The image that Severina Roth sees through her camera lens is a picture of trust. An elegant horse and owner breathe side by side in a posture bespeaking complete ease, camaraderie, and affection.
Roth, 44, of Limburg, Germany, has built a portfolio out of magnificent moments between beautiful horses and their owners. Born in Frankfurt, Roth is trained as a dental assistant, works in accounting for a local business, and takes photographs as a part-time job.
She is the mother of two sons and she describes photography as her love and her passion.
Roth’s love for photography goes back to her childhood, but she got her start in horse and human photos in 2015 when a friend asked her to photograph her with her horse. It was then that Roth was hooked. She knew she wanted to take photographs for the rest of her life.
“Horses are beautiful animals, so majestic and proud,” she told The Epoch Times.
Of all the horses she is familiar with, Roth is particularly fond of cold-blood horse breeds, generally known as work or draft horses with great strength and stable tempers.
“But of course, I also love the Frisians, Spaniards, and Iberian races with a lot of mane.”
Working with these exquisite, noble creatures and their owners has resulted in the number of stunning images that grace Roth’s portfolio, but working with animals also brings some challenges. Roth describes horses as “flight animals.” In spite of their noble size, they will try to flee if they are threatened or frightened.
“Trust is an important word,” she says.
In her career, Roth has had horses run during a shoot. She remembers a session when the horse was frightened in the forest, causing the owner to fall. The injuries were so severe that the owner was picked up by a rescue helicopter. Since then, Roth will never again photograph a horse completely free of a halter.
While challenges like these have come up working with animals, Roth’s journey has led her to know many great horse-and-human teams whose strong bonds of trust have outshone the challenges.
She has worked with pairs that she likens to dogs and their owners, where the relationship even enables them to do tricks together. Having seen in action the profound bonds of confidence between these magnificent horses and their owners, Roth tries to show those beautiful moments in her photographs.
When asked what she wants to convey through her pictures, she said that she tries to “unite and capture the beauty of man and horse.”
“I show what I saw and felt during a shoot… I show my eye,” she added.
Roth’s eye continues to change, too. After capturing so many great bonds between horses and humans, she is now focused on character-themed works with horse and human subjects, such as her recent series on Vikings.
“There will be a lot more to come,” she said. “I’m very creative right now and always have new ideas.”
As her ideas flow, and more photographs are taken, there are a few stipulations to the process. The horses must be trained. “Otherwise, a shoot will not be fun,” Roth said.
And, very rarely does Roth photograph horses apart from their companions. “Eighty percent of the time you can see the owner with her own horse in my pictures,” she said.
While not as common, there are odd times when she uses human models. In those cases, trust remains just as vital an element. Roth may use what she calls “steady horses” who she knows will be at ease with a stranger.
“Even a horse has feelings and doesn’t want to be touched by everyone,” she said.
While Photoshop and Lightroom help Roth to get the best out of her photos after she captures her magnificent moments, it is her keen eye that searches them out. And when her work is done, the beauty and connection of her subjects are conveyed in clear focus, a gift from Roth’s eye to our own.
