How I Shoot: Horses with @lindalaughs How I Shoot is a series...

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How I Shoot: Horses with @lindalaughs

How I Shoot is a series where we ask Instagrammers to tell us about their photo-taking process. This week, @lindalaughs shares her tips for taking photos of horses.

“Horses are very honest and pure. They have a calming effect on me. They respond to feelings,” says Instagrammer Linda Heidema (@lindalaughs), who likes to convey human emotions and expressions through her photos of horses.

Once a week, Linda gets four hours away from her hectic life as a mother and youth justice officer in Groningen, Holland, and drives out to the countryside to photograph animals in the meadow. “I used to ride horses, when I was a young teenager myself, but I had to quit,” she says. “When I discovered Instagram I started photographing nature. I came across the enjoyment of photographing horses by accident.”

Here are Linda’s tips for capturing these calm beings up close:

Philosophy

“I try to portray the horses as an emotion or expression—that’s what I aim for. A horse with its head down triggers an emotion with the viewer. I want people to feel something and I try to make the picture calming because it’s also calming for me.”

Shooting

“I often go out in the morning once a week when I have four hours away from the kids. I do some groceries and cleaning, but I also try to put in an hour of going out with my camera.

“I’m usually in the fields around 9:00 AM, so in winter this can be very dark and in summer it’s already daytime. The best time for me is in the Autumn when I really enjoy the fog and I get to see the sunrise.”

Vantage point

“I enjoy looking for horses and waiting for them, interacting with them without words. Sometimes I try to get a response from the horse by jumping up and down or running around, but mostly it’s just their curiosity that leads them to me, and that’s what I also try to portray: their curiousity and their sensitivity. They are calm and they don’t judge people.

Linda also stresses the importance of safety when spending time around horses: “Remember to never turn your back completely, always keeping an eye on them and don’t walk behind the horse. Keep in mind that it’s a mutual process. And if nothing triggers their curiosity, an apple or a carrot works miracles!”

by via Instagram Blog