Portfolio review
This issue Paulo Heilborn shares his equine shots from Brazil, capturing horse portraits as well as action shots of these powerful creatures
There are no long faces as Paulo Heilborn shares his magnificent collection of horses, photographed in Brazil
When I was young, I spent much of my childhood at my grandmother’s vacation camp in the city of Campos do Jordão in Brazil. There I gradually developed my passion for horses and I eventually loved everything that came with them. In 2003, after my first contact with an SLR camera, I became involved in the photography world and began to take part in some courses to further my skills.
After almost a decade I returned to spend a good part of my free time in Campos do Jordão. However, this time, things were a little different; I had my own horses. It was at that moment in time I realized it’d be possible to unite my passion for photography and love for these marvellous animals.
One day I was sitting in the middle of the pasture with my D800 taking some photos of an Arabian brown horse that ran a lot that day, when the neighbouring white horse approached the fence and the two greeted each other [1]. I realized that there was this
natural tenderness in the scene between the two animals, so I captured the fleeting moment while the chance still remained. It was such a beautifully unique moment.
I spend a lot of time watching the horses, to see if there were opportunities for shots. One day, I saw this grey horse running like it had never run before [2]. For the photo, I wanted to keep a sense of movement in the photograph so I reduced the shutter speed to 1/25 sec and panned the camera to create blur. I think I still maintained enough detail to render the horse clearly.
Sometimes, people will ask me to photograph their horses and on occasion I get quite busy. On one particular day I photographed five different horses and I was already quite tired. But, when I moved onto the last horse I waited for him to do something that pleased me. That’s when he stood and stared at me, almost as if he was waiting for me to something that would impress him instead [3]! I thought it was a largely compelling moment.
Another time, a friend of mine asked me to take some photos of his mare because he wanted to give his daughter a Christmas present. So for this capture I used some lighting on the horse to throw the background into a dark black shade [4]. My wife did everything to make the mare stand in a beautiful pose, but the mare did not respond in the way that we had originally wanted.
When we paused, she turned sideways like a shy teenager and I got this wonderful and rather vulnerablelooking picture of her.
N-photo says
Paulo, these are great shots. The first one that catches our eye is the tracking shot of the grey horse [2].
Your use of dragging the shutter is great because not only can we see the background blurring horizontally, but the movement of its legs shows just how fast it’s moving. That combined with the clarity in the head, neck and body makes it easy to identify exactly what the subject is without any confusion.
By contrast your very sharp image of the two horses greeting each other evokes a sense of connection and natural love [1]. As their noses meet over the fence they appear to be
My wife did everything to make the mare stand in a beautiful pose, but the mare did not respond in the way that we had originally wanted
locked in a longing gaze. The ever-so-slight overexposure of the shot makes the highlights look ethereal and glowing, especially on the white horse and the background of the photograph.
Your use of lighting to get the portraits of the horses inside has also worked well to accentuate the texture of their skin. Both these factors work together to bring the subjects and the lighting together.
In the portrait of the white horse you can make out veins, muscles and bone structure, while the posing looks graceful, elegant and natural [4]. In contrast, the eye contact with the brown horse feels dominant and focused [3]; the kind of focus you’d expect from such a strong creature. This is the kind of stern expression that demands respect, and the side-lighting brings interest towards the centre of the frame.
The eye contact with the brown horse feels dominant and focused