Horses, Lobsters, and a Golden Chopper

Last week was nothing if not varied. I started off with a shoot with Irish international eventing rider, and Olympic hopeful, Camilla Speirs in Dublin. It's the first shoot of an ongoing commission by Horse and Hound magazine to shoot a series of portraits of riders who'll be competing in the equestrian sports at London 2012. As usual, the shot can't be shown until it's been published, but here's a picture of me at work. Wondering what the massive white things are? Waterproofing against the light drizzle in the form of empty horse-feed bags. All I can say about the shot is it's really rather special, and very different from anything I've shot before.



From there it was on to the Raleigh Headquarters just outside Nottingham. I got to spend the day in their warehouse looking at all sorts of interesting and historic bikes, including Reg Harris's silver medal winning bike in the 1948 Olympics, and a prototype carbon fibre bike made slightly ahead of its time in 1968. Best of all however was a gold plated Raleigh Chopper, made to commemorate the millionth chopper ever made. Some of the Raleigh pro team were visiting at the same time before heading off to a training camp. The sight of this bike made their day, as it did mine.


And lastly, on Thursday it was off to the Isle of Wight to photograph another Eventer for Horse and Hound, this time it was Australia's Sam Griffiths, Dorset resident. We photographed him in a few different locations, culminating in a somewhat surreal shot in a seafood restaurant on the coast. Again, I can't give the shot away, but I'd like to thank Sam for being such a great sport and agreeing to some rather off-the-wall shoot ideas. It really is one of the most beautiful and serene locations I've come across in the UK, and I hope to be back there soon. If you're interested, it's The Boathouse restaurant in the very aptly named Steephill Cove, near Ventnor. The proprietors, Mark and Vanessa really went out of their way to help, so a massive thankyou to them. If you're wondering why I liked it so much, have a look at the sunset from the restaurant...


Next, it'll be off to Holland again, this time for dressage rider Adelinde Cornelissen. Also, I'm looking forward to two days embedded with a team during the classic season opener, Het Nieuwsblad in Belgium.

In the meantime, I'll be enjoying some well-earned time off.

Francesco Moser

So I went to Italy on Wednesday to shoot a portrait of Francesco Moser. The snow was pretty awful. This was the scene when we landed.

You'll have to wait for Pro Cycling to publish the shots, but in the meantime, have a picture of Moser's little animal friends that run around his vineyard.

What you can see though, is this shot of the set up... Can't wait to show you the portrait.

As I sit here, the snow's now falling in London. I have a flight to Dublin booked tomorrow. Fingers crossed it'll manage to leave Gatwick.

PS Massive update to my website, here: www.tomsimpsonphoto.co.uk