Spray & bray

Our apprentice has been champing at the bit to meet horse photographer Astrid Harrisson

- Astrid Harrisson

THE APPRENTICE

NAME: Danniella Edginton

CAMERA: Nikon D500

New Forest local Danniella knows the National Park like the back of her D500 - speaking of which, she's a competent photographer too. She picked up a DSLR for the first time in 2015, and was soon taking it along to various motorbike racing events with her father. When she's not trackside, she's out and about photographing wildlife - and with her knowledge of the locale, she's the perfect candidate for Astrid's equine apprentice.

THE PRO

NAME: Astrid Harrisson

CAMERA: Nikon D850

Astrid is an award-winning contemporary photographer who specializes in horses. She graduated from the Surrey Institute of Art & Design in 2002 and has been a full-time pro since 2006. But it was an impromptu gift - a horse photography book that set her on the bridle path. The author of the book was hosting a workshop in the US, so the then-aspiring equine pro quit her photo-studio day job and the rest is history. See more of her work here: www.astridharrisson.com

The New Forest is known for its ancient woodland, tourist attractions, and native ponies. This National Park's most famous residents number in their thousands; although they're left to roam free, they're not technically wild. New Forest landowners (or commoners) are responsible for the ponies' welfare and, thanks to the park's millions of annual visitors, the breed is quite used to humans. This makes the New Forest pony a particularly suitable subject for wild-horse photographers in training, and is precisely why horse photography pro-Astrid Harrisson decided to meet her student for the day at Bolton's Bench, Lyndhurst, in the heart of the National Park.