Ariela & Evie
When it comes to horses that love being on camera, Evie is definitely not one to shy away from the lens! I have figured out very quickly that a 50% return on useable images is a great result when it comes to equestrian photography. With Ariela & Evie nearly 100% of what we shot was useable! Which, when you have over 1000 images, this made it very difficult for Ariela to select which she wanted. I have a feeling that the 3 of us will be out in the field again very soon...
Gunton April 2021
What an amazing day this was. This was the first official shoot of 2021, and it really did not disappoint. Set in the lovely grounds of the gunton estate, early on a brisk Sunday morning, I set out to capture some candid jumping shots. I really was spoilt though as all 7 horses wanted a piece of everything that I was shooting (with the exception of the water!!!)
surrounded by glorious open fields with a woodland backdrop, what else could I ask for!
A day out with yogi
so here is the horse & rider we can all blame for why I do what I do! The shots displayed on the left are from various times from 2020 up until now. Yogi is a great subject to see through the lens, but is also one of the most stubborn. I made the mistake early on in our friendship of keeping any treats I had for him in my right pocket. and why is this a problem...? mainly because, if my hand goes anywhere near my pocket while I'm setting up for a shot, you can forget it! This little prince will require a mouth full of titbits first in order for work to continue, otherwise you can forget it!
I have never seen what happens if the pocket contains no treats... but keep an eye on the 'blog' page as I am sure that day will come!
Equestrian Photography Meets Equestrian Yoga
This was one of those shoots where there had been glorious sunny days for the last 2 weeks, but today, of course, it was cloudy and overcast! But I was lucky enough to have 2 subjects who don't care about photographic requirements! As you can see, the camera absolutely loved them so the weather ended up having no impact on our final results.
Sam wanted some casual pictures of herself with Dragon but also some shots to help promote her brand of Equestrian Yoga. Both were achieved very quickly.
I highly recommend Sam if you are wanting to improve your riding experience or just learn more about Equine Yoga.
Find out more at:
Getting The Brand Right With Sandons
It really was a pleasure to meet up with Abbi from Sandons Saddlery to help create some new branding images to help promote further what they do.
Sandons is Norfolk's largest saddlery and stocks all leading equestrian brands. They are also an approved retailer with the Society Of Master Saddlers and are members of the British Equestrian Trade Association. So, when I got speaking to Abbi you can imagine how excited I was to get involved with shooting their branding pictures.
The weather was amazing and the ponies were well behaved, which was reflected in the quality of the images that we captured. What you can see here is just a snippet of what we created.
The brief was simple, we just wanted 'fresh' & 'vibrant' images of some of the stocked items along with branded shots of 2 of the sponsored riders. The girls were fantastic and were far better in front of the camera than I am! I am already looking forward to working with them all again soon.
If you are looking to get a fresh batch of images together to help promote your own brand, please feel free to complete the form in the 'contact' section of this site. I appreciate that when it comes to branding, this can be quite bespoke, so get in touch and we can sort a package that works for you.
Redwings - Aylsham
I am lucky enough to have one of the Redwings sanctuaries right at the end of my road. So it made perfect sense to get over there and get some images of their vast collection of rescued ponies. A longer telephoto lens was required as I couldn't get as close as I would have liked but, still came away with a collection I was happy with.
2020 and into 2021, everyone has found it tough, but none more so than charity organisations. So with that in mind, I was more than happy to provide Redwings with a collection of images that they can use to help drive more footfall and money into their sanctuaries.
Willow Tree Farm
What a lovely venue this was. Willow Tree Farm has set the bar rather high when it comes to capturing lovely images in a beautiful environment. And with stunning ponies being on offer, my job was rather easy!
These were just a handful of my favourites from the day. Far too many to show really!
The background on offer here really does enhance these images 100%. My usual style is to always blur the backgrounds so to bring the attention to the subject I am capturing. But I have to say, it was tempting not to with these. And you will see with ones lower down, I really did reduce the 'blur' so to really see the beauty of the surroundings.
This was Marvin. Really enjoyed getting shots of this guy. He liked the camera and did stare down the lens more than most!
In my experience, there are not many horses that like to have their ears forward when you take the shot. Sometimes you get lucky, but a lot of the time, you don't!
Saxon and Rhee didn't conform to that criticism. They appeared to love to keep ears forward and pose for the camera. Something that really does not normally happen.
One other thing that this shoot has taught me. I always remember the names of the horses I am shooting, but not always the rider! I will try in the future, but not promising anything!
Until I took this picture, I didn't know if I liked goats or not. But now, I can definitely answer YES!
