A Day in the Life of...
...Nico Morgan, Hunt Photographer
Nico Morgan
Nico Morgan is one of Britain’s top professional hunt photographers and is widely recognised by hunting people. He is based at Rutland and specialises in equestrian, wedding and event photography. www.nicomorgan.com
It's very important as a hunt photographer to be in contact with hunts in advance. If I am being sent for a magazine shoot then I will ring the relevant Master and introduce myself some time before the shoot itself. It's also important to ascertain whether it's possible for me to have transport via quad and, if so, to ask if that could be arranged.
Some hunts have specific requirements for photographers too, so it is important to know what those are. Some now insist on me wearing a high-visibility jacket or tabard, and many have restrictions on what images can be taken and which cannot. Some of these are common sense, some differ between hunts.
If I'm travelling I try to arrive in good time on the day itself. This gives plenty of time for introductions and a cup of coffee (or perhaps even stronger). The images I take at the meet will be very different from hunt to hunt, partly because I get to learn what they like but also because the setting, the type of meet and the weather may all play a part.
I won't go into the details of how I photograph the hunt itself.
Everyone is different and my style is my style. My background is in reportage so I try to capture what I see and avoid doctoring images if possible. If the day is grey and misty, that is how I hope to record it. I might include a black and white image or two (if it is not a commission) but that will be it. Most snappers are ferried around but I tend to do a lot of running too. Some concentrate most of their work on hunt servants and hounds while I try to spread my photos across the whole field. The important thing is to think on your feet and adapt as necessary.
Speaking of which, it is very important to talk to the followers and members of the hunt. Form enough of a relationship with the Masters so that you are recognised and known by all. This will mean helping people with gates, ferrying empty glasses at the meet, even scraping the odd faller up and making sure they are alright. Just this afternoon I became an ambulance for a hunt subscriber who had hit the floor so hard they didn't really know where they were, just that they had broken bones!
At the end of the day there is normally a drive home then photos are imported to the computer. I do a quick edit to weed out the repetitions (flicked the motordrive on by mistake, normally!) and the unflattering, then everything is tagged, captioned, cropped and exported to the web (this normally takes an hour or more, depending on the meet). Finally images are filed from my website direct to the client, so there is no need to a DVD.
Nico Morgan