I spent the day photographing The British Horse Society NW Dressage Championship at Bold Heath Equestrian Centre. Here are some of my favourite images from the day.

This is the third event I have photographed for The British Horse Society and was a little bit different to the Aintree Summer Camps I’ve photographed. Shooting with the backdrop of Fiddlers Ferry Power Station made for some interesting and moody shots.

I used my Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM and EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM lenses for the shoot, and it was great being able to switch between the two based on a creative decision. It should be fairly easy to work out which was used for some shots.

I’m looking forward to helping out with many more events next year.

Today, I spent a few hours photographing the Open Day at The British Thoroughbred Retraining Centre. The BTRC is a British Horse Society Approved Retraining and Facility Centre, and is one of the most immaculate yards I have visited.

The BTRC hold an Open Day every year, and I can heartily recommend a visit if you are a horse lover like me. It is truly heart-warming to see what they are doing to retrain beautiful racehorses like these, who have reached the end of their racing careers.

I took the photo opportunity as a great chance to try out a new toy, the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM lens. I’m used to shooting at focal lengths of 50mm and above, so opening out to 24mm felt very challenging and unfamiliar to me first time around. However, I do like the results – as in the shot of ‘Fizz’ above.

If you want to find out more about The BTRC and their work, please visit The BTRC website.

Last week I volunteered a day of my time to The British Horse Society to photograph their Northwest Camp at Aintree Racecourse. This is the second time I’ve been one of their official photographers – the last time was in 2016. I got some great pictures second time around, and am already looking forward to next year.

The above images are some of my favourite pictures from this year’s camp.

For the technically curious, I shot all these with my Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM lens at various focal lengths. I think it performed superbly despite the dim lighting conditions in the indoor arenas.

If you like the idea of staying in the jockeys’ accommodation at historic Aintree with your equine friend (they will have to sleep in the stables of course!), then keep your eye on the events section of the society’s website for next year: The British Horse Society.

My Saturday was spent documenting the Aintree Summer Camp 2016 for The British Horse Society. This is my first assignment for the BHS, and I had a wonderful time.

I’ve assembled the images from the event into a British Horse Society documentary project, and plan to build on this as I attend more events in the future.