Photographer: Sophie Hüsges
The photographer
Horses have always been a big part of my life. Starting with my first Minishetty Pumuckel, through the Shetty-Welsh mix mare Vivian to my Welsh B gelding Titus, I was able to grow up with the horses at home thanks to my parents. I started riding at the age of 3 and then discovered my passion for carriage driving at the age of 7. With our experienced pony Dragonheart I was able to gain first experiences and successes up to team gold at the European Youth Championships in Poland in 2014.
My father introduced me to photography at an early age and, as a child, I started photographing him and my mother at driving tournaments with his camera. As a result, animals, especially horses and dogs, have always been the focus of my photography.
At the end of 2017 I got my first camera, the Nikon D7100, as a present. With this I went on a photo safari to the Masai Mara in Kenya in 2018, where I ventured into manual photography for the first time and my fascination for wildlife photography was sparked.
Over the years I have photographed a lot of our own animals and my family at tournaments and discovered my passion for the quiet moments, which I particularly enjoy capturing in tournament photography. After my pictures became a bit more professional at the end of 2019, the first requests for tournament photos came in 2020. In 2021 I was allowed to photograph the rhenish team at the German Youth Championships and the German team at the European Youth Championships.
Equipment:
I work with the Nikon D850 in combination with the Sigma 70-200mm f2.8 and the Nikon D7100 in combination with the Nikkor 18-105mm f3.5-5.6.