As an equine photographer, award-winning artist Carina Maiwald certainly has a niche. A niche that’s won her countless awards and garnered international attention.

Recently named one of the top 10 equine photographers in the world, 24 year-old Maiwald has been a full-time photographer for three years, specializing in capturing the essence of wild horses.

She grew up in Germany, where she developed a love for horses at an early age. She left her job as a graphic designer at a German newspaper at age 21, feeling she was too young to get stuck climbing a corporate ladder.

Maiwald doesn’t use flash in her photography, using whatever natural lighting is available. This allows her to capture a horse’s character, accentuating every line on its body. Ripples of muscle and strands of hair appear to be made by the stroke of an artist’s brush, rather than nature itself. Deep shadows highlight patterns in the animal’s coat. Even more astounding is the emotion Maiwald captures in the horse’s eyes – pain, fear, hunger, and curiosity. Her pictures are surreal; the beauty of the animals she shoots are matched almost by that of the surroundings she captures them in.

"Horses are like a composition of opposites to me,”Maiwald said in an interview with CNN.“On the one hand they are so fragile, so innocent and always gentle, but whenit comes down to it they are strong and unshakable and incredibly fast. Theyare like survival artists for me. They could crush you within seconds. But theychoose to trust us, to work with us, to cooperate. That's something thatinspires me."