White Horses of the Camargue

By Jim Zuckerman

My favorite picture from the horse shoot in France last week is the photo reproduced below. This is what I envisioned in my mind, and this is the picture that eluded me last year. After two days of shooting horses I finally got it. I wanted a tight grouping, great light, the horses had to look mostly white (as opposed to muddy from the marsh) and each animal had to be cleanly visible. If one head blocked another it would be less than ideal. I wanted to convey great action, and the more water spray the better. This is actually a tall order because things happen so fast that every in nanosecond all the factors change, and it’s impossible to study each composition as you take it. You have to shoot fast and hope that the horses stay in focus. In fact, just accomplishing that is a real achievement. The artistry of the shot is a bonus.

We also took the horses to the beach. The advantage of shooting in the surf was that the horses stayed white. The sun was a little too high in the sky for my liking, but it was still low enough (8’oclock am) that it looked good. I shot a lot of images as the horses were taken into the shallow water and then released, and this is my favorite.