Ruby and Tommy, lifestyle photography, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire

My good friend and excellent filmmaker, Dave Hackney, asked if I could take some pictures of his daughter, Ruby, and her Horse, Tommy. We met up in Huddersfield and met Ruby and Tommy. I will be the first to admit that I don't really know anything about horses and have a slight fear of them, so it was always going to be a bit of a learning curve for me.

My first job was to build rapport. I have never met Ruby, so it's always a bit awkward to put a camera in someone's face. Chatting and asking questions are always a great way to start. Ruby wanted to do a couple of poses with her and Tommy, so I started with them (I knew that I wanted to finish the shoot with this), but this is the confidence-building stage.

Ruby then jumped on Tommy and started to ride him slowly around the field. This then progressed to a trot, and then she even started doing some jumps over a small jump that she had set up.

After this, they showed me some more manoeuvres, such as crossing legs (sorry, I don't know horses).

Finally, I asked if they would be okay with creating some more wow portraits. I wasn't sure if using lighting would upset Tommy, but he was an absolute trooper and took it all in stride.

The shoot was brief, but we got some fantastic pictures.

It was also wonderful to see that Dave has had some large prints and a photo book created. I love seeing my pictures in print.

If you have some special pictures you would like me to shoot, then please get in touch.