Equestrian Experiences
This project is aimed at expressing the subtleties of the equestrian sport. This sport is so engrossing and sometimes when it’s early morning and I’m walking on the property there are nuances visually that both are part of the sport but also tell a story metaphorically to other life domains. I see the arena after being freshly drug and the lines that are created in the substrate brings a great deal of calm and leads my eyes from one end to the other. You can feel the softness in the ground as you pass over it. There are so many components to the tack (e.g. the bridles, the bits, the saddles, leathers and stirrups) that are shapes and lines that guide the eye from one clasp to the next buckle. I always enjoy these aspects visually and tactically as much as the actual practice of riding. I have attempted to capture the small visual details of varying aspects of the sport and to do so in a manner that allows the viewer to feel the textures.
The project is predominantly still life in genre. The project aims to capture the elements that often go unnoticed by the common observer and convey the first-person experience of the nuances that create emotion and nostalgia for the equestrian. The project explores the details of the sport containing images that focus on the tools, materials, locations and remnants and not typical photographs of horses, riders or the horse and rider in an event. The idea of the series is to create elements of ambiguity that the viewer may not fully, nor immediately, understand until further inspection. Even in the cases where the viewer may be naïve to the sport the aim is that they would find visual interest through the contrast of shape, texture, and value. Collectively the image theme would emerge telling the story of the day to day engagement with the sport. The images would feel very natural to an equestrian who ideally would identify personally with each image as some of the overlooked but important elements of being in that environment.
Read MoreThe project is predominantly still life in genre. The project aims to capture the elements that often go unnoticed by the common observer and convey the first-person experience of the nuances that create emotion and nostalgia for the equestrian. The project explores the details of the sport containing images that focus on the tools, materials, locations and remnants and not typical photographs of horses, riders or the horse and rider in an event. The idea of the series is to create elements of ambiguity that the viewer may not fully, nor immediately, understand until further inspection. Even in the cases where the viewer may be naïve to the sport the aim is that they would find visual interest through the contrast of shape, texture, and value. Collectively the image theme would emerge telling the story of the day to day engagement with the sport. The images would feel very natural to an equestrian who ideally would identify personally with each image as some of the overlooked but important elements of being in that environment.
