Colorado-based equine photographer Carol J. Walker has dedicated not just her work but also her life to wild horses. Her beautiful images of the majestic, powerful animals come with undertones of fear and concern; the environments in which wild horses once thrived are increasingly rare. Each strong, poised figure cuts a stunning silhouette amidst the plains and fields. Walker travels the world photographing wild horses, and her minimally altered images have all the evocative detail of their landscapes, the horses themselves iconic symbols of strength and nobility, and of natural and untamable energy.
Walker pushes these common equine associations, alternating between portrait-like photos that seem nearly posed and dynamic shots of horses mid-gallop. These juxtapositions are very powerful: in close-ups, the viewer’s tendency to anthropomorphize animals wins out, and the horses’ features seem almost familiar, but charging over land they become mysterious, perhaps even mythic. These contrasting responses echo Walker’s environmentalist mission: her horses are at once familiar and removed, natural yet otherworldly.