Project - The White Horses of Wiltshire
Some time ago a friend of mine suggested I embark on a project to photograph all of the white horses of Wiltshire. It seemed like a good idea and so I made a start.
I live in Trowbridge so the closest horse to me is the Westbury White Horse. I can actually see it, at a distance, from my bedroom window.
Now, i’m not a meticulous planner when it comes to photography. Maybe that is something I should think more about (as I found when I went to phtoograph the next white horse), but for now my only plan was to go over to Westbury late in the day and see what the light was like.
As it turned out, it wasn’t at all bad. I first pulled my car over at the bottom of the hill, along the Bratton Road, to see if I could find a decent composition from there. I didn’t. So, I drove up to the top of the hill and walked down the hill a bit to the side of the white horse, and eventually found this view.
Westbury White Horse, Wiltshire
I quite like it. The soft evening light looks warm and view takes in the horse and a small amount of the surrounding area.
Next up I decided to try to capture the White Horse at Alton Barnes. For this one I decided, again with little planning, to visit as the sun was coming up. This is where a bit of planning might have helped as first, I arrived in the dark, not knowing exactly where the horse was and ended up walking the wrong way and missing it completely until the best light had all but gone. So I didn’t get a shot that day.
I returned the following weekend, again, early morning to get the sun rising. This time I knew where the horse was and so walked in the right direction to try to find a good compostion. I found some OK compostions but nothing spectacular. I also realised that actually, sunrise is not the best time of day to photograph this particular horse as the sun rises on the wrong side of the Pewsey Vale. Here’s one image that I took that day, but I plan to return, probably as the sun is setting, in the near furute.
Alton Barnes White Horse, Wiltshire
On that same day though, I did get some interesting shots of the Pewsey Vale. Here’s one of my favourites.
Pewsey Vale, Wiltshire
So far, that is all I have done on the White Horse project but keep an eye out for more updates in the coming weeks.
This project came about from a suggestion from a friend and I am always on the lookout for new ideas, so if you have any please drop me an email.
