Alex is a jockey and sadly lost her favourite horse Country Tide. She contacted me wanting a portrait to help ease the pain of losing him. She had a lovely photo of the two of them but it was taken inside a stable via a mobile phone and wasn't really sharp or clear enough for me to create a good portrait from.

She had other clearer photos of Country but she really loved this photo which shows the connection the two of them had.

I knew it would be difficult but I could see how much it meant to her and suggested that if she could find a similar horse I could come and take some extra photos .With those to help I was able to create their portrait although it certainly wasn't an easy task!

Below is the original photo .

The original reference photo -

From looking at other photos of Country I could see that this photo didn't really do him justice. He looks really dark and drab here. You can't see his eye, or any of the structure of his head and Alex's face is all overexposed.