Local photographer achieves international acclaim
Fiona Moore, a specialist equine photographer based in Staffordshire has reached the final of the fiercely contested Image of the Year Competition hosted by The Guild of Photographers.
The Guild of Photographers is a highly respected UK based association for photographers, which also welcomes members from oversea, too. Each year it runs an online monthly photographic competition, judged by internationally respected judges, with awards given to the very best of entries. During 2024 alone, the competition attracted around 10, 000 entries.
It has recently been announced that from all the entries across the year, the guild’s judges have selected 10 images in their respective categories, to go forward to the annual Image of the Year Final. The photographs selected by the judges really are the best of the best, and four of Fiona’s equine photographs have been selected in the ‘Equine Image of the Year’ category.
Guild Director Lesley Thirsk said: “One of the guild’s aims is to drive standards and creativity amongst photographers. Our competition certainly does that, for the standard of the entries we see each month is quite staggering. To have an image recognised by the guild in the monthly competition is difficult enough, so to have an image selected as being one of the best in a category for the end of year final is without doubt an incredible achievement, and shows just how talented the selected photographers are.”
Fiona said: “I am absolutely over the moon to be considered for Equine Image of the Year. Photography combines two huge passions of mine, as I am also a horse owner and equestrian behind the scenes. I joined The Guild of Photographers at the start of 2024, so I am utterly thrilled with being selected by the judges and I cannot wait to celebrate with all of those fellow talented photographers at the Gala Evening in a few weeks’ time!
"All of my selected images, apart from ‘Spots upon Spots’ (the portrait of the horse and dog) are all photographs taken during my client’s photoshoot sessions of their beautiful equine friends. I am particularly proud of ‘Spots upon Spots’ as this was a creative model-call shoot that I conducted. The idea to have a matching equine and canine in a portrait session, had been in my head for quite some time, and it took a lot of organising and logistical work, so I was utterly thrilled when the photographs produced were exactly what I had envisioned, and the judges recognising my efforts, awarding it a Silver award within their monthly competition and putting it forwards for Equine Image of the Year, was truly the cherry on top.
Every year I try to do some fundraising, at the start of the year, for an equine charity. This year, I am undertaking a fundraising event for the Retraining of Racehorses Charity. If you own an ex-racer, and would like to help fundraise, please see my social media pages for further information".
