Doing something different is always exciting. And so it proved on Wednesday 16 June when a group of members gathered at the Yeguada Inspirada, a stud and training facility for Iberian horses, near Stoke Goddington, for a horse photoshoot.

The event was run by Elizabeth Jane Lazenby BA(Hons) Fine Art QTFE2 LRPS ASEA DPAGB BPE4 EFIAP LMPA, the professional equine and fine art photographer from Barnsley.  Jane has previously “visited” LBPC several times via Zoom to lecture (about using textures and other creative post-processing techniques) and to judge.  And it was delightful to finally meet her in person.

Under Jane’s expert direction, we spent over 6 hours outside – under a relentlessly hot sun – happily learning and practicing the camera settings and techniques required to capture quality images of horses and riders in action.  And the photo opportunities just kept on coming.

We were able to photograph numerous gorgeous equine specimens in a wide variety of settings and activities.  And we were also allowed to get pretty close to the action.

With Jane acting as our photography teacher, action director, stylist, and make-up artist we worked through a series of different setups.  We started with a relatively straightforward riderless horse in a field.  And then we worked our way through tricks on a stationary horse in the arena, portraits of horses in their boxes, a costumed rider on a horse in the field, a costumed rider with a horse first lying in long grass and then posing in the barn, horses in a field of tall daisies, more costumed riders on horses in the field, and finally tricks and stunt riding in the field.

Along the way, there were also plenty of chances to shoot “off-piste” around the stables etc.  Consequently, we could capture all sorts of shots for all sorts of images.

Some of the setups lent themselves more to action photography – in addition to tricks and moves from the riders, we were treated to rears, jumps and other moves by the horses.  Other setups were more geared towards fine art photography – riders with costumes and make-up, horse portraits, horse and rider portraits, and so forth.

So, whatever one’s personal photographic tastes, there were endless chances to get impressive shots for our portfolios.  And, with lots of shooting in “continuous” (or “burst”) mode, everyone finished the day with hundreds of shots to examine and evaluate.  Some long hours of sorting, selecting and post-processing will surely follow!

Most importantly, we all really enjoyed a terrific day out having fun with our cameras.  Many thanks to Jane for running this excellent workshop.  And many thanks to Caroline and Ollie Phillips, their superb team of riders, and of course the magnificent horses, for looking after us so well at Yeguada Inspirada.