Horses and animals have been a huge part of Alice's life since childhood, along with her desire to spend hours drawing, painting, creating sculptures of horses and photographing wildlife.

 

 

Having grown up riding since the age of three, later studying an Hons Degree in Equine Science at Oxford Brookes University, and more recently in the last 10 years successfully training her own homebred ponies to a high level, her desire to increase her equine knowledge never tires and Alice is also a qualified Equine Sports Massage Therapist. 

 

Alice also pursued her artistic interests intensely throughout school up to 'A' level, followed by a foundation year at the Pittville Art College in Cheltenham, before expanding her knowledge further by travelling with the John Hall History of Art course to Venice, Florence & Rome.

Having discovered at Pittville that students were encouraged to express more 'wacky' or 'modern' styles, Alice realised studying art at University would be an uphill struggle for her traditional style. Although art was her first choice, instead, she decided to follow her other passion and further her understanding of equine anatomy through the Equine Science degree at University, whilst pursuing art and photography in her own time. 

At 21years old, while still at Oxford, she would spend her weekends and summer holidays drawing horse portrait commissions and producing freelance articles and photographs for the Polo Times Magazine. She started out covering the 'Pony Power' page for the publication, which entailed interviewing and photographing the top high goal players with their favourite polo ponies. The Polo Times soon discovered Alice had a talent for producing quality polo action images. Her photographs were used to accompany editorial pieces in the magazines, as cover shots and subsequently led to her providing polo images for national newspapers, international polo publications and being invited to cover numerous polo events including Royal days.

Although, diverted from her path of a degree in Art, the knowledge gained with the Equine Science degree, paired with her riding experience and subsequently learning to play polo in exchange for helping out at the Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club, has given her a deeper understanding of both subject and sport. This is a unique benefit, combined with an artistic eye, she is able to consistently capture superb equine images and her knowledge of the game also allows her to film the high goal polo games for Pololine which is often broadcast live.

 

  

 

Whilst following a successful career in polo action photography early on and becoming one for the leading photographers in the sport, it has only been in the last 10 years that Alice sought a deeper connection with her artistic roots to create Fine Art Photographs. Creating these images is a way to express her love of horses and her own ponies have greatly influenced her early works.

 

 

Alice's Best Known Images

The image of 'Nicotina' (the polo pony mare with a rawhide halter), was one of Alice's first ponies and this image was sold as a Fine Art print in 2005. It has featured as Polo Club centre pieces in Thailand 'Tropillas in Colour'and California, in top London galleries, Ralph Lauren Home and private homes around the world. Nicotina was retired from polo and Alice subsequently bred and trained three of her offspring for polo including Havana, the mare in Alice's profile picture above. Not only is the print of 'Nicotina' an aesthetically pleasing image which people adore, it holds many personal memories.

The ability to create works of art through her photography, knowing what brings expression to an image, means that her most powerful photographs bring a sense of awe at the equine form. These distinctive prints are earning her an ever growing following.

Another of her favourite pieces is the 'Tropillas'. Probably her most famous piece to date, it was gifted to HRH Prince Harry by the Singapore Polo club in 2017. This image was taken in Argentina, a place that holds many fond memories for Alice. She has returned almost every year since 2003 to photograph the Argentine Open.

The Tropillas image was taken at a traditional gaucho festival. These events, full of authentic gauchos (Argentine cowboys), are really something spectacular to experience and this has been captured in this image. The angle taken from above really enhances the atmospheric scene with such an array of different coloured Criollo ponies galloping through the dust during the competition. It truly is an unusual and special image that captivates you. Creating these art pieces, Alice is moving quickly towards establishing herself as a Fine Art Photographer. More recently she is focusing on certain new Fine Art images as Limited Edition prints, making them more special for collectors.

 

 

Alice also offers a small selection of other equestrian and rural scenes and also African wildlife prints. Africa had a big impact on her, it's a magical place. The images were taken in Limpopo, Botswana and latterly the Masai Mara, Kenya on an unforgettable riding safari led by the late Tristan Voorspuy. A larger than life character, Tristan had endless enthusiasm for conserving the local wildlife and showing his guests the wonders Africa had to offer. On an old fashioned, tented safari trip, Alice travelled with her cameras to take home photographs of the incredible wildlife experienced. Greatly influenced by Tristan, she was left with incredible memories and a lasting appreciation of the magnificent animals encountered. To help this worthy cause a percentage of any private sales of Limited Edition African prints will be donated to the Tristan Voorspuy Conservation Trust.

 

Alice has also had work published in:

The Daily Telegraph, The Times, The Financial Times, Horse & Hound, PQ International, Polo Times, Hurlingham, The Polo Magazine, Pololine, Country Life, Berkshire Life, Polo Players Edition, Sidelines Magazine, Jodhpur Polo Magazine, Polo & Polistas, El Federal Polo, Polo Mundial, La Dorrego, Clarin Newspaper, CAP, Chukka, New Style, PACE, Polo Barbados, St. Moritz Polo Magazine.

Books: Playmaker Polo by Hugh Dawnay and Polo Around the World by Javier Bustinza, How To Look Cool Whilst Learning Polo by Steve Thompson, The Equine Tapestry by Lesli Kathman, Horse Colour Explored by Vera Kurskava.

Alice also does interviews and writes articles for several of the above publications to accompany her pictures.

Although, predominately covering high goal polo events in the UK and Argentina, photography has taken Alice to many breathtaking locations, including the thrilling atmosphere of St. Moritz, where snow polo is played on a frozen lake, and sun soaked Sotogrande and its fabulous light. There are many images in the archives of her travels to Buenos Aires, Kenya, Moscow, Wyoming, New Mexico, La Pampa, St. Moritz, Sotogrande, Dubai and India.

 

 

 

Alice's style comes from years of experience shooting images of animals moving at speed and her attention to detail. She seeks pretty natural light combined with a scene or subject that creates an exciting or artistic composition. Then her talent is to encompass all or part of those elements to create a dynamic image full of visual pleasure.

Care is taken to personally select only the very best images and then use her skills as an artist to bring out the features and life of an image in the post processing. A raw file from the camera may appear quite flat in comparison to the reality so this is a hugely important part of the process ensuring the scene that inspired the shot translates to the print. When done right the image will have more impact than the reality as the moment is caught for eternity.

Rainy days also often make for good polo action shots. On the occasions when the crisp clear light combines with the gleaming wet coats of the horses and mud splattered whites of the players, rain quite often brings a whole new atmosphere to action shots.

Having used Canon cameras her entire career, they have been her trusted companion on many shoots. Her current model is the Canon R5 accompanied by a 7D. The 70-200mm lens is a favourite for horses portraits, however, although not the biggest sports photography lens, the most versatile piece of equipment that has been used for many of her best pieces is the canon 100-500mm - this one is never left behind when travelling abroad. It enables her to capture the close up chaos as well as mid-field action and portrait detail. Other photography experience includes motor racing at Brands Hatch, the Dakar Rally in Argentina, racing, hunting, jumping.

 

 

It's of vital importance to Alice that all of her images are professionally printed on top quality papers, materials or canvas. Limited Editions are printed on 315g Hahnemühle German Etching unless specifically stated. The paper or medium used will always be specified on the Certificate of Authenticity along with the print run for Limited or Special Editions.

Quality framing is another essential element of the process to display a Fine Art Print to its full potential. For several  years Alice has worked with the professional framers, Ultimat Frames, a trustworthy company who are used by many professional photographers and artists. they are well known for their exceptional quality of work and efficient worldwide shipping.