This is a somewhat overdue official announcement…. I am no longer a show photographer! (Just in case you hadn’t noticed!) It really should have been written last July after the British Masters at Southview but alas the Summer got into full swing and somehow here we are… It has all been quite timely though in some sense though as I have just this week launched my new website and have some other (soon to be revealed) exciting news to come!

The decision to stop photographing shows was not one taken lightly. They have been hard work over the past 5 years but I owe a lot to them and have had some great times and met so many wonderful people along the way. However, with an ever-increasing demand for my Portrait (Horse & Rider / Family & Animal / Horse At Liberty etc. Photo Shoots) and Wedding work, something had to give.

First and foremost I am very grateful to shows for getting to know so many lovely people and their horses in the North West. I’m going to be honest here and this time 5 years ago as I was getting ready to launch Ciara Doone Rush Photography I knew about 2 people in the whole of the North West with horses! Shows opened the doors for me into a whole new world, one which I couldn’t really imagine not being in these days. At this point I have to offer a huge thank you to Barry & Wendy from Tushingham Arena for welcoming me and giving me the opportunity to start photographing shows on a regular basis. (I still miss Wendy’s excellent butties and cups of tea in between classes!)

From there it expanded into photographing shows at Reasheath Equestrian Centre, for various Riding Clubs, Show societies, competitions such as the BYRDS championships and eventually to the prestigious International shows run by Southview Arena. However last Summer I decided to call it a day with the shows and focus on where my heart really lies. This is with what I consider to be the more creative and personal side of photography, Portraits and Weddings.

Shows could be great fun and it was exhilarating at times to be in the ring especially with the top guys at Southview. They became more and more social as time went on and I am forever grateful to those clients who purchased images whatever the competition and came back time and time again. However, shows can also be gruelling days with occasionally not much reward at the end of it. Days of 12-13 hours in the ring became quite normal with unimaginable workloads prior to and immediately after the shows. (Being a complete perfectionist doesn’t help either!)

There are also sadly too few days in a weekend and with the majority of my Photo Shoots and Weddings also demanding my time not to mention the odd weekend required for my personal life it all just came to a head last Summer and I decided to call it a day. Occasionally I miss the buzz of being in the middle of a big show but most of the time I’m so happily wrapped up in the middle of a Photo Shoot or Wedding that it doesn’t even cross my mind.

Where am I going with all this you ask?! Firstly I wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone I have met through shows! A thank you to the clients who have gone on to book me for a Photo Shoot or their Wedding. Thank you to the clients who bought images from me time and time again and thank you to the venues who I worked with and made it all possible.

Secondly, in light of launching my new website this week I am in the process of shutting down my old one which ultimately means all 93,526 show images from 2015, 2016 and 2017 which are currently up there will be gone by the 16th of March! Fear not I will be keeping these in my offline archives for the time being and they will still be purchasable but ultimately more difficult to access and subsequently there will be an admin fee for doing so. So from today until the 15th of March all images are available HERE ON MY WEBSITE for HALF PRICE. Enter the code ‘End of an era’ when going through the checkout for a 50% discount on all print/digital or montage images.

So with shows behind me and a really exciting year ahead packed already with some epic photo shoots and wonderful Weddings, I am going to leave you with a few of my favourite show photos from over the years! If you want to find out more about the Photo Shoots I offer please head over to the INFO page or my PORTFOLIO or get in touch with any questions or to book a Photo Shoot in. And if you’re wondering where my Weddings have disappeared to from my website well you’ll just have to hang in there to find out more very soon…..!

For those of you who have bought images from me at shows and are tagged in albums on my SHOWTIME FACEBOOK PAGE, I am going to keep that page up for the benefit of everyone who has tagged themselves and shared images from it but nothing new will be added to the page. To keep up to date with my work please ‘Like’ my Ciara Doone Rush Photography facebook page if you aren’t on there already!

Thank you again to everyone who has been a part of the Ciara Doone Rush Photography journey over the past 5 years and I look forward to keeping up with many of you and meeting lots of new faces throughout the coming years!

Ciara x

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