Discover Our Native Rare Breeds & the Art of Equine Photography
Wild Hearts Workshop: Rare Breed Equine Photography & Encaustic Art
A Two-day immersive experience: from camera to canvas
Join award-winning equine photographer Esther Towler for an extraordinary two-day workshop where photography meets ancient art.
This isn't just about taking beautiful photographs—it's about transforming them into luminous, tactile fine art using the centuries-old technique of encaustic painting.
Over two days, you'll photograph rare breed horses in their natural environment, then learn to elevate your favourite image into a one-of-a-kind encaustic artwork—layering beeswax, dammar resin, and pigment to create a piece that shimmers with depth, texture, and soul.
Each workshop focuses on a specific rare breed - celebrating and preserving these beautiful horses through fine art while learning about their unique history, characteristics, and conservation status.
Perfect for:
Photographers wanting to expand into fine art
Artists curious about encaustic techniques
Equine enthusiasts who want to create museum-quality artwork
Anyone seeking a deeply creative, hands-on experience
What makes this workshop unique: You'll leave with not just stunning photographs for your portfolio, but a finished encaustic artwork you've created with your own hands—a piece that captures the spirit of these magnificent rare breed horses in a way that photography alone cannot.
No prior encaustic experience necessary. All materials provided
Day one: Equine photography with rare breed horses
Immerse yourself in the captivating world of equine fine art photography. Learn from Esther's expertise as you:
Learn Expert Insights about Native Rare Breeds: Gain invaluable insights into the native rare breed you'll be photographing, with a talk by a breed expert.
Photography Guidance: Esther will be on hand to provide photography guidance and share best practices for creating stunning equine artwork, tailored to your needs.
Creative Freedom: Photograph beautiful native rare breed horses at liberty in their natural environment—capturing their character, movement, and spirit.
Create a collection: Under Esther's direction, you'll build a beautiful collection of equine photographs for your portfolio, focusing on composition, light, and storytelling.
Lunch : Gather together and enjoy a lovely picnic with a selection of sandwiches, treats, and tea and coffee. A wonderful opportunity to share your morning's experiences, review your images, and connect with fellow photographers and artists.
Image Review & Selection : Review the images you've captured during the morning session. With Esther's guidance, you'll select your top five images—these will be the foundation for your encaustic artwork on Day Two. Learn to identify images with strong composition, emotion, and artistic potential for the encaustic process.
Day two: photo-encaustic Art creation
Discover the magic of transforming your photograph into fine art using the ancient medium of encaustic.
Introduction to Encaustic: Learn about this historical technique using molten beeswax, dammar resin, and heat to create luminous, textured artworks.
Hands-On Creation: Working with one of your photographs from Day One, you'll build layers of wax, embed your image, and add colour and texture to create depth and emotion.
Expert Guidance: Esther will guide you through every step—from preparing your substrate to fusing layers and finishing techniques.
Take Home Your Artwork: Leave with a completed encaustic piece—a truly unique, museum-quality artwork that captures the soul of the horse you photographed.
All encaustic materials, tools, and substrates provided. No experience necessary.
Lunch included on Day Two with a selection of sandwiches, treats, and refreshments.
What’s included
✓
What to bring
Your camera and preferred lenses
Laptop or tablet for reviewing and selecting images
Comfortable outdoor clothing and footwear
Your creativity and enthusiasm!
✓
Two full days of expert tuition
Access to photograph rare breed horses at liberty
Professional image review and selection guidance
All encaustic materials, tools, and substrates
Lunch both days (picnic-style with sandwiches, treats, tea & coffee)
Take home your completed encaustic artwork
Small group size for personalized attention
Your Investment
£595 Price per peson ( payment plans available £ 99 per month)
Includes: 2 days expert tuition, all materials, lunches, take-home encaustic artwork, rare breed access, and lifetime skills.
Location & rare native breed- There will be variouus locations around the UK concentrating on one specific rare breeed per workshop.
Dates - to be confirmed
Limited to six participants to ensure personalised attention and hands-on guidance.
Testimonial!
Thankyou for helping to increase my confidence with photography
“I’ve had such a great experience with Esther!”
“I had such a great experience with Esther, before my workshop she spent lots of time getting to know me and she tailored the day to focus on the aspects of photography that I wanted to explore.
She has been an amazing coach and has given me lots of invaluable advice. I had such an amazing and exciting day where I got to experience an equine shoot, get to grips with the camera and studio and also learned how to create photo-encaustic artwork. Esther’s knowledge and work are aspirational, making me feel welcome.
I came away having had a lovely day, feeling very inspired and motivated to carry on exploring my own photography. I will keep in contact with her and hope to work with her again in the future.
Thank you so much for all of your support and for helping to increase my confidence with photography. I couldn’t recommend Esther enough she is an amazing photographer and such a lovely lady xxx”
ARTIST
MEET Esther
I’ve been photographing horses for over 20 years. They are my passion and drive for my photography artwork.
I’ve been photographing horses for over 20 years and have been a professional fine art equine photographer for the last 10 years. My passion for horses and photography has enabled me to travel far and wide photographing wild, rare and domestic horses to create limited edition prints and commissions for horse owners, art collectors and commercial brands.
One of the ways I create my artwork is using a lovely technique called encaustics that uses beeswax and dammar resin as a medium to encapsulate fine art photography printed on different papers, adding texture, natural elements, and paint to create a one-of-a-kind emotive artwork that is full of texture and tones.
I love working with melted beeswax in the studio. As part of my fine art equine photography practice, each photo-encaustic piece's texture and refracted light have an ethereal feel. This ever-evolving creative process gives my work a deeper connection to the natural world, using nature’s gift of beeswax. My photo-encaustic artwork has been displayed in gallery exhibitions and purchased by art collectors across the UK. Horse owners also commission me to create one-of-a-kind artwork for their horses. This beautiful process has given my work a new creative, emotive depth. It has allowed me to use my photography and add a unique, expressive feel, which I wish to share with other photographers so they can experiment with and use within their photography practice to create their own artwork inspired by horses and encaustics.