When I take photographs, I try to catch the essence of the subject, a sense of health and movement. I am interested in the connection between horse and rider and in capturing the grace of movement and light.
When I was 11, I announced that I wanted to learn photography. My father said, "I've got a darkroom up in the attic, I'll bring it down and show you everything!"
Photography was something Dad and I did together. We were involved in a long, joyous critique of form and function, shadow and light. This spilled over into our writing and other hobbies. Even when I moved to the other side of the planet, we continued to show each other our stuff when we got together. I was at my parent’s house in 1986 when I received word that my photograph of a monastery in Tibet had been chosen for the cover of the very first guidebook to Tibet.
When my father died when I was 32, after a three-year battle with non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, I stopped taking photographs, except for pictures of my baby. I took up quilt making and turned inwards to grieve.
When my daughter was twelve, she started riding horses and my life was changed. I had been a horse fanatic when I was a child and had had my own Welsh pony until I was twelve. I sold her because I had grown too big, and also now I suspect because riding in a field was not challenging enough and I had gotten involved in organized sports. I swore to myself that I would own my own horse by the time I was thirty. I grew up, went to university and then I ran off to Turkey, met my soul mate, got married, did an MA in Ottoman history, had a baby, started working at the university and before I knew it, I was pushing forty...
My daughter started riding, and started to compete in dressage. And out came the camera, this time a digital one, supported by Adobe Photoshop. At the beginning of her second year we leased a horse and I bartered my web-skills and my photography for half of the lease. My photographs of the Turkish National Dressage Team were used on posters, brochures and are the only photographs in this year's Federation test book. Her second year, I started riding again, and this year, we bought our own horse, a senior-level dressage horse named Dante.
When I take photographs, I try to catch the essence of the subject, a sense of health and movement. I am interested in the connection between horse and rider and in capturing the grace of movement and light. I'm just starting out with equestrian photography, so it is exciting. My daughter will be turning 15 in June. I’m giving her a 7mp camera and I foresee many joyful discussions about form and function.
