use it to make me a better photographer. An idea that I had been sitting with for a while was to capture children and ponies, just being children and ponies.
When I approached Fern about using her gorgeous daughter Sienna and her perfect skewbald pony Bal, I already knew that they would be the perfect fit for what I wanted to create.
After 2 months of planning, doodling and dreaming, it was shoot day. It is not often you are greeted by a backdrop that you think only exists in your mind, but here I was. The most beautiful paddock with overhanging trees and rows of daffodils; the perfect place for a picnic.
To allow Sienna to warm up to the morning ahead, we started with some stable shots. 5 minutes in and the gorgeous cheeky face and perfect princess posing came to life.
When we moved on to the paddock, her eyes lit up at the sight of a picnic, just for her. Like any young child, Sienna led the session and we worked with her to try and make sure everyone has happy. We mixed up casual posing, with pony rides and running lose, to blow off some steam.
When the focus faded and Sienna's agenda switched to other things, Fern stepped up and took over the model role. After a few gorgeous shots with Bal, we brought out Fiver, Fern's stunning ex-racehorse.
Fern and Fiver's relationship is one that could only be bettered by that between Fern and Sienna that day. Every shot saw Fiver seeking out his mom and going for the cuddle and when he wasn't cuddling, he was stood proud, ear pricked, ready for the job in hand.
The day would not have been complete without capturing Fern's homebred Ziva. Out of Fern's own mare and by Issy Brine's Stallion, Cash Legend, she is destined for a very exciting future. Now, we actually started the day with a focus on Ziva when she got herself into a little sticky situation before we started shooting. However, that crisis was averted thanks to everyone within a 1 mile radius coming to the rescue and getting her back on her feet.
Watching Fern and her family go from crisis aversion to the perfect little team, was something special. A special mention also needs to go to nanny for keeping Sienna on task, embracing the picnic and generally being everybody's cheerleader.
