Last year, while photographing the Tennessee Quarter Horse Association's Dogwood Classic, I noticed across the street from the show venue that there was a field with at least a hundred American Flags placed in five perfectly straight rows. Being a horse-crazy photographer my first thought was, "how epic would it be if I could photograph a horse within all the flags?!" I knew with that kind of idea though I would need a brave rider and a very broke horse. I immediately thought of Clayton Jerrell, professional AQHA horseman, of Jerrell Performance Horses.

I approached Clayton with my idea as soon as I found him on the show grounds, and as much as he loved the idea, he unfortunately didn't have a horse at the show that would be broke enough to handle the flags in the breezy weather we were experiencing. So, we tabled the idea.

Fast forward to the 2024 Dogwood Classic and I get a text on my way to the show from Clayton that read, "Saturday. Palomino. Flags." Clearly Clayton had brought a broke enough horse to the show this time around and was feeling brave himself! Each morning, pulling into the show grounds, leading up to Saturday I was getting more and more excited to photograph this session.

Come Saturday the breeze had died down enough where it wouldn't create a spooky hazard with the flags and "Who Dat Hottie" was groomed to the nines and ready for our shoot! Thankfully another exhibitor at the show was willing to lend us the most perfect red, white, and blue saddle pad that complimented our setting better than I could have imagined. At first Clayton wasn't interested in being in the photos himself but as the session started he quickly changed his mind and was offering up so many awesome photo ideas and was game for my ideas as well. We did a mix of photos and videos so that come the Fourth of July we would have ample content for Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

As a creative, it is so incredible to see an idea come to life. I truly couldn't have picked a better horse and rider to be my subjects either! Check out some highlights from our very patriotic themed shoot below!