Back in August I travelled up to Matcham Valley on the Central Coast to photograph Liz with her clydesdale cross Hughie and palomino quarterhorse gelding Nuka. But the fun didn’t end there – we also photographed the family dogs along with Liz’s son Jackson and her daughter Lily’s pony, Rusty!

We started off with the black background session with Rusty, an eleven year old Australian riding pony. This boy is the PERFECT first pony, he’s not even cheeky – every mother’s dream really! On the day we had our session, Lily had just had her first canter with him, which was so exciting! Liz told me that Rusty has given Lily so much confidence and holds such a special place in the family. And I simply fell IN LOVE with his adorable ears!

Then it was onto cheeky Nuka, the barbie pony. Liz has had Nuka from a two year old. Nuka is Liz’s main man, and she just loves how he can be so curious and an absolute goober, yet so beautiful!

Finally, we finished up with Hughie, who had loads of presence! Hughie was bought for her husband so they could enjoy the equestrian lifestyle together. He wants to please but can be a bit unsure and cautious. He had the most beautiful blue eye and luscious mane – our only grievance is that they both weren’t the same side, it made choosing so hard!! But we managed to capture both.

The three boys posed like pros, before we moved on to capture the family dogs.

Greater Sydney’s staffy photographer? Maybe…

We started with Mutley, the family’s sixteen year old English Staffy. He had minimal eyesight and even less hearing, which made posing him quite a challenge, but I think his soft, sweet expression comes through. Liz described him as a super loyal and sweet boy who can never get enough attention – he’d happily sit on top of you!

One of Liz’s main motivations for booking the session was how she had previously lost one of her beautiful staffies, and didn’t want to lose the opportunity to capture the rest of her fur family. I’m so grateful we got the session in when we did (August being one of the few cooperative months of 2021). While Mutley was an absolute trooper, who Liz said seemed to have nine lives – even soldiering on through being hit by a car – this much loved boy passed on a couple of months after our session. I’m so glad I was able to immortalise him for Liz during our session.

Next up was Kevin, the family’s two year old white staffy. Kevin was full of beans for our session, but we managed to capture some still portraits after a good run! Liz told me how she loves how Kevin is so energetic and playful, but he can be a total sook and so affectionate. She especially loves how he can just smile all day, and we captured him doing just that!

Last up was Bella. Bella is the families youngest pup, a one year old blue staffy who has closely bonded with Liz’s son, Jackson. Bella is a bit of a queen, but can also be extremely cheeky and lazy, with her favourite pasttime being to bask in the sun. She likes life on her terms, even managing to get up on the bed and basically kick Liz off!

What was that about “never work with children or animals”?

After we captured a sweet portrait of Bella on her own, and some sweet moments of her and Jackson doing what they do best – cuddling and playing together.

Lily hopped up on Rusty for her turn in the spotlight, and Rusty modelled like a star! Liz stayed off to the side to give her some confidence, and we captured some precious moments of her loving on Rusty.

Finally, we captured some moments of Liz and her two boys as the sun set over the Matcham Valley Pony Club grounds, which made for a great location!

As we were photographing, someone started backburning – the smoke drifting over made for the most gorgeous sight as the light filtered through. Thank you random person for the complimentary smoke bombs! It was simply MAGICAL.

The artwork

Narrowing down which memories to keep forever was tough, but Liz settled on a beautiful album with Nuka’s cheeky face for the stunning acrylic cover. Check out what we mocked up together below!

Check out more memories from the session below!

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