A Photographer Literally Dug Himself into a Hole to Get the Perfect Horse Portrait

Strip a horse of its saddle, bridle, stirrups, and other human-wrested accoutrements, and the animal stands tall and free in its natural splendor. And as it turns out, when given the opportunity to artistically pose for a photograph—horses can be complete hams for the camera.

Andrius Burba and his photography collective Underlook began photographing animals from underneath in 2016. They started with cats, sly and acrobatic mammals, which turned the project into an internet smash and led to other photographic experiments with dogs and rabbits. Burba and his team’s most recent work focuses on photographing the physics of horses, an undertaking titled Under-Horse.

When shooting, each horse is ushered onto a translucent, glass surface placed above a three-meter hole—a set detail the artist created to properly situate himself and his camera underneath. On average, one of Underlook’s equine models weighs around 1,300 lbs (about 600 kg). To provide a humane and comfortable environment for his subjects, Burba made sure to select, what he calls, a “horse-friendly environment” for the shoots. “I even made rubber horse shoes to save the glass from scratching,” the photographer tells Creators.

The entire two-month shoot culminated in a series of captivating, dashing, cheeky, and energetic images. Watch a behind-the-scenes video and view the whole series below…

These behind the scenes photographs capture the complex setup needed for Under-Horse.

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