There’s something about being at the stables with a camera that I really enjoy.

It’s not just about getting the perfect horse portrait. In fact, some of my favourite photographs are often the ones that happen in between the obvious shots — a horse looking over a stable door, a quiet moment while being groomed, the movement of a mane, or simply the way the light falls across the yard.

That’s what I wanted to bring into the photography workshop at the stables.

Working with horses is very different from photographing a person. You can’t always ask a horse to stand in exactly the right place, turn its head or give you the expression you want. You have to watch, wait and be ready.

And sometimes, of course, the horse has completely different ideas!

For me, that is part of the fun.

During the workshop we looked at how to make the most of the surroundings rather than simply turning up and taking a series of posed portraits. The stables, the yard, the doors, the textures and the natural light all become part of the photograph.

I always encourage photographers to look around them.

It might be something as simple as a horse standing in a doorway, the detail in an eye, a beautiful mane, muddy hooves or the relationship between a horse and the person caring for it.

Those little details can tell a story.

We also talked about working with the light and positioning ourselves so that the background helps rather than distracts from the horse. Small changes in where you stand can make a surprisingly big difference.

But the technical side is only part of it.

I want people on my workshops to become more confident with their own photography and, most importantly, to start seeing photographs rather than simply taking photographs.

That comes with practice.

You start noticing the light. You begin anticipating what the horse might do next. You stop worrying quite so much about getting everything perfect and start looking for those unexpected moments.

And that is usually when the really lovely images appear.

A day at the stables with horses, cameras and plenty of opportunities to experiment makes for a pretty good photography workshop in my book.

There’s always something happening — even when it looks like nothing is happening at all.