For almost 3,000 years man’s journey has been intertwined with the horse. Award-winning photographer Tim Flach hopes to help document and expand that journey with his first book of equine photography.
Commissioned by PQ Publishing in New Zealand to produce an art book of equine images, Tim has spent the last year traveling the globe and immersing himself in the world of the horse. In the first year of his project Tim has crossed continents in pursuit of equines in their natural environment. He has photographed Haflingers high in the Austrian Alps, Arabians in expansive deserts, Icelandic horses against glacial backdrops and racing Thoroughbreds.
A native to London, England, Tim spends his time working in studios in Los Angeles, New York and London. His passion has always been animals and his overriding aim to evoke emotion. “I want to challenge people’s perspective, force people to reconsider and question why they react in a specific way to what they are seeing,” explains Tim.
With this new project, Tim’s aim is to bring the horse into close focus so that the viewer begins to read the gestures and body language of a horse as we would in a human. He sees his subjects in abstract terms and focuses upon the messages an image can communicate. His photographs evoke sympathy, humor and the unmistakably human emotion: compassion.
Over the past month Tim has been traveling California and the Pacific Coast taking photos for his book. California Riding Magazine’s assistant editor Rebecca Sparenberg had the pleasure of meeting Tim while covering the FEI World Cup Jumping Final in Malaysia. After viewing some of Tim’s work and watching him shoot the last round of jumping at the World Cup, Tim graciously agreed to do an interview.

RS: Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to do an interview.
TF: It’s not a problem, thank you for your interest in my work.

RS: When did you first get into photography?
TF: My background was originally painting. When I was in art school I drew and painted. Photography was just another format for me to express myself. It was a vehicle. When I finished my schooling in 1983, I started taking any type of pictures that would pay the bills.

RS: I have looked at some of your past work and you’ve always had a passion for photographing animals. What motivated you to start photographing horses?
TF: I was always fascinated with the spirit of the horse. I had originally done some projects in the studio with horses. Then I was approached by PQ Publishing. They wanted to know if I was interested in doing a book on horses and it seemed like a great opportunity. Horses are so rooted in our history, culture and our present day. To have the opportunity to see them, and see how I could extend the genre of equestrian photography was too much to pass up.

RS: You don’t shoot a great deal classic shots of horses jumping or running. Instead you try to portray motion and emotion in your work. How did you develop your own unique style?
TF: It’s always difficult to stay unique. I’m always trying to do something new. My work has always been very stylized. What I’m trying to do with this project is merge concepts from my advertising background with the traditional ways people are used to viewing equine photography. Most of my work is very conceptual, it’s ambiguous, there is no clear message. For example, in Kuala Lumpur I did an entire series on blurs. One shot was that of a horse running, but it was only a close-up of the head and you could see every vein and bead of sweat, but the background was blurred.

RS: What have you photographed so far in California?
TF: We have only really started on the States and California. I was just at a place called Spots ‘N Stripes Ranch in Ramona where I photographed miniature horses, zebras and donkeys. We had a mini horse that was only 23 inches high. We shot him next a Great Dane that was 37 inches tall. What I wanted to do was show the scale.

RS: What’s left for you to shoot in California and the West Coast?
TF: Next I’m going to Nevada to meet a trainer and look at wild Mustangs and some Quarter Horses. Then we are heading up north to meet up with Monty Roberts and take some behavior photos. After that I’m going to a Bureau of Land Management gathering, where they are rounding up 1,000 Mustangs. I want to show how they gather them and get some shots of them running in such a large herd. But I also want to come back and do some work with Paint horses and the mules that go through the Grand Canyon. I want to take horses from the abstract to the great, grand natural landscapes, which in their own way are just as abstract.

