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Irish event rider and championship medallist Cathal Daniels was teaching in Leicestershire this week. The 23-year-old from County Galway had been competing in the arena eventing class at the Liverpool International Horse Show and found time to teach at the newly opened equestrian centre at Hyde Lodge Horses, near Tilton on the Hill. Daniels, whose […]

The Cottesmore Hunt, founded in 1666, continued the tradition of meeting on Boxing Day in Oakham as they congregated in Cutts Close today. Despite heavy rain there was a good turn out of mounted and foot followers as well as a handful of quiet protesters. Although fox hunting was banned in 2004, exemptions include trail […]

The Quorn Hunt traditionally hold their opening meet at their kennels at Kirby Bellars, just West of Melton Mowbray. Since the 2004 Hunting Act, fox hunts have become clean boot packs, following previously laid trails for the hounds to follow, and carrying a bird of prey in case a fox is flushed by hounds accidentally. […]

Caveat: I am not an audiophile. My AV receiver and speaker set-up did not cost five-figure sums (quite the opposite). BUT, if you want to know how to achieve proper surround sounds. The need for better sound from my PC Some time now, my desktop PC has been connected to a pair of those Bose […]

Many computer systems nowadays come with SSD (Solid State Disk) drives for the operating system to ensure quick start up times and fast read/write times for the operating system and applications. The only problem with this superfast technology - particularly the small on-motherboard M.2 drives - is that it is relatively expensive compared to larger […]

I was once again commissioned by Land Rover to photograph the Burghley Horse Trials 2019 for them as title sponsor. In addition to photographing the equestrian competition event in a way which incorporates Land Rover branding I was asked to photograph the Land Rover "activations": the company's stands, hospitality areas and other public-facing activities. The […]

One of my freelance jobs every year involves taking Royal Welsh Show photos for the official equestrian photographers. Sadly it was not always a pleasure. There is a list of official Royal Welsh Show photographers listed on the RWAS website and the company I work for is clearly listed. However, throughout the show we were […]

In May I was phoned by Thomas March, Piggy French's long term partner, who asked me if I was free to photograph a party which was being held to celebrate Piggy's win at Badminton Horse Trials a couple of weeks previously. I said I was and the date was duly secured. Nearer the time, Tom […]

My images of Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials will be uploading to the archive throughout the event, starting on Wednesday the 1st May with the first vets inspection. Commercial and editorial enquiries are welcome at any time - images will be available via a rights managed licence immediately they are uploaded. Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse […]

My Quorn Hunt Ball 2019 images have had to wait a long time before publishing. I agreed to an embargo with a national magazine but hadn't realised it would not be in their next issue, but the one after, meaning a wait of several months. The annual event moved to a new venue this year, […]

Belton Horse Trials are traditionally one of the warm-up events for horses heading to Badminton Horse Trials in May. There are international sections at CCI4*-S - The Grantham Cup attracts over 100 entries - and CCI3*-S level, as well as national classes from advanced down to novice. In previous years I have been employed by […]

Equestrian event photography and equestrian editorial photography are different styles of photography for different purposes. This article looks at the difference in the style of event photos to editorial photos when photographing horses. You need to be logged in to view the rest of the content. Please Log In. Not a Member? Join Us

In the first blog in this workflow series I described how I use Photo Mechanic to ingest images from my camera cards, adding appropriate metadata at the same time to ensure that when the images go online they will be easily found by search engines. You need to be logged in to view the rest […]

For some time now it is been frustrating me that, as a photographer, when I want to add multiple images to a blog post using the new WordPress Gutenberg interface I have to do each image one at a time. In fact, it annoys me so much, that I started to post multiple images as […]

I traditionally start my eventing season at Oasby Horse Trials, near Ancaster in Lincolnshire, where the four-day competition runs sections from BE90 level up to Intermediate. The intermediate competition includes open sections which have become a recognised warm up for horses planning to compete at Badminton in May, followed usually by a three (now four) […]

The Melton Hunt Club Ride is an unusual event. There is a prescribed starting gate and a matching set of flags at the finish. In between there are markers, some of which must be left to the left, some to the right. Besides these restrictions it is up to the riders to choose their route […]

For the first time in in recent years the Belvoir Hunt Ball was held in Belvoir Castle, Leicestershire, in February, having previously been held in mid-Summer, in a marquee at the kennels, on the Estate. The Grade 1 listed castle is the ancestral home to the Dukes of Rutland and sits in of 15,000 acres. […]

UPDATE - The ride has been POSTPONED due to the ground conditions and we will try again on Sunday 17th February. UPDATE - The gate onto Pasture Lane (next to fence 19) will be open. This year The Melton Hunt Club Ride is sponsored by Chestnut Horse Feeds and RoR to whom the organisers are […]

Hippo is a family company based in Lincolnshire which manufactures hot water horse showers for equestrian establishments of all sizes. Each one is lovingly hand-built by a fully qualified gas engineer using top quality components - no cheap ebay boilers here. They have no pilot light so they do not experience the same wind problems […]

I was recently approached by Samantha Finnemore, a Rutland-based veterinary physiotherapist, looking to revamp her web site and add new content. She was keen to commission me to produce both video and still photography of her at work, with horses and dogs. Sammy was keen to use a realistic working environment for the shoot, and […]

The beautiful village of Barnwell, near Oundle in Northamptonshire, is host to a small, friendly syndicate shoot which I visited in early December 2018. One of the syndicate members is also one of my commercial clients and wanted some images of some of his products in use. The brief was to create some lifestyle images […]

What is HTTPS? HTTPS is a URL (web address) system similar to the standard HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) scheme. However, HTTPS signals the browser to use an added encryption layer of SSL to protect the traffic. SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. It is the standard security technology for establishing an encrypted link between a web […]

As many readers will be aware, the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust periodically run raffle draws, the prize being unique or very unusual shooting days for a full set of guns. I was recently approached by the Trust and asked to document such a day, a partridge shoot for eight guest guns across three well-known […]

Gareth Owen is an Osteopath who grew up in the Rutland town of Oakham and recently returned there to set up his business in a new studio off Church Street.

This article about camera settings for horse photography is by Nico Morgan. Nico is one of the UK's top equestrian photographers. He has worked with top riders from show jumping, eventing and showing as well as working on the official photography teams at events such as Royal Windsor Horse Show, Dublin Horse Show, The Horse […]

During the Summer months I do a lot of freelance event photography for some of the best known names in the business. As Summer Season follows Summer Season it can become quite predictable that you will be doing this event, then that event, at a particular time of year. It's nice, therefore, to take on […]

In 2017 Oakham, Rutland based engineers and surveyors Smithers Purslow asked me if I would help them out by photographing their charity golf day, to be held at The Leicestershire Golf Club. I had previously done some photographic work for them which was more corporate: documenting surveying and engineering projects they had been involved with […]

In his second year as course designer Eric Winter has taken the traditional line and reversed the direction of the Badminton Course. Starting as ever in the main arena over the familiar flower bed, the ASX Starter (1) riders head left to a choice of inviting Rolex Feeder roll top spreads (2), one of very […]

UPDATED - 11th April 2018 Before I begin, please don't tell me that I should be using C1 or something else. I have tried everything and for my purposes - and I know this is true for lots of photographers like me - Lightroom is the nearest thing to "the best tool". That doesn't mean […]

Before we start, I wanted to let you know about something exciting. For some time I have been mentoring photographers and doing one-to-one teaching sessions. Now you can benefit in the same way by learning online. I have started putting my three decades of experience into a series of courses. Some extensive, some very short. […]