So as the year is now coming to an end, I thought that it may be nice to share a few of my favorite images, and maybe tell you all a little about my 2014.. which has been quite an experience!
Firstly I just want to say a massive thank you to all of the venues, riders, friends & family, (and horses.. for being pretty) for the support in 2014 - just in case you don't make it to the bottom, I appreciate that there are lots of photos on here!
I'll start with January, lots of which was spent wading around in mud while following the North & South Shropshire hunts!
January also involved a visit to Bow House for a little bit of showjumping.. was very impressed with all of the colour coordination!
February brought along some new challenges for me - photographing people! First came the christening of little Ella, Archie and Lily At Castlefields Church in Shrewsbury... and though there wasn't a horse in sight, I thoroughly enjoyed capturing their special day (not least because there was not a spot of mud, pony poo, rain nor ice to clean from my camera lens afterwards!)
Very cute! Next up I had the honour of photographing the wedding of Jess and Matt Parker, which took place in Baschurch Church - a very convenient minute's walk from my own home!!
February also marked the beginning of my Baschurch based Dog photography studio in partnership with Heidi's Hounds Dog Grooming.. and of course some photography for Oswestry Riding Club's unaffiliated Dressage!
(obviously, Jack the horse needed his portrait taken as well!)
The start of March meant that it was time for our first point to point visit of the year! It was a gorgeous sunny day for Sir WW Wynn's Point to point at Bangor-on-Dee.. Even warm enough for a very wintery ice-cream!
March was also the month of Sam and Lyndsey Owen's Daffodil themed wedding, complete with Yellow converse!
I also paid my first visit to Tedsmore to photograph some hunter trials, and met Ella, the in-hand xcountry horse!
Lots of my April was spent catching up with neglected work for the Animal management course that I was taking at Walford College.. Balancing that and my photography had become a little bit of a struggle, and it was nice to relax and take a few shots of my own pets enjoying the spring!
Of course this didn't last for too long, and alongside a little showjumping, I soon had a shoot planned... It was very nice to see some green foliage and spring sunshine!
As well as a visit to the best place ever - Eyton up on severn - on Easter monday, April also involved a trip to a racing yard to photograph some swimming horses. The Bay horse below is most probably my favorite image ever and even got a mention on nat geo!
In june, there was lots of dressage, showjumping and another hunter trial for me to photograph, and Sam's Jerry & Saranda also had their portraits taken, along with Taff & Pebbles who felt a bit of grooming prep was needed!
Even more June pony portraits were taken at a clinic with Harry Payne, held by Zoe Taylor of Taylored Equestrian!
(Still very in love with Pancake the horse..) And of course the end of June was marked with the gorgeous Zoe Forrester and Beezy's Prom based photoshoot at Albrighton Hall.. My idea of photography heaven!!
Ah, July. July was a month and a half! At this point, I had just finished college, and after spending almost every weekend that I could standing in soggy fields and freezing arenas for almost two years, and still finding myself desperate to get out and take pictures of pretty ponies, I decided to scrap my veterinary nursing plans and spend my savings on some on-site printing equipment instead! Lots of £££s, a few tears, tonnes of stress and three faulty generators later, and we were ready to go.. that is me, plus printing technician Miles (always in his shirt and tie!) assistant photographer Zoe (usually found trying to convince me to buy her all of the shetland ponies..) and of course my incredibly supportive parents Paul & Heidi, who have given me so much help & advice, loaned me their 'under the stairs' cupboard for use as an office, and even given a bit of photography a go on a number of occasions!
The month started with a Shoot for Lidia and Finn.. We spent just under three hours wondering around Nescliffe and the Cliffe in the evening sunshine.. finding all of the pretty spots (of which there were many!)
My next Shoot was with Amber and Phantom, at the Isle in Bicton. We decorated her with a tonne of red roses, which I had 'borrowed' from my Nan's garden (with permission, of course!) Though I only managed to grab a handful of shots before she shook them all out! I also photographed some showing, both with the NCPA Maelor & Shropshire and even more at Tedsmore equestrian, which is always a lot of fun, and was very kindly lent their office for us to have a first ever run through of the printing set up!
Then Finally, the 27th of July had arrived... the date of Boarder Counties Equestrian show and our first ever outdoor, tent in the middle of a field, generator powered, really scary onsite printing show. I had my 'Lucky' hat sold to me from Jon at the Shropshire Tack shop the day before, and we put up tent within range of a porta potty (Because nervous pees!) and got to work - it went amazingly (even with a borrowed generator that was heavier than a horse and required it's own trailer to transport..) and we could not have asked for a lovlier day.
Quick shout out to the amazing Puissance pony!
A replacement generator, and a few adjustments to our set up later and we were ready for the summer season.. with Rhydycrosau show (forgive me - I am spelling that from memory!)
Llansilin (Rain, rain rain!!)
A shoot with Ruth and Dontee was next...
The amazing Shropshire Beagles funride, which is always the highlight of my year - sitting in the sun (..ok, maybe cloud) under the Wrekin while watching Shropshire's finest horses trot by!!!!!
August bought Glyn Show, which was a new, but fun one for us this year... with a poorly Zoe and three rings for me to cover by myself!
and a shoot that I had with Nicloa Tustain MBE and her group of lovely doggies!
(couldn't not include this pic of Molly & Shetland pony party of course!)
Our last big show of the season was Eccleshall's yfc funride (and it was definitely lots of fun!)
After that, I met Danny and Breezy, two stunning horses with a definite sense of humour!
And September brought along a nice peaceful month, where as well as taking a few piccies at Prescott and Walford college, I could relax, try out some new photo techniques (namely a bit of astrophotography!) and watch my own silly ponies pulling rude faces at me!
(My rather beautiful assistant photog!)
The peace didn't last long, after a trip down to Newmarket to visit family, friends and plenty of horses, my November and December were spent frantically photographing over 80 (!!!) dogs at various different events such as Weston Rhyn dog show... Sue's Canine christmas party, and in the studio..
And that has been my year in photos!
just in case you made it to the bottom, thank you for reading, & I hope that you have a lovely 2015 :)