RS: Can you tell me some of the other interesting places you’ve traveled taking photos for your book?
TF: There have been some incredibly memorable experiences and I’m only in the beginning. The royal yards in the United Emirates were really interesting. We had the opportunity to see the inside of a very different world. A world where the royals would ride in the morning and then go rule the country in the afternoon. It was a world we would never normally have the opportunity to see. Going to Iceland and shooting native horses at four in the morning in the drizzling rain with icebergs in the background was very interesting. It’s all been one amazing experience. I mean being in Iceland was completely unique and a different sort of experience from being in the desert. And I’m sure when I get to Mongolia it will be another experience.

RS: When do you leave for Mongolia?
TF: I leave in September. En route there I’m stopping in Hong Kong, then on to photograph Kertag horses. I want to shoot horses splashing through the marshes. I will be working with a scientist that has been doing work on the Przewalskii horses. I’m going to be with her and taking some pictures. It’s really interesting comparing these horses to the Icelandic horses, not just genetically, but how similar their build is and how they move, their gaits. What I’m finding are all theses small connections. You can almost see how and where people have migrated through the centuries just by watching the small changes in the horses. From the Przewalskii horses in Mongolia to the Icelandic horses, then to the Spanish horses all the way to the U.S. Mustangs.

RS: How is putting together a book different from putting together a regular show?
TF: Normally, I am commissioned to do work and then I do sizable global campaigns. I work from London, L.A. and New York doing campaigns. Each part comes from a different area and when I finish one section I move on. This is my first project of this type. The difference is I have to be more proactive in the way I drive it. I’m working with one subject for a long period of time and trying to see how I can change one subject to offer different experiences.

RS: You’ve talked about how this experience is a journey for you. How is that emphasized in your book?
TF: One thing I really want to emphasize is that the people are equally important as the horses. I wanted people to see these horses like the Icelandic ponies, the Kertag horse and the Haflingers in these grand landscapes, where I was able to make a connection between the scene, the landscape and these horses. You can really get a sense of the history of those particular equine subjects.
In this last shoot I did a series on zebras, mules and donkeys. They’re all shot in the same pose, one leading to the other. It really makes the viewer think about breeding and how we impose things without actually having a person in the shot. It’s about expanding our reality of the equine experience, which is part of the journey. I have a long way to go and recognize that there is a long way to go. There has been a lot of work already done on the equine, and I’m learning from that as well.

RS: What do you hope people take away from your work?
TF: I think the material in the book appeals to a very broad audience. Most photos will have some meaning to people. I want to make pictures that expand people’s experience or give them give faith to find something of themselves that they see in these horses. This book isn’t the typical catalog sort of photography, where you shoot one breed then another. Instead I want people to see how one picture affects another, for people to find smaller images and symbols in the big landscape. To make you think of other images you wouldn’t normally connect with horses.

RS: While covering the FEI World Cup in Malaysia I was told that you donated some of your photography to the Tsunami fund, Force of Nature. How did you get involved in the fund and what was the piece you donated?
TF: I was invited by them to come over and do an exhibit. While doing this project everyone has been so helpful and supportive that I wanted to do something constructive with my work. Something where these images could be used in a positive way. People have gone so far out of their way to help me and I wanted a chance to repay that. They suggested the Force of Nature charity because that is what they had been involved in.
The piece I donated was actually a pair of photos, one of a grey Arab and another of a chestnut Arab, in identical poses against a stable window with a desert background. It played on the idea of the window being a kind of picture frame. The pair sold for $10,000.

RS: What is the most difficult part of being a professional artist?
TF: Well, unless you have some kind of financial backer, there is always a degree of uncertainty. How to balance your financial resources with wanting to take an independent journey as an artist. I think balancing commercial and creativity is an ongoing challenge for all photographers.

RS: When do you expect your book to be completed?
TF: I have to submit my photographs in February of 2008, so I expect it to be out that autumn. I’m about a fourth of the way through what I have to shoot, so I still have a lot of ground to cover and a lot of mistakes to make before I can emerge with something useful.

RS: Tim it’s been great talking with you again. Good luck with the rest of your photo shoot in California.
TF: Thank you!