The Clark Family Ranch covers approximately one thousand acres of farmland & forests in Hustontown Pennsylvania, with one hundred horses grazing in their pastures. So when Laramie Clark approached me to photograph she and Brandon's engagement photos, I was ecstatic! An unusually short turnaround from booking to shooting, I only had a week to wait for our sunset session. Upon arriving at the farm around six last night, my wonderful assistant Emily and I were greeted by the couple's very enthusiastic puppies Eva and Roxy. Shorts and puppy nails do not mix and I ended up with a lovely souvenir from the evening in the form of an 18” scratch down my thigh.  Eva is lucky she’s cute… with that one floppy ear and a head tilt, I forgave her right away. After introductions with the human clients, including Laramie’s mother, Tina, we wandered through one of their stables and gathered three beautiful horses to feature in the couple’s portraits. After walking the horses down a short path, we all piled into a large Polaris ATV (Five adults and two dogs, leading three horses) and made our way over hills and down into a glen to Fortune Teller Creek. Once we were there, we braved the overgrowth (with limited snake jokes) and brought Sadie down to the water.

After shooting with the three of them in the creek we made our way back to the ATV, wet shoes and all. Navigating back out of the glen, under fallen trees and around drop offs from where the rain washed away the trail was an interesting experience. After dropping off the horses, we took the ATV up a large hill into an open field filled with horses. I haven’t spent much time around these beautiful animals so this was a completely new site for me. That large of a group, free of reigns, running together was rather majestic and reminded me of old western movies. Shooting in the middle of a herd was a bit jarring but I only had one close call. Otherwise they were a gorgeous addition to the landscape of our portraits.

After working with the horses, the group of us wandered around the farm on foot and by ATV to several more hidden little locations, finding different lighting opportunities and surroundings to add variety to their session.
 

Two hours after we arrived, our shoot was finished and we headed home to a long night of editing. I always say that it’s not a great shoot unless I come home injured or filthy. This definitely qualified and was so very worth it. I can’t wait to shoot Laramie & Brandon’s wedding next May. Congratulations on your engagement!

Please enjoy some of my favorites from their session below: