Text by Rita Mielke

 

An Amazon has been lost to Gabriele Boiselle. Had she been born a few thousand years earlier, she would certainly have fought alongside Penthesilea and her warriors. Just like the Amazons, Gabriele Boiselle is a fighter, strong and clever, fearless and unbending. And just like the Amazons, she also has a deep, creative love for horses, those noble creatures that play such a central role in her life and work. The photographer has no warlike ambitions like her ancestors, thank God. She has exchanged her bow and arrow for her camera and keyboard. But she uses them with such power that nobody can escape the fascination of her pictures and her texts.

​

​

Travelling as a photojournalist

Gabriele Boiselle is an absolute professional as a photojournalist. A solid education (study of journalism in Munich), first-class equipment and a comprehensive infrastructure (with her own publishing house) go without saying.  Much more decisive is her inner "professional" attitude, the far-sightedness with which she, after initial attempts in the print, radio and television sector, recognised photography as the medium most suited to her and horses as the subject that occupied her most deeply, is the consequence with which she devoted herself to both from then on.
 
That was now more than thirty years ago. Since then, Gabriele Boiselle - with her camera in her luggage - has travelled hundreds of thousands of kilometres, made the acquaintance of countless horse and equine people - and built up a versatile photo archive. Each of the pictures collected there tells a story, each story takes us - at the photographer's side - on a journey, into scorching sunshine and icy cold, to the south of Africa or the fascinating Arab world, into snowy mountain regions or storm-torn seascapes.

​

​

The world of horses from A to Z

From A for Arab to S for Sumba Pony to Z for Zweibrücker, countless breeds are represented in her archive. And she has dealt with each of them as intensively as possible, which means that she has followed their tracks photographically on location, in their respective regions of origin, in the wild or at the breeders, in wind and weather and often under the most difficult conditions. The secret of her success probably lies in this rare mixture. On the one hand, a highly sensitive, aesthetic sense for situations, moments, glances that have to be captured with the camera; on the other hand, an undaunted tenacity that is unimpressed by elementary adversities or even by self-imposed tasks - and last but not least, an unmistakable journalistic sense for creating something out of both, resulting in an extraordinary "story", an exciting portrait, a fascinating (photo) reportage.

​

​

A passion for horse photography

Gabriele Boiselle has long been one of the most renowned horse photographers worldwide. Her photographs are regularly published in all major trade magazines, her calendars decorate thousands of walls every year, and her books reach impressive print runs. This is why she is still far from reaching her goal. How could she? As long as there are still horses somewhere in the world whose tracks she has not yet followed, as long as there are still horse photo stories to tell and people all over the world to infect with the love for these incomparable creatures, Gabriele Boiselle will continue. What luck for the horses - you for us, who are always allowed to discover new worlds of horses thanks to her pictures.