At the Ranch — Part 1 | Kayla McQuay (Patreon)

This was something Kayla had been wanting to do for a while—shoot with her horse—and we saved it for the very end of the day. It ended up being one of the last sets we shot, and honestly one of the most unpredictable in terms of light.

It was cold. Like, that kind of cold where you’re just trying to move fast but also waiting at the same time. The light was doing that thing where it changes insanely quick right at sunset—you’d get a few minutes of soft, even light, then it would snap into something way harsher and more directional, and then fade again just as fast.

Some of these frames have that softer look, where everything feels a bit more balanced and natural. Others lean into that harder light hitting across her and the horse, giving it a much more dramatic, almost cinematic feel. Instead of fighting it, we just rolled with whatever the light was doing and let it shape the set.

This is Part 1—natural light, just working with what we had in the moment. Part 2 is where we flipped the approach and brought in flash to completely change the look.

Just a reminder that sometimes the best sets come from not over-controlling everything—just reading the environment and adapting as it happens.