In the frame Photos allow player to combine passions Words and photos by Alice Gipps
Alice Gipps has spent her life riding and working with horses, whether breeding, training, playing, drawing, writing about or photographing them. Her knowledge of horses and polo has helped her become a talented photography, allowing her to combine her artistic side with her love of horses and polo. She holds a 3-goal women’s rating, a 0goal mixed rating and a 1-goal arena rating. She shares her story here: Growing up on a farm in Wales, my love for horses and photography started at an early age, riding a naughty Shetland pony and borrowing my father’s Canon camera to photograph wildlife and the farm animals. Although I went on to study Equine Science at university, weekends and summer holidays were spent drawing horse portrait commissions, producing freelance articles and polo photographs while learning more about everything to do with polo by helping at the Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club in exchange for lessons. My first commission was to cover the ‘Pony Power’ photographs and interviews for the UK publication “Polo Times” and it snowballed from there nearly 20 years ago. What started out as a hobby turned into a career, with images subsequently sourced for cover shots, published in international polo magazines, books, websites and national newspapers along with invitations to cover Royal polo events. Knowledge gained from the Equine Science degree, and awareness of the game from playing polo has given me a deep understanding of both subject and sport, both valuable assets that have contributed towards my career as a polo photographer. For many years, I spent time perfecting my skills shooting polo action, which is always an exciting challenge to capture the most dramatic moments 42 POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N
Alice Gipps with Havana