This little fella had been raised completely by Hannah and did not want to leave her side. So much so it made capturing the above very easy. As far as I am concerned, this picture is what love looks like. Such a bond between animal and human, this really does sum up why I love taking pictures of horses and animals.
Hopefully I will be back to shoot this little guy again!
Mathilda & Clover
For me to say this shoot has been 25 years in the making would be rather dramatic. But, this session did reunite me with someone I haven't seen in a quarter of a century!
And I am so glad that it did. Caitlin and I had been school friends back in the '90s, and I knew her family were rather 'horsey', so I got in touch to see if what I did was of any interest to her. And after very little conversation we agreed to pull together a shoot for her eldest daughter Mathilda and the gorgeous Clover.
So off to Burnham Market I went...
One of my favourite images of the day. Really sums up the phrase, '1 girl and her horse'.
I hadn't met Mathilda or Clover prior to this so I wasn't sure on riding confidence or how Clover would react to being photographed. On meeting them both it was very clear how this session was going to go! Quite possibly the easiest and most relaxed shoot to date. For an ex racehorse, Clover was extremely chilled and took everything in his stride! Nothing phased him or made him unsure about what was going on. And as you will see from the images captured, it really does transfer onto the picture. It rarely happens like this but when it does, it does make me think that my job is a little easy!
To say that I was amazed at the confidence that Mathilda showed on Clover would be under selling her ability completely. From the moment she got onboard Clover you could see that there was nowhere else that she would rather be.
The first question that I always ask the rider is,'what kind of image do you want to come away with today?'. Straight away it was evident that Mathilda really wanted an image of her jumping with Clover. Clover had refused a jump at a previous competition so me not being a rider had no idea what would happen next..!
...And this is what happened next!
Safe to say that when I looked down after taking this shot, I knew we had it. And look at the expressions on both faces. No lack of confidence from rider or horse.
Just from knowing Mathilda for this limited time it was clear that if Clover had refused the jump she would have turned him round and tried again. But none of that was needed. One jump, one image! And it's fantastic for me that I get to work with clients like Caitlin & Mathilda because even though they knew what they wanted from the day, they were also more than happy to work with me and try different things to capture that perfect shot!
Overall a really great day. Great to meet Mathilda and get the images that she really wanted and also great to meet up with Caitlin again and remember those days that seem a long time ago now!!
Searching a field for car keys at the end of the session is not something that I want to add to future agendas!!!
Norfolk - Pass Wide & Slow
For quite a few years now horse riders and cyclists alike have been trying to draw attention to the fact that they are road users too and should be treated with the same levels of respect - especially because of their vulnerability. The 'Pass Wide & Slow' initiative is in place to do exactly that!
I saw a social media post about one of these events taking place between Briston & Corpusty in Norfolk so I contacted the event organiser, Danita Zappia, to offer my services to capture the atmosphere of the day.
...And capture it we did!
If I had only managed to capture 2 photos all day, I would have been more than happy with these! And these were taken right at the start of the day. So after these 2, I knew it was going to be a good day!
Is this not 100% happiness caught in 1 picture?!?!
Something that was extremely obvious from being on this walk with these guys, all of them loved horses & loved riding. But there was a common theme where even though being out on their horse was the happiest place to be, they all had this underlying fear of "who we may cross paths with whilst out?!"
I have visibly never seen this concern on any riders face, but it is very clear to me now that EVERY rider has it!
Alot of people would argue that horses do not belong on public highways and should stick to fields & bridleways. One thing all of us need to remember is that they were here first. So we all need to work together and not create an environment that includes accidents that are easily avoidable.
Here is a selection of the images captured on the day. It was such a good day, we will be looking for at least twice as many people next year!
Team for the day, or, 'Team Zappia' as I kept seeing! Big thanks to all the volunteers who helped the day run smoothly too...
If you are interested in getting involved in the rides/drives next year or just want to know more about why we do these, then click either of the images here and it will direct you to the official Facebook page where you can find information and discuss further with people in the know... But please be nice!
Equestrienne Stunt Team
I decided to have a day out with the family at the Norfolk Country Show. I knew the Equestrienne Stunt Team would be performing so thought it would be best to have the camera on hand, just in case. Very pleased that I did! It started out as a Wild West show with various stunts performed whilst riding a horse! Followed by various duels in the Jousting arena and then ending with jumping through fire!
The Equestrienne Stunt Team (with Billy The Kid)
The weather just about held out for us, and I am so glad that it did. I have photographed plenty of horses over the years but never have I photographed horses and riders that can perform stunts!
The girls perform at various locations across the country and are always adding to their shows. So if you do want to find out what they're up to or you want to get in touch with the team, click the Equestrienne Stunt Show banner at the top of this post and that will take you to their website.
You won't be disappointed!
