I have always been creative. A lover of the arts; from the age of eight I had singing, drama and dance lessons, but outside of this, creating visual art work I struggled with. In my mind’s eye I would always have some elaborate design, but with a paint brush in my hand, recreating my vision and bringing it to life I would grapple with, which meant I frequently found myself scrunching some work in a ball and tossing it in to the bin. That was the moment I truly discovered photography and everything changed.
Photography has been part of my family for generations. My grandfather has a passion for portrait photography and my uncle is a photographer for the Royal Navy, so I have been surrounded by this wonderful concept my entire life. When I was seven I was given my first camera for Christmas. I used up an entire 16gb memory card, snapping photos of my family and pets that day (it’s just as well It was at a time that digital had taken over film, as it could have worked out rather expensive otherwise). For the years that followed I took many photos of my own horses and enjoyed making short films with my friends (which I am sure is where my passion for videography began)
In my final year of school, the pressure built to decide what I wanted to do as a profession. I decided I wanted to be an equine vet, until I realised I wasn’t very good at Chemistry (a rather vital part of the job) so it was back to the drawing board. The decision to study photography at College was rather unexpected if I am honest, prior to this I had never considered turning my photographic hobby in to a career and combining it with my love for horses… But I am so glad I did.
College was the true turning point for my career and was the time I created “Something From The Hart”. I learnt a huge amount, most importantly the science behind cameras and how to create that vision in my mind’s eye, which I had struggled to achieve through any other art form. My aim is always to create warm images with an enchanted feeling, to represent how truly magical the connection between horse and owner is.
When getting creative, I use a lot of inspiration from artists I have grown up following, especially with regards to the emotion an image carries. Alfred Munnings’ work Influenced a lot of my style, with regards to the tones and framing, along with Kirsty Mitchel’s mystical design in her beautiful “wonderland” book, something I take with me especially doing the “going to the ball” style photo shoots. Annie Leibovitz was also an enormous inspiration, enticing me to create a meaningful atmosphere in each and every photo.
From the Inspiration of many amazing artists, the ability to produce the vision I had in my mind’s eye and the will to stretch my creativity, I created my own style, which I could apply to each and every shoot, making my images distinctively “Something From The Hart”.
To find out more about my photo shoot experience, please click here
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