Send
us your stories and memories.
And photographs, if you have any.
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!
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.
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.
