November 2019 Q&A

What are your marketing strategies?

The main thing I focus on when marketing is being everywhere my potential clients are. Horse shows, email inbox, social media, the magazines they read, the blogs they cruise, etc. It takes 7-10 encounters with a brand before you recognize them, so I want to reach them in as many ways as I can to create brand recognition.

Sign up for my newsletter here to download the main 8 ways I market my business.

I also have a marketing course that goes into great detail about how to reach new clients!

Have you ever had an unhappy client even though you set clear expectations? If so, how did you handle it?

I had one instance where I re-edited a gallery in a different style by the request of a client. If I sense that a client is unhappy, I immediately reach out to resolve the issue(s) in any way that I can. I have had to refer my clients back to our contract agreement several times, and I am extremely thankful that I have a contract that covers my a*s.

Shop my contract here!

Do you edit halters or bridles out of pictures? 

Sometimes! It is rare. But usually, if you see an image with no halter or bridle it was photographed that way.

How often do you shoot?

Most months are 4-6 sessions. The spring and fall can have 10-15 sessions per month.

Have you ever had to turn away a client because you knew you weren’t a good fit? How did you handle it?

I turn away many inquiries who don’t have horses. I do not photograph any weddings or newborns, so I have a few referrals that I send when I receive those requests.

Do you have an expiration for your product credit that’s included in your collections? (If you still do product credit)

I do not. It is a sore point because I have remaining product credit for sessions that happened several years ago. I do my best to send reminders every several months and they eventually get spent!

Where do you get your prints and your boxes?

Proof prints, prints, and canvases come from WHCC.

My wood boxes are from Ryan’s Denn. USBs are from Amazon.

Albums are from Madera Books.

Do you have a limit on how many horses you will accept for a typical private session?

No limit! I usually recommend 30 minutes per horse.

What is one thing you know now, that you wish you knew when you started out?

Anything is possible!

At the beginning of my career, I looked for a lot of validation from outside sources. I needed to see other photographers charging a certain amount, or creating packages a certain way in order to give me confidence to do the same. I wish I had the confidence to blaze a trail as I do now. Just because it isn’t being done yet, doesn’t mean it can’t be done.

What’s one of your favorite memories from all your travels shooting?

Photographing horses in front of Prada Marfa was truly a dream come true. I am dying to go back to West Texas!

What is the best method for you for the map (focus system)

My Nikon D850 is set to AF-C mapped at d-9.

What is in your welcome box?

I include a t-shirt, some branded items, stickers from Sticker Mule, horse treats, and a welcome magazine printed from MagCloud.

I have a course on what to include in your Welcome Magazine here. 

The welcome box is from Pack Lane.

What lenses do you use?

I mainly use a 135m. See what’s in my bag here. 

Favorite pose for a girl and her horse?

I feel like my signature is a really strong headshot. But my favorite is probably a girl sitting at the feet of the horse because it shows so much trust!

Need help with posing? Check out my posing course!

Tips for sessions with heavy cloud cover? Seems like it’s so much harder to get that magic “sparkle!”

When it is cloudy I give my clients the option to reschedule for a sunny day. I know some photographers only shoot on sunny days to maintain a consistent gallery, but I let my clients decide what they want to do. When I shoot in heavy overcast, I am looking for the brightest source of light to cast back up onto my client (which usually means they are facing the sun, even though we can’t see the sun). I am also looking for the best backgrounds at the location.

I’m a shy introvert and I find posting to social media to be super hard! I know it’s important to be authentic and connect with people, so I’m doing my best to suck it up. Do you have any tips for how to (painlessly) write social media & blog posts?

I am not shy, nor introverted so I can’t relate completely. I do not schedule my posts on social media – I try to keep it fun and stress-free by only posting when/what I want to. I do keep a list of 20-30 prompts and quotes that I like to post when I need a boost. You could try searching for good prompts, or follow a 6 or 9 square topic pattern to maintain consistency!

What settings do you use when exporting from Lightroom? Your images on Instagram are sharp – so do you crop the photo or resize it? What are your settings to deliver to the client? (Image format, color space, quality, resize to fit, pixels, and resolution)?

I export the short side at 10″ or 12″ for most portrait clients. Commercial clients may have larger requires, and sometimes I don’t resize those at all and export in full resolution. I shoot in RAW but export in JPG with the color space sRGB. I do not add sharpening.

I upload the high-resolution images to Instagram and Facebook. I use BlogStomp to re-size and re-name images for my blog posts.

How many photos do you deliver on average?

I deliver about 100 images per hour.

Have more questions? I offer Skype sessions if you want to chat!

Fill out the contact form on the home page to schedule a session.

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