March 2023. Terschelling, The Netherlands

In March 2023, she stood in the dunes of Terschelling, unhurried, in the middle of the winter grazing season. I sat for a while by the small dune lake, watching her and her companions in the herd.

This is Eska. That is what she is called at Stal de Prairie on Terschelling. Her official name is Silfurkolla frá Fitjum, a silver dapple mare born in 2007.

She walked slowly toward another horse, a brief moment of contact. Then to a tree at the water's edge, where she rubbed herself against it for a moment, and moved on along the bank, gradually drifting a little closer in my direction. She stopped. Stood there half asleep. That is how it stayed for a while.

Then there was a moment when everything lined up. She turned her head slightly, ears forward. I followed her gaze and saw cyclists far away on the shell path, but I already knew I had to make the photograph, because in that moment my heart skipped a beat: her posture, the light, her coat, the landscape. Everything felt right at once.

For me this is a photograph that shows what I do, and what I want more of.

Read more about this adventure on Terschelling in my field notes

IPPA 2023 — Silver Distinction