Photo: Maria Falconer, Appleby Fair
Photographing People and Horses
If you, like me, really enjoy photographing moving things, then you will love Appleby Horse Fair, an annual gathering of Gypsies and Travellers in the town of Appleby in Cumbria. It’s the largest Gypsy fair in Europe, taking over the centre of Appleby, and it’s an exciting, colourful event to photograph, whether you like photographing people or prefer horses!
The horses are washed in the river (with washing up liquid!) and trotted up and down the ‘flashing lane’. In the picture above you can see a young lad playing to the crowds, and hoping to impress some of the young women watching. And yes I did have to get into the water to get this picture! Sometimes you have to get a bit wet or muddy to get the angle you want.
Photo: Paul Hill
All About Timing
Photographing horses is a bit like photographing dancers (one of my favourite things to photograph), in the sense that you have to be able to predict where they are going. Fortunately horses usually travel in a forwards manner and are not usually prone to sudden changes in direction. Then you have to consider the background and time the shot for when the two things come together. For instance if you are just after a great picture of the horse and rider, then maybe some blue sky and the riverbank might look good in the background. But if you are photographing the ‘event’ you would probably angle your camera to show the crowd in the background.
Most importantly, keep one eye out to make sure that you don’t get trampled by a horse while you’re framing your shot!
Appleby fair takes place every summer and the main dates in 2025 will be Thursday 5th to Sunday 8th June.
You can find details about the fair on the Appleby Horse Fair website
If you are looking for an event photographer for your event, check out Maria’s event page