Ceri Evans, Matt the Farrier (November theme: Portrait)

Seeing a horse hot-shod has always fascinated me, I used to love holding my pony for the farrier as a child and just watch what he was doing. The clouds of smoke seem to have a life of their own and the smell is such an evocative one for me. Because of this, I've wanted to photograph a farrier in action for ages. I finally got the chance at the beginning of this year and am pleased with the result. Camera: NIKON D7200 Lens model: 105.0 mm f/2.8 Shutter speed: 1/100 Aperture: f/5.6 Focal length: 105 mm 35mm equivalent: 157 mm ISO: 100 Converted to black and white in post, boosted contrast and clarity, added a slight vignette

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.