Blog: sessions, travel, education and more
Riley | Fall Senior Portraits | Aubrey Texas
I photographed Riley’s other sister Senior pictures a few years ago. It is always an honor to be asked to come back do sibling’s senior photos. Riley brought 2 of her horses. Dolce & Encore and we did her session at my favorite Ranch in Aubrey Texas. The fall of 2018 was one of the few that actually had some color and it made for some great background that we usually do not get in North Texas. The beautiful colors where from all the rain received in the area. Unfortunately the rain also delayed Riley’s session several times. Originally when is was scheduled it was still warm. Riley bought new outfits for her session that would of been ok in warmer temperatures. When we actually were able to shoot her session, it was rather cold and she was determined to wear the outfits she purchased. With the help of a blanket and lots of hand warmers she was a trooper during the 3 hours of shooting.
Jentry | Scenic West Texas Senior Session | Boys Ranch
I did Jentry’s senior session on my way up to Wyoming last summer. Living near the banks of Canadian River made a great background. She showed me some great rock formations that has a breathtaking view. Although it wasn’t safe to bring a horse on these rocks, we did some beautiful images of Jentry and her dog.
Jentry is very active in FFA and 4H and wanted to include her FFA jacket and her horse. We avoid the storms and rain all around us, but it gave some dramatic skies for us.
Why portraits with my horse? Photographers why you need to know this!
I am teaching an on-line class covering horse and human portraits. One of the subjects I covered was why someone would want to do portraits with their horse. Why do I teach this to photographers? Knowing why an equestrian would want portraits with their horse is is a great way to know your client. Knowing their needs can help develop a way to market to your client. Finely detailing your target market is the most cost effective and less time consuming.
I used my own statistics on why. Photo sessions that I did horses and humans together ranged from senior sessions to remember me sessions. These stats are just horse/human portraits. I also do horse only and human only sessions, but I did not include those.
My Stat Results:
Seniors and their horses 45%
Sessions for ads/advertising 25%
Horse & Humans Bond 15%
Families with horses 5%
Engagement/Bridal 5%
Headshots with Horse 2.5%
Remember Me Sessions 2.5%
I do market to the top 2 the most and that is 70% of my sessions. The next is Horse & Human bond and I only listed 15% for this, most of the top 2 will include some horse and human bond images,
I do not market much for families . The fall is family portrait season and so many are in the need of portraits, they usually contact me. Although I only photograph weddings for current clients, I do enjoy photographing engagements and bridals. Those are also usually current clients or client referrals. The last 2, headshots and remember me sessions are also usually current clients. Many times the headshot is added on to a regular session, very seldom do I have someone strictly wanting just a headshot with their horse for professional reasons as a stand alone session.
Going over my own stats got me wondering what my actual followers on Social Media opinions would be. I asked questions and did polls. Instagram gave me enough answers to be able to get a good idea with over 100 answers on most questions and polls. Please look at each image for the results of each poll.
This was also around 70%. This really shows me how much we love our horses.
I am glad to say that 55% have had portrait with their horse and only 45% that have not.
It was 50/50 on not having a pretty location and needing some life changes
I found a lot of this very interesting and gave me some ideas on what my social media follower’s needs are. Other photographer’s I would love to see your results if you did something similar.
This was the most popular answer - 95% wanted this.
Approximately 70% had need for these
This was only at 55%. I have to take into consideration that a good portion of my followers have already graduated. So if I consider the the % of answers compared to the age factor, this is actually pretty high.
Also around 70%. A majority of those who need this where horse professionals; trainers, therapist and lot of equine photographers.
60% said that finances are keeping them from booking a session and 40% said time.
Received several other reasons other than what I asked
Conner & Maui| Equine Black Background | Brawley Farms | Bartonville Texas
These two were great to work with! Delaney wanted some photos of them together so we went ahead and tried and they did wonderfully. Many times when doing 2 horses in an alley way it is easier to do them separately and use photoshop to put them together. No need with these two! Colourful “Conner” is Delaney’s Hunter & I-Mai Tai OHF “Maui” is her Jumper.
We did black background photos using natural light and then I did some with some artificial lighting to really bring out their shine.
