Bodiam Castle Equine Shoot by Frog and Field

Bodiam Castle Equine Shoot, a portrait session by Frog and Field. I met Cathy and her daughter Maisie at the Wealden Times Summer Fair. Having just acquired a new horse and reaching a special birthday meant that a portrait session was an ideal gift. We hatched a plan and started organising. Cathy did a fantastic job sourcing a location and managed to organise the session to be done at Bodiam Castle.

Bodiam Castle Shoot: The Castle

For those of you that aren’t familiar with Bodiam Castle it’s situated in Kent countryside. Surrounded by lovely countryside it’s picture perfect. It’s a 14^th Century moated castle that just has photoshoot written all over it. It has a huge moat, overlooks the river and have amazing grounds. It’s also fab to visit as it is complete but with ruins inside. This means you can explore a lot of it- lots of fun. You can just begin to imagine how excited I was about these photos!

The evening came around and an overcast morning cleared up. Perfect for an evening photoshoot. You need a bit of light in the evenings to make the most of the time. In came the trailer-this is always the exciting bit for me. What will my models look like? Beautiful as always.

Bodiam Castle Shoot: Lola and Fly

Out came Fly a bay mare. Followed by Lola an Iron Grey mare. From the start it was clear to see who was the baby. Just 4 years old Lola had her eyes on stalks and was flabbergasted at being so close to castle. Fly on the other hand, being 19, just took it all in. Cool, calm and collected. After all she is the older lady and was just enjoying the veiw.

Fly has been moved into semi-retirement and is enjoying the finer things in life. Good grass, the sun on her back and a quiet stroll from time to time. Lola in contrast is up for most things. Young, spritely and full of beans she couldn’t wait to get started. Maisie and her cousin led the horses up the meandering path towards the castle and I took in the amazing views. We found some pretty spots and got some head shots. Lola looked familiar to me and on further questioning it transpired she was from the amazing Sapphire Sports Horses. Small world isn’t it-Lola has the look of Sapphire Horse. A pretty head but with a jumping machine body attached.

Bodiam Castle Shoot: The Girls

Maisie has both her mares sussed and very much knows that she has to ask either pf them what they would like to do. Fly’s answer was to eat all the yummy grass please mummy. Lola wanted to show us all what she could do. They are a comical pair and Lola idolises Fly, will not leave her side and its clear they are best buddies. Maisie also adores both of them and the stolen kisses between the three of them are just adorable. We made our way around the castle and found some nice spots. Sadly, the gate was across the drawbridge so no escapades into the castle.

As the light started to go we were lucky enough to get some golden hour shots which turned out just stunning. Maisie and Lola make such a pretty pair and have a little bit of shyness but a bit of spirit about them which just makes me think they are going to take the world by storm. Fly is always in Maisie’s thoughts though and she was very careful to split her time between the both of them. Just delightful to see and photograph.