I suddenly learned a lot about equestrian. I must admit, when watching the Olympics, I usually give at most 5 minutes of my attention. That’s what happens in our ignorance….we fail to appreciate the complexity and beauty of the sport. Kind of like the uninitiated wondering why 22 grownups would chase a ball on a field. But sitting beside Claire who’s into horse-riding (like many caucasians I know), I got a detailed rundown on human-horse interaction. I’ll never look at equestrian the way I did before. It’s actually beautiful the way the rider controls the horse.

The most bizarre thing during the shoot was the filming of an accident scene just outside the fence. It involved a car ramming into barricades, minus the Hollywood-type pyrotechnics. But it was enough to shock and traumatize the horses. So we had to stop when the camera outside was rolling. What made matters worse was they had to do a few takes and we could only shoot in between takes. So it went shoot, shoot, stop, bang….shoot, shoot, stop, bang, shoot.

Setting up the obstacles before shoot

Like shooting on a beach

The shoot was fairly straightforward but nevertheless challenging. For one, we can’t do many reshoots. The horse needs to rest for another competition, so we have to get the shot we want fast. For another, using the 5DMk2 on a horse charging at you and flying across sideways, can be very tricky in terms of focusing. This is where back-button focusing is a clear winner. Focus on one point, fire away, and pray you got the shot. The 5D just does not come close to the speed of the 1D. But I needed the Mpix. Throw in the ‘accidents’ happening outside and losing light fast, there were enough complexities to the shoot. But we got the shot, and I got to know so much more about the sport.

With the erection of new facilities for the Singapore Equestrian Federation, hopefully we can see more locals learning this sport. It’s going to be more accessible to the public, especially school kids. That’s going to be a big boost for the sport in Singapore.