If you’ve typed “equine photographer El Paso” into Google and wondered what it actually costs before committing to a single phone call, this post is for you. Real, actual numbers. No “pricing available upon request.”
Here’s how it works at Truluck Photography, and what you can realistically expect to invest when you decide your horse deserves more than digital files sitting on a hard drive.
How Pricing Works Now
I used to run this as a flat session fee plus a la carte artwork. I’ve since built it into four collections instead, because I’d rather you know exactly what you’re getting and what it costs before you ever get on the phone with me. Every collection includes a planning call. Two of them include a private Art Curation Zoom, where I show you your images on your actual walls before you spend another dollar.
Here’s what each one actually gets you.
The Heirloom Collection: $2,500
This is the collection I build an entire day around. Nobody’s watching the clock. I’m not stopping when I have “enough,” I’m stopping when I have everything: two hours on location, three outfits, eighty high-resolution images plus the full web set, a full planning call to map out location and wardrobe and timing, and an $800 print credit toward whatever you end up hanging.
Clients who book the Heirloom usually already know which wall it’s going on. Maybe it’s a horse they’ve had for twenty years. Maybe it’s a young rider they need documented before she outgrows this particular version of herself. Either way, they’re not willing to leave it to a phone camera, and the print credit reflects that. It’s not a bonus tacked on at checkout. It’s built into the price because I expect you to walk out with something worth framing.
The Storyteller Collection: $1,250
One hour, two outfits, fifty high-resolution images plus the full web set, the same Art Curation Zoom, a planning call, and a $400 print credit.
Here’s the distinction I want you to sit with: the Momento Collection is for your socials. The Storyteller is for the people who come after you. There’s a real difference between images that get you a few likes this week and images that end up in a box your kids find in thirty years and recognize immediately. For $400 more than Momento, you get double the images, a second outfit, and an actual credit toward artwork instead of nothing to show for it once the post gets buried in your feed.
The Fine Art Collection: $850
This is my black background work, shot in a covered space, a three-sided shelter, a barn entrance, or my haul-in facility in far East El Paso. Forty-five minutes, one tack change, fifteen final images. You’ll do a Gallery Reveal to choose your fifteen favorites, and I edit those and only those, plus the Art Curation Zoom before you order anything. It’s a different track from Heirloom and Storyteller: smaller in scope, but built specifically for wall art from the first frame.
The Momento Collection: $850
Forty-five minutes, one outfit, twenty-five web-optimized images with a discreet watermark. No print credit. No Art Curation Zoom. These images are built for your phone screen, not your wall.
Here’s the part I want to be honest with you about. Momento costs the same $850 as the Fine Art Collection. One gets you gallery-quality artwork with a curated path to your wall. The other gets you images sized for Instagram with my watermark in the corner. And Momento sits only $400 below Storyteller, which hands you twice the images, a second outfit, and an actual print credit instead of nothing. I get messages from past Momento clients asking whether one of those web files can be turned into a canvas. It can, but now you’re paying full artwork price for something a $400 credit would have already been chipping away at if you’d booked one tier up. I’d rather tell you that now than let you find out later.
Momento is a genuinely good option if what you need is sharper, more intentional photos for your socials and your budget is $850, flat. It’s not the option if there’s any chance you’ll want something printed six months from now.
Is it worth it?
That depends on what you’re comparing it to.
If you’re comparing it to a $150 session where you leave with a USB drive of two hundred images you’ll never print, yes, this costs more. But you’re also not going to find those files on a laptop three years from now and wonder why you never did anything with them.
Your horse has seasons in their life. There’s a version of you that books the Heirloom or the Storyteller, gets the canvas, and walks by it every morning on the way to the barn. There’s another version that books Momento, gets a nice profile picture, and keeps meaning to do something more permanent. Only one of those actually happens.
Ready to see what’s possible?
My investment page has the full breakdown on all four collections. When you’re ready to talk through your session, the location, the timing, and what to expect on the day, schedule your consultation here. No commitment required.
‘Truluck Photography is El Paso’s specialty equine photography studio, serving El Paso, TX and Las Cruces, NM. Sessions are calm, horse-first, and built around artwork that lasts.
