Credit: Wiebke Haas
Stunning stallions, majestic mares and gorgeous geldings have starred in a photographic project embracing the “beauty and magnificence” of horses.
German animal photographer Wiebke Haas‘ photo series Horse Style features horses and ponies tossing their silky manes for the camera.
Credit: Wiebke Haas
Ms Hass told H&H he loves to photograph horses because of their “beauty and magnificent grace”.
“But there is another reason,” he said. “Horses can be hilarious and I love that too.”
Credit: Wiebke Haas
She took the first image in the series, of Haflinger stallion Mozart, in 2011.
“During the photo session I recognised his whirling mane which I wanted to draw attention to,” Ms Haas said. “By tickling his ears he shook his head in this brilliant way.
Credit: Wiebke Haas
“It’s my greatest passion to tease out nearly human expressions of my horse models.”
Since then Ms Haas photographed nine more horses for the series.
Credit: Wiebke Haas
“I searched for other horses with impressive manes for a photo series,” she said. “It was really fun to work with such different horsey characters.”
Black Andalusian Allaus also features in Horse Style. He learned to shake his head at a hand signal in just five minutes before the photo session.
Credit: Wiebke Haas
Fellow model, Arabian stallion Hafid, enjoyed neighing proudly in the studio while his portrait was taken.
“The most difficult part was to keep the horses straight to the camera,” said Ms Hass. “Most of the time they wanted to move their head to the side or downward.
Credit: Wiebke Haas
“I focused on [capturing] a great face and harmonic choreography of the hair.
“This year I had the chance to work with the fastest compact flash lights by German producer Hensel. Getting every single hair really sharp was no problem any more.”
Credit: Wiebke Haas
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In this week’s magazine, out on Thursday 19 April 2018, don’t miss our special report from the British Dressage Winter Championships, plus full analysis from the Grand National — including expert comment, pictures and more. Read our report from the dressage and showjumping World Cup finals, and in this week’s ‘vet clinic’ we discuss the facts about fitness.
