How To Have A Successful Career In Horse Photography

Modeling may not be in the repertoire of most horses. Horse lovers and celebrities attest to the prowess of a single lady equestrian photographer, who hails from Pasadena, California. Whereas her first camera came from Pasadena City College (PCC), she now takes her motor home office to various trackside events, including the Montreal Olympics where she snapped photos of British Princess Anne.

It was only practical that she should practice photography on horses for her PCC photography classes, which she took after graduating from Pasadena High School. The Eaton Canyon Riding Stables were practically her backyard growing up. The horses at the nearby stables served as good subjects for her homework, for which she would take her borrowed camera on the weekends. Her first photo sold, and she was on her way to a full-blown career, giving up music, art and journalism.

Starting at a show in Santa Barbara, she became an assistant to two famous photographers, and they traveled the country together photographing horse shows, tracks, and state fairs. Next, she was apprenticed under a different photographer pair, whose work focused on California events. Her mother handles her business now, as she enjoys the use of her Swedish camera with German lens.

Excitement is best for these photos, and she captures the best six-foot jumps and races won by the nose. But her formal photos, of horses bent down on all fours, are also a source of pride. There are hams among horses, too. Once these horses feel a camera on them, they turn and perk their ears or raise their heads. Other horses are as unhelpful as can be.

There are a few rules of thumb when it comes to taking a good horse photo. The hunters and jumpers are best captured mid-air with legs folded just so. When it comes to Tennessee walkers, they are best shot with their front hoofs in action and an over reaching hoof with their hind legs. The best angle for a stock horse is stopping in a slide, and for the saddle horse with head and legs held high. She has received much acknowledgement for her work on the Peruvian Paso, an endangered South American species that many groups are working on multiplying. It would be best to snap a picture when their forelegs are pointed away from their bodies. Their value increases with the white ponchos and elaborate gear sported by their riders.

With photography, she has been blessed with the chance to meet many celebrity horse enthusiasts. Conversations with royalty are another perk of photography. She got the chance to rub shoulders with the Queen after taking photos of Princess Anne at the Montreal Olympics. Watching the high jump always makes the Queen nervous, especially when her daughter is performing it. To switch it up a little, she began to photograph fork lifts, even though in her spare time she also swims, back packs, bicycles, pans for gold and sometimes even rides a horse.

No posing is necessary with fork lifts.


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