Linda Johnstone Photography » Portrait

Meet Elza – The new love in my life

Linda — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 20:44:48 +0000

I defy anyone to meet Elza and not fall in love with her. She is the most gentle of creatures even though her size is somewhat intimidating to some. I was delighted to hear Louise, who owns her (really not keen on that word “owner”, so if you have something better, do let me know) say that she has very “snoggable” lips!!! She does – I thought it was just me being weird! I do know though that horse lovers out there will completely understand our weakness for her beautiful soft muzzle – one of these pics particularly shows that off, you can almost smell her warm breath.

We had another great day, the skies were soft, so very easy to capture some of these shots and later in the day we were blessed with a glorious golden light which we took full advantage of to get some special shots which I believe shows the close relationship Louise has with Elza (who’s a Dutch Draft, just in case you were curious – only 9 in the country).

Enough waffle from me, enjoy the pics

Louise & Elsa-3 Louise & Elsa-6 Louise & Elsa-7 Louise & Elsa-15 Louise & Elsa-18 Louise & Elsa-37 Louise & Elsa-44 Louise & Elsa-52 Louise & Elsa-58 Louise & Elsa-62 Louise & Elsa-84 Louise & Elsa-90 Louise & Elsa-94 Louise & Elsa-98 Louise & Elsa-101 Louise & Elsa-102 Louise & Elsa-107 Louise & Elsa-115 Louise & Elsa-118 Louise & Elsa-126 Louise & Elsa-127 Louise & Elsa-140 Louise & Elsa-148 Louise & Elsa-149 Louise & Elsa-150 Louise & Elsa-160 Louise & Elsa-163

Horse Photography – Near Lewes

Linda — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 15:27:24 +0000

Muffin & Tania 6 Muffin & Tania 2 Muffin & Tania Muffin & Tania 8 Muffin & Tania 9 Muffin & Tania 7 Muffin & Tania 5 Muffin & Tania 4 Muffin & Tania 3 Muffin & Tania 11 Muffin Muffin 2 Muffin & Tania 10 Morning Breath Muffin Art Light Muffin Art Muffin Art Crop Muffin Art Chest Muffin Art Clipping Tania Tania 3 Tania 4 Tania 2 Did this shoot last month and could not believe our luck, after grey and drizzle for weeks, we woke up to a glorious bright sunny day with wonderful blue skies. Now, as any photographer knows, wonderful to be in and certainly better than rain, but it presents its own challenges – but a challenge I enjoy. It was bitterly cold but plenty of warm clothes, buckets of hot tea and a very willing spirit, we had a great time and got the stunning shots we all hoped for. Lunch at the Royal Oak in Barcombe also went down pretty well – Thanks Tania. Had the luxury on this shoot of an assistant, Emma Mitchell who’s currently doing a photography degree in Brighton. She was a huge help and despite not being overly confident with horses, overcame her initial fears and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. As the icing on the cake for my client, I organised hair & make-up with Natalie, the owner of Hair Secrets in Berkhamsted. I used to live near Berkhamsted and have a number of friends in the area, including Natalie, so she very kindly agreed to come down to do this. She’s a fabulous hairdresser and very much wants to develop the make-up side of her business, she did a stunning job and Tania looked amazing. This is something I’m going to be doing a lot more of – horse photoshoots with hair & make-up……….. now that doesn’t quite read right at all does it!! Whilst I’m sure the horses would look great, the hair & make-up is of course for their owners, not them!

The horse, Muffin, is a thoroughbred and has the full character of that breed. At 23 years he is an old gentleman which is surprising looking at these pics, I think he looks much younger. He was a dream to work with in the morning, very patient, well behaved and quite charming, I think he loved the attention. After lunch he’d had enough of being petted and fawned over and wanted to get out into the fields with his buddies, so the images in the afternoon were somewhat different – we either had Tania looking great and Muffin’s ears askew and generally fidgeting about, or Muffin looking like the magnificent beast he is and Tania looking, well let’s just say not her best! Quite a challenge to look glamorous and in full control of a feisty charge. However, we did succeed, with much hilarity. At the end of the day, not wishing to waste all the gorgeous make-up, we took time for a short glamour shoot, despite it being near freezing and in a barn, but hey, we got the shots and worth the effort. I’ve also included here some of the more “arty” shots which are some of my favourites.

Tania, hubby and friends loved them - I would love to hear what you think, so do leave a comment if you wish. I always welcome the feedback.

Duncan & Family – Woburn Park

Linda — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 20:02:49 +0000

It must appear that I & my clients are so incredibly lucky with the weather as most of my shoots are in the sunshine – and this shoot was no exception, another beautiful day and perfect for a family day in the park. Although, this shoot wasn’t really for the family, it was primarily for Charlotte and the reason is obvious when you see the images. Charlotte is a dream to photograph and her enthusiasm certainly helped. Her father Duncan, a keen photographer, was on hand as a willing assistant and as I was not familiar with the area, a very good chauffeur & location finder!

A great family and a perfect opportunity to get a few shots of them all together, something in our ever busy lifestyles that can be overlooked. They love the images which will become even more precious in years to come – a few moments of family life captured to keep forever.

As always, any comments much appreciated, so let me know what you think.

Nicole & Megan

Linda — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 15:36:30 +0000

I’m often asked the question – what would be your dream shoot. Well this shoot involved 2 pretty & charming girls, 2 endearing ponies, blue, blue skies and warm sun and one of my favourite locations – I think that is as good as it gets. We all had a good time, certainly very relaxed and as always, so nice to get to know the girls and the ponies.

Nicole & Megan (1 of 15) Nicole & Megan (2 of 15) Nicole & Megan (3 of 15) Nicole & Megan (4 of 15) Nicole & Megan (5 of 15) Nicole & Megan (6 of 15) Nicole & Megan (7 of 15) Nicole & Megan (8 of 15) Nicole & Megan (9 of 15) Nicole & Megan (10 of 15) Nicole & Megan (11 of 15) Nicole & Megan (12 of 15) Nicole & Megan (13 of 15) Nicole & Megan (14 of 15) Nicole & Megan (15 of 15)

Beautiful Alice

Linda — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 18:09:55 +0000

What better way to spend Easter Monday than with my very dear friend Roz and her beautiful daughter Alice for a photographic portrait session in High Wycombe. Alice has modelled for me before so I knew how much the camera loved her but this day far exceeded my expectations. Despite the fact that it was quite cool and trying to blow a gale, Alice never complained once – although we did notice she was turning a pale shade of blue at one stage, so we adjourned to the nearest pizza place for a hot cuppa & some hearty warming food before heading back to our chosen location, an industrial park, to continue shooting – Wonder if anyone looked at the CCTV films the following week.

It was a great day and I strongly suspect you may see Alice appearing again in the near future.

Alice-2 Alice-3 Alice-4 Alice-5 Alice-6 Alice-8 Alice-9 Alice-10 Alice

Yvonne & Louise

Linda — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 12:57:57 +0000

Yvonne & Louise-2-2 Yvonne & Louise-2 Yvonne & Louise-3 Yvonne & Louise-4 Yvonne & Louise I was looking forward to doing this shoot as Yvonne is such a fun lady, however, didn’t expect to have quite as much fun as we did. Yvonne’s best friend kindly allowed as to use her house for the shoot (the pics were going to be a surprise as one of hubby’s christmas presents, so secrecy was involved) so naturally the shoot involved Louise as well. Thank you ladies.