By the time I got to shoot Ben & Nadine’s engagement photos, my shutter finger was getting itchy. Our session had been rescheduled twice, and by knowing both of them for a while and the location they had ready for me, I knew there was going to be an opportunity for some great images. A challenge lay ahead though – they both love their animals, but I am used to directing subjects with two legs, not four.

The dogs had no trouble introducing themselves to the camera and to the side of my face when I made the mistake of sitting down for a low angle. Luckily both surfaces are slobber-proof and we moved on. Ben & Nadine gave me great frames one after the other, which only got better as the sun set lower and gave us some beautiful golden hour lighting. I love shooting the hour before sunset as the colours are so deep and vibrant. Shortly afterwards we got into the horse paddock – fine until I was cornered by ‘Turbo’ about 5 seconds later. Escaping unscathed with a few nice shots (but perhaps not much horse-handling credibility) we wrapped things up as the sun disappeared.

Although I burned through memory card space faster than a WikiLeak, it was great to do something a little different. Ben & Nadine’s wedding is in April in the Hunter Valley and it can’t come soon enough!