Equine Photography & Alternative Processes
Mentoring
One-to-one sessions for photographers and artists
An hour on Zoom, just the two of us and your work.
I’ve been photographing horses since 2009, first as one of the UK’s early equine photographers and later as a fine art photographer making long-term work about Britain’s rare native breeds and the wild places they live. I began my career as a police photographer, spent six years making the Wild Hearts book with the support of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust, and now work with handmade processes including cyanotype, Van Dyke Brown and photo-encaustic.
These sessions are for anyone who would find it useful to talk their work through with someone who has walked a similar path. You might be just starting out, or you might have been at it for years and feel a little stuck. Either way, the hour is yours.
How we can spend the time
Photographing horses: light, patience, working in wild places, and finding images that feel true to the animal.
Finding your voice: moving from taking photographs to making a body of work, and discovering what you really want to say.
Long-term projects: planning a project that may take years, staying with it, and knowing when it’s ready.
Making a photobook: editing, sequencing, writing, and working with partners or charities.
Handmade prints: cyanotype and Van Dyke Brown, digital negatives, paper choices, exposure and toning.
Photo-encaustic: combining photographs with beeswax and damar resin, building layers, surfaces and texture.
Portfolio reviews: a careful look at your edit and the thread that runs through it.
How it works
Book a single session if there’s one thing you’d like to focus on, or come back now and then if that suits you better. There’s no subscription and no commitment.
Once you’ve booked, I’ll send a short form asking what you’d like to work on and inviting you to share some images. I’ll look through everything before we meet, so we can start straight away.
Sessions are £85 for one hour, on Google Meet.
In person
I also offer occasional in-person days in the Pennines, working with cyanotype and handmade printing, for individuals or small groups. Please get in touch if you’d like to ask about one.
To book, or if you’d just like to ask a question first, please get in touch using the form below.
Testimonial!
I had the pleasure of attending Esther’s cyanotype workshop
“It was a beautiful mix of inspiration, a sense of wonder, companionship, stillness and discovery. ”
I had the pleasure of attending Esther's first Cyanotype Discovery Workshop on Saddleworth Moor this summer.
It was a beautiful mix of inspiration, a sense of wonder, companionship, stillness and discovery.
If you love spending time outdoors, feel the call of the wind and creating art that is both sustainable and beautiful, all with like-minded creatives, then this workshop is for you.
Charly - Wax & Wane Interiors.
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.