About Esther Towler
PHOTOGRAPHIC ARTIST | RARE NATIVE HORSES AND WILD PLACES they dwell
Esther Towler is a British photographic artist based in the South Pennines. She photographs Britain’s rare native horse breeds and the wild places that shape them, and creates handmade work in small editions using processes that echo the land itself.
Her background as a police photographer gave her a disciplined eye and a deep respect for observation. After many years photographing horses and their owners, she turned her attention to Britain’s native breeds and the landscapes they inhabit. Since 2018, she has followed these horses across the country, including a six-year journey for her book Wild Hearts, which took her to remote moors, fells and islands.
For Esther, these horses are not separate from the land. They belong to it, and it belongs to them. Native herds are losing the grazing that shaped them, open moor is being fenced and planted, and green spaces close to home are steadily disappearing. Her work bears witness to that change, and to what still remains.
She works slowly and quietly, spending long periods with each herd until the horses begin to forget her presence. This patient approach allows her to show them as they truly are: unhurried, together, and at home in their own places.
Alongside her hand-printed Van Dyke Brown editions, Esther also creates original cyanotypes and photo-encaustic works. These processes bring a different depth to the work, with sunlight, texture and layered surface becoming part of the story. Whether made in the field or in the studio, her pieces are rooted in the same place, the same attention, and the same sense of quiet witness.
Her work has been exhibited nationally and is held in private collections internationally. She studied Photography at university, is a Licentiate of the BIPP, and an associate member of Ebor Studio/Gallery.
Current projects
Horses of Holy Isle (2023 to present)
Three herds of Eriskay ponies living wild on Holy Isle, Scotland, photographed across the seasons, year after year.
Elemental (2026 to 2027)
A year on Saddleworth Moor, following the land through the seasons: fire damage, restoration and the slow changes to open moorland.
Published work
Wild Hearts: Britain’s Rare Native Horses (2025)
A six-year study of Britain’s rare native horse breeds, published with the support of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust, to which 10% of every sale is donated. Acknowledged in a letter from His Majesty the King.
Selected exhibitions
2026
Chester Photo Festival, Wild Hearts book selected and showcased at the festival
Monochrome, Glasgow Gallery of Photography, group show
Pensychnant Conservation & Nature Reserve, juried group show
2025
Wild Hearts, solo exhibition, Ebor Studios, Littleborough
Wild Hearts, solo exhibition, A.B Art Gallery, Cheshire
2024
Women in Photography, Glasgow Gallery of Photography, group
Abstraction, PhotoPlace Gallery, Vermont, juried
2023
Creative Response to Climate Change, Northlight Gallery, Hebden Bridge
Artist statement
For me, one of the most beautiful sights in the world is horses moving freely across open moor, fell and island. I have been a photographer since I was nineteen, but it was horses that gave my work its purpose, and they still bring me back.
Over time, and especially while making Wild Hearts, I came to understand how closely these native breeds are bound to the land they inhabit. The moors, fells and islands where they have grazed for centuries shaped them, and in turn they help shape the landscape. To care for one is to care for the other.
That relationship feels increasingly fragile. Herds are shrinking as grazing is restricted, open moor is fenced and planted, and the cost of keeping semi-wild ponies rises while fewer people take them on. Around my home in the Pennines, green spaces are steadily being built over. It is a quiet loss, but a real one, and it sits at the heart of what I make.
My work stays close to particular herds in particular places. Since 2023, I have returned each year to Holy Isle in Scotland to photograph three herds of Eriskay ponies living free on the island. In pieces made in the mountains of North Wales and elsewhere, I try to show a herd as it truly lives: unhurried, together, and at home. I want collectors to feel that sense of presence and belonging when they live with the work.
I work slowly. I stand quietly with the horses, often for hours, waiting for the moment when they forget I am there. I have long admired Fay Godwin’s photographs of the British countryside, and the way she used quiet, unsentimental images to speak up for open land. I want my work to do the same for these horses.
I now print my photographs by hand in Van Dyke Brown, in small editions. Its warm, earthy tones feel closer to the true nature of these horses than a standard print ever could, and each print is made with the care these places deserve. Alongside this, I also create original cyanotypes and photo-encaustic works, extending the same quiet attention through different processes and surfaces.
I photograph these horses because I love them, and because I know how easily they could disappear. Once a herd leaves the hill or a field is built over, centuries of history go with it, and they do not come back. I want the work to bear witness, and to offer collectors something lasting, handmade and deeply connected to the wild places it comes from.