This was accidentally one of the most fun sessions we have ever had.
And, really we do mean accidentally!
We were aiming for sophistication. Gorgeous florals from Petal & Kettle
(check!). Alixe & Mike, the hottest, sweetest couple from Port Alberni
(check!)! And, emus.Emus, you ask? Yes, exotic, elegant emus.
When we contacted the kind owners of Hamilton Hobby Farm they graciously
invited us to their beautiful property. Yes! Our dream of featuring these
fascinating birds in a shoot was coming true!But, upon arrival, we realized a few things. There was more snow in Coombs
than expected! Workable. We all got wet feet, but that was cool. There
were no complainers in this crowd!The second item we realized was more critical to our vision. Emus do want
they want.During our planning session, our thought was to halter an emu, and drape
one of P&K’s floral wreaths around its elongated neck.What really happened?
Well, first of all when we went over to meet the two emus, the male emu
gave Lacey a little love nip. It’s not his fault, he thought she was
holding out an emu cookie…Hmmm…
Do we share that information with lovely Alixe, who we have just discovered
is not an emu fan? After quick discussion at the corral, we went back to
the barn and decided in the interest of full disclosure, this was necessary
information to share with Alixe & Mike.Now there is an entire crew of us making our way through the snow back to
the emu enclosure. Most of the Hamilton family, Alixe & Mike, Karen, the
most excellent owner of P&K, and us two.So there’s a crew of us. And, everyone is trying to coax (and/or herd) the
emus into position.Did we mention this already? Emus. They do what they want.
And, another thing. If you haven’t met one up close, you can take our word
for it. They are very big. Bigger than expected. With very long necks…
and yup, long beaks!So, the emus were not going to be captured. They would not wear the
wreath. In fact, they came nowhere near where we wanted them to be.Alixe was brave, but cautious. You can see her in a few shots, eying up
the stealth emus. We’re with you, girl!Emus are fast, and the when they give you the EYE, it’s pretty darn
intimidating!So the score so far on the shoot? Birds – 1. Photographers – 0.
Meanwhile, Sierra, P&K’s wedding planner has arrived to lend support to
this venture. Her & her hubby, AJ were now part of the cheering section.In the next pen over there were two miniature donkeys. This somewhat
stubborn, but mostly adorable couple had to be bribed, with florals, and
donkey cookies…. However, full kudos! They were much more cooperative than
the big birds!And then, because we were on a roll. And, they were there. The next
creature captured was a pygmy goat!A note about the floral wreath that you see throughout the photos. Apart
from the absolute beauty of these flowers, P&K researched where Emu’s come
from. So there were actually Australian blooms in this garland!Yup. This was purposeful, people.
As you saw, there was no way we could catch an emu to get it over its head!
We tried hanging it over the donkey’s ears, but they just threw it off ☹ We
did get it on the sweet lil goat, but Peaches just tried to eat it.This shoot was slowly winding down. But of course the lovely Alixe was
stoked to cuddle one more little lover.Ivory, one fluffy bunny!
We ended the session in golden light. With some romantic embraces and
exuberant rose petal throwing by Karen and Sierra.
All the while with AJ, looking on … and supporting all of our (craziness),
oops we mean serious photographic endeavors!Simply too fun.
A special thank you to Hamilton Hobby Farm for hosting this excellent
madness.xo, L & L
