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Horseytalk.net Special Interview
with Gay Biddlecombe
 

Photographer and Artist specialising in Horses and other animals.  (Tel: 07850 729035)

 

I used to ride and keep my own horses (as well as a couple of donkeys!) but then I injured my back and my horse, Pickles, died of an heart attack so I gave up riding and took up photography.

As an artist as well as a photographer you have to have a good eye for a picture and although I specialises in horses, pets and wild animals I photograph anything and everything!
Eyes say it All- Taken on the sand dunes in Northumberland. Still in my animal mode.
 
Fancy meeting you here .....Scotland

Animals and landscapes are my speciality and now I mainly shoot with digital cameras though I still use film and colour transparencies. I shoot in colour or black and white depending on the subject. You can see a selection of my work on the Flickr website under my code name Amberlight1.

I was brought up in London and after leaving school I trained as a journalist. I worked on newspapers for 12 years. I didn’t start riding until I moved to Kent when I was about 30. Then we moved to East Sussex and bought 40 acres and built stables so we could buy our own horses.

 

In 1980 I started St George’s Vineyard in Waldron near Heathfield . I was the only woman wine producer in England for 26 years and we became famous because we supplied top restaurants and even No. 10 , Buckingham Palace and the houses of Parliament with our wines. We also exported to a number of countries . Because of the vineyard and then the shop and restaurant as well as organising various events at the vineyard and a wine club with over 2,000 members I didn’t have a lot of time for riding but I used to manage to go out early mainly hacking in the lanes and riding around the vineyard.

Because I had no children to pass the business on to I decided to retire and we moved to West Dean near Seaford in East Sussex three years ago. I joined Seaford Photographic Society two years ago.
Road to the Highlands - Scotland
 
Mirrored Monty - Monty .. my border collier and his reflection on Holcombe beach, Norfolk

Photography is now a passion as well as my painting. I paint on canvas and on silk. With my camera I take animals and wildlife pictures around the world including the Antarctic and Artic but most of my commissions are pets , horses and some farm animals.

As you can imagine animals are difficult to photograph and though posed pictures are easier I like natural photographs better. But its not easy. Animals move about so much and never co-operate when you want them too.

Horses are great. They are so full of character and expression. They can look scruffy and funny or grand and majestic. I like doing close ups too. I have a thing about eyes.They speak volumes.
 

When I used to ride Pickles I used to hack around the lanes but loved cross country and Pickles and I both loved jumping. He was an almost black welsh cob.

He was a real character. Stubborn and strong. But he had such kind eyes and was very handsome. After my back operation my husband was away and I couldn’t look after him and my husband’s horse properly so I asked a friend who had stables to have them both while I recovered. Pickles was getting old but I think he died of a broken heart being somewhere else other than home. It broke my heart too.
Emperors on Ice - Antarctica

See more of Gay's photos here.