EQUESTRIAN PHOTOGRAPHY

Jan Slack

Photographic portrait of dressage horse

You may think that photographing horses is a bit of a busman's holiday for someone who teaches photography for much of the year. You'd be wrong though, because as a lifelong horse lover, rider and eventually owner, I have always enjoyed being around horses, so photographing them well is a real pleasure.

Horse Portraits

I particularly enjoy producing portraits that show the true character of the horse, like the one of my friend's horse Jay on the left - a real athlete who goes out of his way to please.

Although I'm not generally a great fan of edited photos, I do think the black and white background makes this shot, taken in the warm, soft light of early evening, on one of the few occasions this July when it didn't rain.

A really good portrait of a horse requires more than just skill with the camera though, understanding their personality and producing an image that shows them as they really are is an even greater challenge. This often means spending some time talking to the owner and observing the horse to learn as much as I can before deciding how to photograph him.

Horses in Action

Living on the borders of Leicestershire, Rutland, Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire means that I am in the heart of horse country, with Burghley Horse Trials just down the road and any number of other equestrian activities locally.

Activities of this type present an altogether different challenge much like wildlife photography, with the need to take a well-exposed, sharp shot when the subject is moving rapidly, often from light to shade and back again in just a few seconds. Often it's impossible to get as close as I would like to the action, so long lenses are essential.

I confess that I only enjoy this type of photography because I do it for my own pleasure - last year I watched a freelance photographer in the water complex at Burghley Horse Trials, with one camera set up on a tripod (full height) next to one jump and operated by remote shutter release, with another two cameras slung over his shoulders, each with a different lens for the other two obstacles. He must have had several thousand images to trawl through by the end of the day. Earning a living like that is hard work indeed!

Although I can occasionally be persuaded to produce a horse portrait for a client, photographing horses is something that I often do just as an excuse to sit on a fence observing them eating, playing or grooming each other while I watch the world go by.