STORIES FROM THE SET: GENTRY ROAD

We’ve said it time and time again – photoshoots are not nearly as glossy and glamorous as they (eventually) appear on paper. They’re long days and lots of work, but we have to admit, this one was actually pretty fun. Here’s a peek behind the scenes of Gentry Road and all its (literal) smoke and mirrors.

For starters, we absolutely must shine a little spotlight on this amazing set. Dos Corazones Ranch in Wimberly is simply stunning, and their crew could not have been more hospitable and helpful.

“They were awesome,” Mitchell said. “The ranch was absolutely beautiful, a first-class equine operation. They were so helpful with horses, with logistics, cleaning alley or stalls, lending us their tools and supplies – it makes all the difference on a shoot, it really does, and we were so grateful for such wonderful hosts.”

Naturally, with Gentry Road being reminiscent of our horse racing roots, we had to have some horses!

“You know what they say,” Mitchell said. “Animals and babies can derail a photoshoot faster than anything!”

Well, we’re happy to report that this time, that wasn’t our experience. In fact, these magnificent horses kind of made the shoot, cutting up with us between takes like they were just old hat at this whole professional modeling thing.

“They were literally just horsin’ around!” Mitchell laughed. “We got some great pics of some big ol’ toothy grins, some sticking out their tongues – they were hilarious! We all work our butts off on a photoshoot, so comedic relief is always welcome.”

Speaking of working our butts off and really, quite literally, getting our hands dirty, our boy Mitchell is even more of a jack-of-all-trades kind of guy than you even thought.

“Well, here’s the story,” he said. “Tim tried to shovel the poo from the stall, but as a city boy, he didn't have the technique down quite right. So, this small-town kid had to show him how it was done!”

Yeah, in case you didn’t catch that, we had Mitchell – our emcee of all things, photographer extraordinaire, and literal Yoakum City Councilman – out there shoveling horse poop. We mean it when we say all hands on deck!

And by all hands, we usually mean pretty much the whole fam. Audrey’s son Bryson and Cheryl’s son Sam were both on site to lend a helping hand, and we couldn’t have done it without them.

“Where there’s smoke, there’s Sam,” said Mitchell. “We had him running that machine all day long, he was really a trooper while we had to work out the kinks. The thing we didn’t anticipate was not being able to concentrate the smoke in an arena that big, so it wasn’t showing up in the photography, which we really wanted it to – it was a big part of the vision. So, we pivoted and shot it against a black backdrop.”

Remarkably, that was really the only hiccup.

“I don’t even want to call it a problem,” Mitchell said. “Can you call ‘oh, this riding arena is too magnificent and massive’ a problem? It all worked out in the end! And honestly, even though we were outside, the environmental conditions were so much better at the ranch than at the Masonic lodge – inside without AC is rough! At least outside there was a breeze and we had fans.”

And just like that, another fabulous photoshoot and gorgeous collection catalog are in the books.