Courtney and Jake's session at Yarramundi River

When you combine a beautiful horse, an adventurous dog, perfect weather and a brand new location to explore, magic happens. That’s exactly how I’d describe this equine session with Courtney and her horse Jake at Yarramundi River.

Courtney and I have known each other for a while, and this session was a bit of a trial. I was scouting Yarramundi River as a potential new photo location and asked if she’d be happy to bring Jake along to help test it out. I’m so glad she said yes because everything fell perfectly into place.

Jake, an Australian Stock Horse cross Quarter Horse cross Arabian, was the ideal model. He took everything in stride, from posing in the tall grass to wading through the river, and looked completely at home surrounded by nature. Courtney has a beautiful bond with him, and it was easy to capture that connection throughout the session.

As a bonus, Ziva the Labrador cross made a quick appearance too. She couldn’t resist jumping in for a few photos and added that fun, candid energy that always makes me smile.

Yarramundi River turned out to be a dream location. The combination of soft green grasses, tall trees and water access gave us plenty of variety in a single spot. It’s definitely earned a place on my regular list of session locations.

Since Courtney was helping me out as a favour and being such a good sport, I gifted her a collection of edited digital files from the session. A small thank you for letting me try out something new with her beautiful horse and pup.

Sessions like this are why I love what I do, when everything aligns it feels more like a gift than a job.