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Gorgeous models - human and equine - at the lovely Oldencraig Equestrian Centre.

Yesterday's shoot was a bit of a marathon - but a highly successful day thanks to a great support team - 10 horses, 2 cats and 1 dog. And the weather held. You can't ask for more than that.

So here's my first cat picture...

My lasting memory of my shoot with Helena Croft and Baccardi was how her gorgeous gentle giant was constantly seeking reassurance from "mum". He thoroughly enjoyed the shoot once he realised all the treats that were on offer!



You can see the results from the shoot here.

Britain's secret weapon at the 2012 London Olympics was the Fairfax girth. Designed using the latest technology, the research data was so impressive, Vanessa Fairfax was asked to delay the launch of her innovative girth and keep it secret to give Team GBR a competitive edge.

Having written an article on the subject, it was a fascinating brief to be asked to photograph a testing day at the home of one of Britain's top riders, Henriette Andersen.

Watching the "three musketeers" in action was impressive: Russell Guire of Centaur Biomechanics did the gait analysis, World Class saddler Mark Fisher used a pressure mapping system under each saddle to test for pressure points and Vanessa provided the saddles and girths to give all the horses tested the most comfortable-fitting saddle.



This image shows the pressure points; the graph on the left is of the old saddle, the one on the right is with the Fairfax saddle and girth.

To view a selection of images from the shoot, click here.

Had a lovely afternoon at the stunning Oldencraig Equestrian Centre with Helena and her gentle giant Baccardi.

I so enjoyed manning my stand for five days at the Dressage at Hickstead Premier League, Dressage Masters and Para Championships last week - the first time I have had my own stand. And being by the warm-up arenas was great as it was lovely to have the opportunity meet so many owners, riders and spectators. Thank you to all for visiting.

Come and visit my stand at Dressage at Hickstead, 18-22 June, to be in with a chance to win a free prize draw for a photo shoot and 10"x8" framed print worth more than £300. I will be near the dressage warm-up arenas.

If you can't make it to Hickstead or would like two chances to win, you will need to do the following on Facebook: 1, share my post regarding the competition, 2, PM me your details - name, address, tel numbers and what kind of shoot you would like ie horse, dog, family, etc - and 3, like my Leslie Bliss Photography FB page. Good luck!

I've been busy with the final preparations for my stand at next week's Dressage at Hickstead, 18-22 June. I've just finished putting together a portfolio of my equestrian portraits and can't quite believe all the big names I've had the honour of photographing over the past few years - Kyra Kyrklund, Natasha Baker, Matt Hicks, the Eilberg Family, Fiona Bigwood, Isobel Wessels, Damian Hallam, Daniel Timson, Daniel Greenwood, Spencer Wilton, Amy Stovold, Lisa Hopkins - I couldn't even fit everyone in the folder! Wow, thank you to all who have posed patiently for me and to Barbara Young, BD publishers and art director Lou Tait a for asking me to go on the shoots in the first place!

The set of images from my editorial shoot with Matt Hicks, aka Mr Popular, and his team are now available to view on my website gallery. Here are two of my favourite images from the shoot, one is with High Mark, an eventer turned dressage horse and also the first horse Matt trained to grand prix level.

Now ridden by Young Rider Alex Shaw, Matt describes the mare as "unpredictable" and she remains the only horse he has ever fallen off in the dressage arena. The photo illustrates the obvious fondness they have for each other. I do find it interesting that so often it is the difficult ones the riders have a special relationship with!

The weather came good just in time for John & Josie's wedding with VIP guest Henry at Gate Street Barn near Guildford.

You can now buy my popular image of a dressage horse neck as a card online as well as at two stores in Surrey at Pointers, the country essentials store in Forest Green, as well as at the Village Greens Farm Shop in Ockley.

Spent a lovely day on the stunning West Wittering Beach photographing a rather fast hound...



Love this one too...

I've just uploaded my favourite images from my editorial shoot with Spencer Wilton to my gallery. My absolute favourite, though, is the one below, which was recently commended by a photography judge in a competition for its originality.

I returned last night from the Capel Camera Club Awards with my haul for my husband to comment, "I didn't realise I had married a trophy wife!"

Seriously though, I was extremely honoured to have had my picture entitled "Dressage Horse" (see below) voted by visitors as the favourite of the 100 on display at the club's recent exhibition at Denbies Wine Estate.

I was even more shocked to find out that I was the joint-winner of the oldest cup awarded by the club for the member with the most images to be given a top score of 10 in competitions during the 2012-13 season.

There was such a high entry, not to mention standard, last night for the Capel Camera Club Best Print of the Year competition that there were discussions about entries being restricted to one per category next year.

My shot of Emily and Jazz won the Best Large Colour Print. The Rhodesian Ridgeback was runner-up in the Best Small Colour Print category while Josie and Henry also took runner-up slot in the Best Large Monochrome Print.

Wish me luck for next week's competition, Best PDI (projected digital image) of the Year - and I don't have a single horse picture entered in this one!

We went to Richmond Park at the weekend and experienced THE classic Fenton moment which allowed me to capture some cracking images - thanks Charlie!

How handsome is this dog - talk about "look at me" attitude!

The images from my shoot at Carl Hester's yard in the Cotswolds with international judge, trainer, rider and competitor Isobel Wessels are now on my gallery. To view them, click here.

My first visit to the Focus On Imaging Exhibition at the NEC yesterday turned out to be a great success. I took home a beautiful Hahnemuehle Fineart leather album having won a prize draw and watched some fascinating demos.

I will definitely have to make this an annual event.

It may not have been the warmest of days on Saturday, but Russets Country House near Chiddingfold was full of the kindest and warmest of people to celebrate the marriage of Natasha Charman and Sam Covey.