Is there anything better than getting to photograph a literal unicorn in a field of sunflowers? I don’t think so! Steph and Hugo’s sunflower photoshoot felt like something out of a fairytale.

Steph signed up for one of my sunflower sessions with her heart horse Hugo. They have been together for two years and she was excited to celebrate their relationship. They’ve come so far together, from jumping 80cm to confidently competing 1.10m. Steph calls Hugo as a sociable sort with a can-do attitude who loves his job. Well, he certainly loved the modelling job, too!

Sunflowers, or drizzleflowers?

Of course as with just about every session this summer, the weather was just not playing nice. It was a chilly and drizzly evening when we arrived at the sunflower fields. Considering the conditions, I was SO impressed with how clean he was! Keeping a white horse white during La Nina is no easy task! I’d say no bottles of purple shampoo were harmed in the making of this session but… I’d be lying.

I’ll say that this year has made me pretty adept at adding some sunlight to my photographs – I’ve had to master it out of necessity!

We’re all friends here…

After my assistant and I had gotten, uh, very familiar with Steph while helping her into her outfit (what’s a bit of sideboob between friends?!) we got right to it, ready to make the most of what little light we had through the dense cloud cover.

After the first few minutes of Hugo not being too sure about this whole model life and pulling the most hysterical faces and trying to see who had the taller neck out of him or a giraffe, he settled in to the routine beautifully.

Once he came to the party, he was simply stunning. There’s something magical about a true grey – he truly looked like a unicorn born to pose.

That is, when he wasn’t trying to eat the sunflowers! We had to employ a bit of bribery with treats to keep the delicate flowers out of his mouth, but that ended with some amazing shots of Hugo giving Steph all the cute kisses. It got Steph giggling too, which is never a bad thing! Hugo was so well behaved (other than the attempted sunflower eating) we swapped him into the naked halter in no time to really capture those unicorn vibes.

A bit of photoshop magic fixed up the less than ideal weather. I think we managed to capture some truly beautiful shots of Steph and her best boy!

Here’s what Steph had to say:

“It was fantastic. I was worrying about being awkward in front of the camera, but your instructions telling me how to pose were great. I loved all of the things used to get Hugo’s attention – it was funny watching him! I had a lot of fun, and enjoyed all of the cuddles with Hugo during the session.

The HSP team were great and knew how to make Hugo look amazing  He’s my heart horse, which I wanted to capture in the photos – and Lexi did exactly that. “

My “The Shot” of the session – the one that made me squeal and jump around when I saw it on the back of the camera. Simply divine! It was such a pleasure working with these two beautiful souls.

To view more of the stunning horses and people I’ve had the pleasure to work with, head to the portfolio.