Weekly Column by Jacquie Doyle - ‘Talk from the Track’
If confidence and courage can be bestowed on a child by their parents then I can say with certainty that Schern and Brian Hanley have done this with aplomb on daughter Shamela.
This sixteen-year-old pupil of The International School in Abu Dhabi is rising at sprinting speed through the photographic ranks. Her fast growing reputation is seeing her sought out by the great and good of horseracing the world over.
Steven Cargill who is The official photographer to Ascot racecourse in Berkshire, England spotted her emerging talent and nabbed her up to be an official snapper at none other than Royal Ascot. I cannot imagine that this accolade has ever before been given to one of such tender years.
Added to this important appointment she was approached by the media department in Falcon and invited to Charlie Appleby’s Marmoon Stables along with the Dubai Racing Channel to take photographs of their Dubai World Cup contender the American trained Frosted.
Whist the rest of the world’s cameras sat idle in the face of much clamouring from the horse’s huge American fan base for pictures of his progress here in Dubai, it was the young lady Shamela Hanley who wetted their appetites with a series of cracking shots of the beautiful grey horse. Albeit they had to taken from a distance on account of the rigorous quarantine regulations.
And if this honour wasn’t sufficient there was yet another one to come for a contact from none other than California Chrome’s team came forward to request that she take pictures to supply them with ammunition for the “Chrome” websites back in the States.
So her photographs are traversing the globe and she is gaining much international recognition. There are many camera toting people from all corners of the world itching to get these same opportunities so all credit to Shamela for nipping up their inside.!
On home turf she has been appointed the official photographer to Al Ain racecourse.
The all encouraging parents of this onwards and upwards camera lady are former jockey Brian Hanley and South African born Schern who is the manager and trainer at Shaikha Manal Bint Mohammad Al Maktoum’s Al Wathba stable in Abu Dhabi where she is ably assisted by her husband.
Brian came to Dubai initially to work for Satish Seemar at Zabeel stables where he met his future wife. He then moved to Kiaran McLaughlin who was immensely successful here before retuning to the US and handed over charge to Doug Watson.
The camera bug may well have been passed from mother to daughter as the toddler Shamela loved nothing more than to get Mummy’s camera and take her own snaps. Schern wisely got her daughter her own camera when she was just six years old and it was on this which the life and times of the family cat was duly recorded.!
At the age of 14 Shamela used her Eid money to purchase her first serious camera and most of her earnings since have to been used to continually upgrade her equipment.
Her enthusiasm was not lost on Lara Sawaya, the Director of HH Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s Global Arabian Flat Racing Festival. She has been a fierce supporter to her and ensured that she attended last years Global Arabian Festival conference event held in California and has now seen her appointed as Official Photographer to the organisation.
Shamela’s pictures of the stallions at Al Asayl Stud are used for their advertising adding yet another string to this many stringed bow.
The cog around which all this activity turns is without a doubt her mother Schern. An ever smiling ladylike figure she is never faraway from her beloved daughter. Indeed she puts in many long and unsocial hours as chauffeur from racetrack to stable and stud farm and of course school. All done whilst exchanging pleasantries with the many people who watch her daughter all whilst still fitting in her own work.
They make a good team and it is heart warming speaking as a parent who did something similar, to witness. Everyone involved in racing whether as an owner, trainer, jockey or race goer will at some point be admiring Shamela Hanley’s photographs with her unique flair for capturing those candid moments in time that only someone with real talent can do.
— The author is a former trainer from the UK and the mother of leading international jockeys James and Sophie Doyle.
