Editorial Photography

Equestrian Photography

Francesca, one of our brides from a few years back whom I have remained friends with via the wonders of social networking recently contacted me to arrange a shoot for her and her new dressage horse. With several sessions cancelled due to the unpredictable British weather we finally got together for the shoot earlier this week. With a bit of colour on the trees, a dry day and some reasonable light everything was looking good for the photo session. Bube her new horse, a dressage champion however was not so keen, he is naturally a pro in the arena but not such a pro at having his picture taken. However, with a few cheeky noises from me and a little gentle persuasion from his boss we got there in the end.

Francesca runs Sunhill Stud in Gloucestershire, the heart of good riding country. Francesca has achieved a number of qualifications, including a Flathorse trainers license and a Lady riders License as well as being awarded a 1st Level Riding Instructor Qualification. More about Francesca and her wonderful horses can be found by clicking here.

Here are some of my favourite images from the session

I think Francesca liked the images as she has just ‘Facebooked’ me the word AMAZING! She is getting a lot of comments from her Italian family and friends on her Facebook page about the pictures – If only I could understand Italian!

Please do get in touch if you would like some pictures of you and your horses for publicity or just for yourself. info@marklordphotography.com

The Blacksmith of Blackwell, Derbyshire

After my shoot with The Farming Life Centre based in Blackwell, Derbyshire I headed across the courtyard to see if I could take some pictures of Darren the resident Blacksmith. Darren informed me he has had a few photographers take pictures of him over the years and I can see why – I could have spent all day chatting to him and photographing him working at his forge and anvil. But with Mrs Lord in the car and a 3 hour journey back home I could only spend about 10 minutes with him and his resident cat!

Here are some of my favourite pictures from the shoot.

The Farming Life Centre, Blackwell – photographed for the Prince’s Countryside Fund

Earlier this week I was up early and heading up north to Bakewell, not for a tart but to meet a gentleman who works for The Farming Life Centre to photograph him and the work he does for the Prince’s Countryside Fund. We arranged to meet at Bakewell cattle market to take some photographs there before moving on to a nearby farm. Jonathan met me and after a brew and a chat in the canteen I set to work taking some pictures around the cattle market. Jonathan’s role is to help farmers in need of assistance in the local area, this can be anything from computer problems to livestock management.

Jonathan is the gent in the middle at the top of this compilation of images.

On an interesting note, the farmer holding his arm out above is holding a one pound coin. This is called luck money and he is the seller of the sheep currently being auctioned and  will give this money to the winning bidder of his sheep once the hammer goes down. So, anyone who wins 20 lots of sheep at auction will also walk away with £20 for a few well deserved pints down the local that night!

After the auction we headed up to a nearby farm who Jonathan works with.  After meeting the lady from the farm I got taken around meeting some of the animals and workers, one who was fixing an old tractor (worker not animal!) A perfect photo opportunity, I thought, so we wheeled the tractor forward a bit to get some light on it and I did some nice portraits of the chaps with the tractor. Here are some of my favourite images from the shoot on the farm.

Finally we arrived  at The Farming Life Centre for a well deserved cuppa and a massive cookie in the 1950’s style kitchen with manager Julia Cook. The reason for the 1950’s style kitchen is the centre holds social groups for retired farmers in the area and having old objects around helps them to reminisce about the good old days. After a few pictures around the courtyard of the staff and I  headed back home. Well, nearly, I just had to pop over the yard and have a chat with the resident Blacksmith for a few pictures….. (to follow soon)

To find out more about this brilliant organisation please visit The Farming Life Centre by clicking here.

‘Did I have a Bakewell Tart’ you ask? Drive 300 miles and not try a Bakewell? What do you think? 🙂

Sherston Old School – My First Prince’s Countryside Fund Project

A couple of weeks ago I photographed my first commission for the  Princes Countryside Fund, a Victorian School in Sherston, Wiltshire. The school had closed in 2005 when a new school was built for the children of the area. The old school sat  empty with the fear of it being converted into flats until it was acquired by the village by Sherston Old School Community Interest Company (SOSCIC) and Wiltshire Council gave planning permission that allowed the building to be used to provide a range of goods, services and activities for the good of the community. With the help of grants including one from the Princes Countryside Fund the school is now open with a bustling community spirit and includes a fabulous Post Office and general stores, office space for IT and marketing companies, a wine seller and a group of hair dressers soon to move in.

To find out more about Sherston Old School project please click here.

#HenleyShow – Ploughing Match, Dunsden

Last weekend I put on my wellies and took the family to a field in South Oxfordshire. With family celebrations on we had my parents staying for the weekend so what better place to take Mum and Dad than to a ploughing match – Mum loves heavy horses and Dad loves an old tractor!

This was a new event for me to photograph but being a country boy I have had my fair share of mud in the past. I’m currently building a portfolio of more country based images alongside my portrait and wedding work and have been busy working on several themes over the last year.

Here are some of my favourite images from the day. Photographing at shows is always tricky if you are trying to get a timeless looking image as there is always some plastic fencing in the background or a modern motor vehicle but on Sunday I did manage to get some more vintage looking images.

For those that competed in the show please have a look at my Photobox Gallery by clicking here for more photographs of the event.

White Saturday…

Not content with one Lemongrove event last week I was back in Reading last Saturday to photograph the Todd White event. As popular as ever the gallery was very busy with collectors of his work many of whom got to meet him and many a lucky fan got a characature drawn of themselves by the man himself. Those of you unfamiliar with Todd’s work please click here.

To my surprise he was the illustrator for Spongebob Squarepants, a familiar character for those younger people out there. There were a few children at the event that left with a beaming smile on their face and a Spongebob sketch under their arm.

Here are a few of my favourite images from the event….

…..and the biggest kid of them all…

Mr Lord with Mr White and a sketch!

 

 

 

Official Photographer For The Prince’s Countryside Fund

I am thrilled to have been asked to be the Official Photographer for The Prince’s Countryside Fund after doing some work for them earlier this year. I will now be photographing the projects they have funded all over the UK and look forward to a long and successful working relationship with them.

I will be starting on the projects very soon so please keep a look out on http://www.marklordphotography.me for projects I have worked on. There are many interesting projects from upland farmers on the Yorkshire Moors, hedge laying on Exmoor, community pub on the Norfolk Broads and a project on saving the Hampshire Hog in the New Forest to name a few.

Rural life and its people has always been a big part of my life and much of the inspiration for my photography so you could say I’m like a pig in mud to be offered this work!

To find out more about The Prince’s Countryside Fund and the worthwhile projects they have helped please click here.

A post would not be the same without a picture so I found this in my archives of some pigs in mud!