In the weeks leading up to your equine photography session, most of the work isn’t done by me. It’s done in the barn, in your closet, and in how well your horse already knows the ground you’ll be standing on. I’ve put together the same prep list I walk my El Paso clients through before every shoot, so you and your horse show up ready instead of scrambling that morning.
Groom like you’re headed to a show
Give your horse the full treatment. Bathe, clip, and brush like you’re walking into the show ring, not just a pasture. If you’re bringing tack, clean it the night before. A dusty saddle or a dull bit will show up in the photos just as much as a dull coat will. If we’re just doing a black-background equine fine-art session, I would recommend applying oil to your horse’s hooves. If you’re having a horse and rider session or a combination session, forego the oil (it’s dusty out here in the desert, and the dirt will cling to your horse’s hooves like a jealous baby momma).
Lay your outfit out early
Pick your clothes a day or two ahead and check them for wrinkles and stains before session day, not the morning of. Think about how your outfit sits against your horse’s coat. A chestnut horse and a bright orange shirt are going to fight each other in every frame. Skip busy patterns and neon. Navy, dark green, and maroon read beautifully against most coat colors and hold up well in our El Paso light. I’m working on building an app that will help you choose colors that best complement your horse’s coat. Keep an eye out for it!
Practice at the location if you can
If it’s possible to bring your horse to the session location in advance, do so. Walk them around, let them sniff the fence line, and run through whatever you want photographed, whether that’s standing square and patient or riding bareback. Your horse should know the space and know what you’re asking of them before the camera comes out. Session day is not the day to introduce something new. Save the experiments for a regular ride at home.
Feed on schedule
If your session lands near your barn’s feeding time, feed your horse their grain before we start. A horse that’s waiting on dinner is a distracted horse. Trust me, I made this mistake with my own horse before, and it was a disaster. Feed early or on time, and you’ll get a calmer, more cooperative partner in front of the camera.
Lunge the spooky ones
If your horse has been cooped up in a stall all day, or tends to spook at anything new, lunge them before the session. You’re not trying to tire them out or work up a sweat. You just want their brain engaged and their wiggles out before you ask them to hold still and pose for about an hour. A few minutes on the line makes a real difference in how settled they are once we start shooting.
What Happens After Your Photo Session?
I honestly don’t know which part is harder for my clients: the session itself or waiting to see the final images.
Once your session wraps, I sort through everything and apply a base edit to the winners, along with fully retouching one or two images so you can see exactly what your final product will look like. About one to two weeks after your session, I’ll schedule your Gallery Reveal, a Zoom call where I walk you through your photographs in a slideshow.
If you’ve sent me photos of the rooms where you want to display your artwork, I’ll build mockups so you can see your favorite images on your actual walls. No guessing on sizes, no guessing on placement. You pick your favorites, and if you’re on a payment plan, your artwork goes into production the day your final payment clears. I work with a handful of excellent American print labs for printing and shipping, which typically takes three to four weeks, a bit longer around the winter holidays.
Then your artwork lands on your doorstep, ready to hang. When it does, send me a photo of it in its new home. I love seeing where these pieces end up.
Ready to book?
If you’re ready to get an equine photography session on the calendar in El Paso or anywhere across west Texas or southern New Mexico (or any other locations on my wait list), shoot me a message and let’s find a date that works for you and your horse.
