You may have seen local artist Steve Bretel out and about at a few shows recently – he’s been helping out at AdventureArt on the few days he can escape from his studio.

He’s just launched a new website for his Pet Portrait business – Animal Visual.

Steve works with all sorts of animals from domestic to farm and wildife, but specialises in Dog Portraits and Equestrian Portraits.

The painting above was made as a Chrismas present for my wife from some photos I’d taken of Teaser, our Dutch warmblood.

Steve’s paintings make a fabulous gift – so if you want to treat someone special (or yourself), please check out his site at animalvisual.co.uk

Orkney Pony Club Mounted Games

The above picture was one of a couple of ours to make it into The Orcadian newspaper in Orkney this week.

The team from Orkney Pony Club qualified for the Horse of the Year show – which will be televised later in year.

Pony Club Games Zone Finals at Lanark

A long and very wet Saturday at the Pony Club Mounted Games finals in Lanark. These were qualifiers for the Horse of the Year show, so a big occasion for all involved.

It was the first time I’d photographed mounted games, and it was a bit of a challenge – it is quite a bit less predictable than showjumping or dressage, and everything happens very fast.  There were also just two of us to capture six lanes of flying pony.

But I was constantly amazed and impressed by what these guys can do on a horse.

Pony Club Mounted Games

Life as an event photographer isn’t always easy – but then neither is taking part.  It was a very wet and very wild day today at the Linlithgow & Stirlingshire Pony Club One Day Event at Dalmeny.

I was just covering the showjumping – and yes at one point it was so bad that everyone ran for cover in the nearest horsebox.

And yet we also had some beautiful weather  – a proper Scottish summers day.

Lanark & Upperward Pony Club Cross-Country 2010

A lovely day sitting in a warm field near Douglas in Lanarkshire shooting the LUPC  Cross-Country.  Or at keast it was lovely once the morning drizzle let up.

Lanark & Upperward Pony Club Cross-Country 2010

Fife Hunt Pony Club ODE at Scone

I was photographing the showjumping at the Fife Hunt Pony Club ODE at Scone today.  They had a lot of competitors which made for a long day, but it all seemed to go off very well.

Fife Hunt Pony Club ODE at Scone

Adventure Art will be attending the Fair City Dog Training Club Agility Show at Scone Palace on the 9th of May – Saturday only – to photograph the agility competition.

I won’t be able to cover more than one ring at a time, so if you are not in that ring and would like a shot of your dog competing, please let me know when and where you will be on.  Similarly if you have any special requests e.g. your dog in the weaves or contact equipment rather than jumping, please ask and I’ll see what I can do.

I’ll also be taking some portraits between and after classes, so if you would like a portrait shot of your dog (with or without rosettes!) please come and speak to me to arrange a suitable time.  Portraits at events are taken on the same basis as all other event photos – you have no obligation to buy, just purchase the shots you like from the website as normal.

If you would like to arrange a private portrait shoot on another day for your dogs (and you can combine with some friends if you wish), again please come over for a chat or drop me an email.

This handsome chap turned up on our doorstep this morning, so I decided to do a quick dog portrait session while we tried to track down where he was from.

– Hello, is that the Mill Farm?

– Yes

– I don’t suppose you’ve lost a sheep dog have you? We found one at our back gate this morning.

– Oh, yes, the boys said they were missing one this morning

– A black and white Collie?

– Yes. Emm… do you have a bitch in heat?

– Yes, I think Skye might be.

– Ah, that’ll be Joe then. I’ll send someone to collect him.

I’ve just tracked down another usage of one on my  stock photographs sold through Alamy (er, yes, I was googling myself).

This shot, taken inside The Apartment Bar in Belfast appeared in the January/February 2009 issue of Virtuoso Life, “the flagship magazine of Virtuoso member travel advisors”.  Apparently Virtuoso is the industry’s leading network of luxury travel agents.

It is not the most exciting shot, but it is probably an unusual angle on a pretty common subject.  And for this article, is perfect for demonstrating that Belfast bars are not all about Guinness and old men in corners with fiddles…

This photograph was taken on the same photo shoot as my favourite takeaway restaurant photo (which sold again yesterday).

I’ve just uploaded a gallery of the cutest puppy portaits – this is Murphy, a new dog in our village.  He’s some sort of collie/terrier cross – he’s a rescue dog, so no-one is quite sure.

Anyway he was a great subject for a puppy photo session.  Of course I did suffer the usual pet photographers problem of a lick on the lens, and then Murphy dancing on my head rather than posing for the camera.