A TEENAGER quit her A-levels to kickstart an animal photography business.

At the age of 17 Rosanna Filmer, of Plumpton Green, told her parents she was quitting her fee-paying school.

Clutching her dad’s old Nikon camera she struck out on her own as a freelance photographer, and a year later has her own website, commercial and publishing commissions, and an award won after volunteering in the Indonesian jungle.

She said: “You’re at school basically from when you start walking. I didn’t plan on going to university anyway.

“I just wanted to get out there and start doing something. It’s exciting seeing what you do and don’t like.”

With no proper training, but a strong eye for composition, she played around before focusing on the Welsh ponies she had grown up with.

Inspired by equine photographer Mark Harvey, Rosanna has shot pictures advertising her family’s stud farm as well as pony clubs, farming organisations and pet portraits.

She added: “I have a natural connection with animals, which helps me capture those elusive images, showing the animal’s individual character.

“I want the viewer to be able to see all the expressions. What I admire about Mark Harvey’s pictures is that there is so much to look at and yet so little in them. Your focus is entirely on the horse. That’s what I aspire to.”

View Rosanna’s work at rgfphotography.com