B.C. artist arranges maternity photoshoot for her pregnant horses

Tiffany Jorgensen loves her horses.

So much so that when her mares Rosie and Tessa were pregnant, the Williams Lake, B.C., artist wanted to make sure their journeys to motherhood were celebrated in the same ways as many expectant mothers mark them — complete with a maternity photoshoot and a gender reveal on social media. 

"They're just very special, so they should be honoured," Jorgensen told CBC's Daybreak Kamloops host Shelley Joyce.

The photos have been a hit, amassing lots of positive feedback after they were shared to social media.

And they reflect a growing trend in people booking professional photoshoots for the animals in their lives.

Jorgensen, who has been capturing her horses' pregnancies through her social media feeds, knew she wanted to celebrate her horses' pregnancies with a certain glamour. That led her to talk options with neighbour Laureen Carruthers, who is also a photographer.

Carruthers offered to do birth photography to mark the foals' entry life into the world, and out of that came the idea for a maternity shoot.

Carruthers and Jorgensen worked together to beautify the horses for the shoot, braiding their mains and making floral crowns. 

They picked a section of the rural property belonging to Jorgensen and her husband as the scene before Carruthers figured out how to pose the two horses alongside the couple.

"It's really impressive how gigantic they are, like, they have 100-pound babies inside of them," said Jorgensen.

'This niche is growing, for sure'

There were very few photographers specializing in animals in 2016, when Katherine Gonzalez got into the business.

But the Vancouver-area photographer, who only works with pets and their owners, says the number of options are only increasing.

"I feel like this niche is growing, for sure," Gonzalez said.

"... Nowadays, there is even people doing more niche [photography] ... they do only, like, dogs in the studio and that's all they do... so, yeah, I feel like it's definitely going to keep growing."

Gonzalez attributes some of this trend to the growing presence of animals on social media.

As for Carruthers and Jorgensen, they enjoyed the entire process of the horses' photoshoot — and the horses enjoyed the floral crowns.

"The beautiful floral crowns I had made turned into food for the horses, which was something I should have probably expected," said Carruthers.

Rosie and Tessa are due on May 22 and June 14, respectively. They bred with the same stud and Jorgensen hopes their foals will be a huge source of joy in her life.

Following the photos of the birth, Jorgensen said she hopes to also have baby showers for the newborns.