Trust me

On the Portraiture shortlist at the Sony World Photography Awards 2025, Trust me by Ivan Ryaskov from Kazakhstan. Or, people standing on horses.

This series was inspired by the photographer’s memories of collecting a series of old postage stamps with horses on them. Trust Me explores the trust between an animal and a person, with photographs taken in different countries to reflect the diversity of cultures, clothing, and the characters of both the people and their horses. To date, the series covers four countries – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, India and Nepal – but the photographer’s dream is to include a photograph from every country in the world.

A strange ambition, but there we are. Strange ambitions, as a wise man perhaps once said, make the world go round.