5 Reasons I Started Photographing Horses

Romantic SmudgeAmy and Smudge in a summer field

1. Because I spend more time ferrying my kids to the yard than I spend ferrying myself to see actual human friends. Actually I’m not 100% sure if this is just down to me getting older though, and looking forward to a Friday night in… with a bottle of wine… and some snacks! But I do spend a considerable amount of time ferrying.

2. Drawing lots with my wife as to who will be mucking out the ponies on Christmas Day, Boxing Day or New Year’s Day…but secretly looking forward the quiet time away from everybody for a while. We actually had an argument about this - we both wanted some time away from the chaos that is a family Christmas. Getting to the yard was like taking a huge, calming breath.

3. Accepting the fact our hallway is muddy for eight months a year. And always has a faint “eau de cheval” about it. Also, what my wife calls, “equine glitter” - that trail of straw and hay that sticks to every fibre of clothing… and hair.

4. When photographing a toddler I inadvertently tried to gain their attention by clicking my tongue. No, seriously I did this.

5. Apparently I love a challenge. Never work with children or animals, they say. How about working with both! I seem to have carved out a career where I have specifically chosen tricky subjects, but when you get it right… its worth it.

Essentially there was probably no avoiding it. I’m a photographer, and have been for years, I love the act of capturing images in the best possible way - and I spend considerable time around horses. It was pretty inevitable that those two worlds would collide at some point.