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Photographer of the Year – Derriere Equestrian

When Clare Galer, founder, Managing Director and designer of Derriere Equestrian®, put out a request for photographers to shoot their Derriere of the Year (#DOTY16) competition, I was persuaded (by my wife and friends) to put myself forward, and was delighted to be selected as one of four photographers to shoot the 13 models who had qualified for the Final of the #DOTY16. As it turned out on the day, only 2 photographers made it and we both competed for the Derriere Equestrian Photographer of the Year (#PHOTY16)!

With some trepidation, Gill and I arrived at Westgate House in Gloucester, the chosen venue for the Final shoot of the #DOTY16. Immediately I could see that the lighting was going to be a challenge! Two locations in the building had been identified, one in the entrance hallway which has a fabulous set of symmetrical stairs with iron railings and an area in front of big windows. Gill reminded me that it is good to stretch yourself technically – I just hoped I could deliver!

Everyone involved in the shoot were delightful. Despite the fact that it was a competition for both the models  (#DOTY16) and the photographers (#PHOTY16), the whole team worked really well together – even the six judges were friendly!  (Clare and Tim Galer, Catherine Pagnillo-Gordon, Robin Finlay, Gordon Duff and Laura Eve-Thyer)

My first location was in the entrance hall, working in front of the Judges’ Table where they would be observing my interaction with the models. I was able to use both the stairs and an area in front of the Derriere Equestrian marketing stands. Natural light was in short supply so I set up one Nikon SB800 speed-light on a stand with an umbrella triggered with a Phoenix Odin wireless transmitter and receiver.

 

When I moved to the second location. I had strong directional natural light to work with. I just used a low level speed-light in order to put a light spot into the models’ eyes and relied on the natural light to shoot in.

 

 

I enjoyed the day immensely and was delighted to receive the Photographer of the Year (#PHOTY) Winner’s Trophy a few weeks later when the Judges had had time to examine both photographers’ work.

 

Congratulations to Gabriella and Mitch – the winners of #DOTY16 and my thanks to all the other models, helpers and judges for making it such a fun day

The winners and runners up of Derriere of the Year 2016 #DOTY16

https://youtu.be/leFZuDlyWoo

We have a Derrire Equestrian shoot planned for later on in the year and I’ve gone on to photograph Equine Shoots with Gabriella Rose-Prior and Roberto Scalisi.