SWEET PHOTOGRAPHY

Pete, Joanna, Marilyn and Natalie
Thank you to Andrea of Tucana Arabians for taking the photo and also thanks to Tucana Arabians' stallion Vervaldee for posing so beautifully!

Marilyn has loved horses all her life and has ridden off and on from being very young. Peter had developed (pardon the pun!) an interest in photography. When they met at teaching training college in the 1970’s they started to combine their two interests – whilst Marilyn reported on point-to-point races Peter photographed the action. Connections of the horses wanted to purchase copies and Sweet Photography was born! Through riding Marilyn met the equine author Susan McBane who was writing for a magazine called “Stable Management” at the time. Peter became a regular photographer and visited a variety of stud farms and training yards (including Mary Chipperfield’s circus!)  throughout the UK. At the same time the Sweets had become firm friends with Joe and Barbara Houghton who bred Arabians locally. They had gone to visit their stud and Peter took some photos of their home-bred colt Manex who had won at the Arab Horse Society Show as a yearling in 1976. Through them they were introduced to Ian and Annette Hedley, owners of the famous Briery Arabian Stud in the Lake District. Via the Hedleys Peter was invited to be an official photographer at the AHS Shows and Sweet Photography has attended the AHS Annual show for the past 30 years! Regional shows began to be held and Peter and Marilyn have attended most of them from Scottish to the S/W and everywhere in between! Their involvement in Arabians included being on the committee of the North West Group of the AHS for a number of years with Marilyn being Secretary and running the annual show. Today they are part of the organising committee of the very successful “Classic Show” – an ECAHO “C” Show - to be held at South View Equestrian Centre on Sunday July 6th 2008.

Marilyn has been an official photographer at the Arabian European Championships held in Moorsele, Belgium and also at the Elran Cup – another prestigious show held in Belgium.

Sweet Photography have attended Point-to-Points throughout the North West Area for around 3 decades – in 2008 the owners of a winning horse reported their Sweet photos in black and white from the ‘70’s were still admired by visitors to their house! At race meetings Marilyn can be found in the paddock before and after each race and together with Peter capturing the action on course. Their images regularly appear in “Horse and Hound” and in the annual “Bible” of the amateur racing – MacKenzie and Harris’ “Hunter Chasers and Point-to-Pointers” published by Weatherbys Chase.

Although Marilyn and Peter specialise in Arabian horses and point-to-points they have also photographed other breeds and events and are always willing to take on something new!

They have used Canon cameras for many years and now have the upto date Canon digital cameras with a variety of lenses which ensure the best quality results.

Their work continues to appear in books, magazines and newspapers throughout the world. Covering a show or an event Peter and Marilyn do their utmost to capture all competitors at their best and they are non-stop photographing from the beginning to the bitter end of any event they attend! Sometimes their twin daughters, Joanna and Natalie are called in to help out.

Proof images from the events are uploaded to www.sweetphotography.com as soon as possible and can be immediately ordered from there.

Marilyn and Peter have been commissioned to photograph at studs throughout the UK and can be booked to do so at very reasonable rates. Spending time to ensure that their client’s horses are well portrayed is very important to the Sweets.

Peter and Marilyn would like to thank everyone for their support over the years and look forward to seeing clients, both old and new at the 2008 events they will be attending:

19th April Holcombe Pont-to-Point
20th April AHS N Staffs Spring Show
27th April AHS Midlands Spring Show
3rd/4th May AHS N/W Group Show
5th May Shropshire Point-to-Point
17th May AHS Wales and West
18th May N/W Area Point-to-Point
1st June AHS HoCoN
8th June Wessex AHS
14th/15th June AHS Northern Amateur and C Shows
29th June AHS Midland Festival
6th July CLASSIC Show
13th July AHS N Staffs Show
31st July – 2nd August AHS Nationals
23rd/24th August UKIAHS

SWEET PHOTOGRAPHY

LOCHINVER
21 Lymbridge Drive
Blackrod
BOLTON
BL6 5TH

Tel/Fax: 01204 695793

Website: www.sweetphotography.com