Is being an equine photographer a realistic career path?

There's an equine photographer who lives near me, and she's done really well. Granted, you have to be an exceptionally good photographer to make money. However, she does more than just magazine pictures. She does high school senior pictures, horse ads (for stallions and horses for sale), show photos, and anything else people will schedule her for. I don't think she does a lot of magazine photography, but if you've seen what photographers charge for senior pictures, I think they can do pretty well.

There's an excellent book if you want to learn more about how to best show off a horse in photos, it's called Photographing Horses by Leslie Groves, she shows you how to get the best angles and lighting to make the horse look good.

A top equine photographer can easily make a living. The key is to be a top photographer.

The down side is that you work most of the time when other people are off having fun-- weekends and evenings. You also need to have a really good feel for what is desirable in different types of shows, and good people skills. Making a horse and rider look good when they are dusty and in either the rain or a glaring sunny environment takes real skill.

The smartest set up I saw used digital photography-- people could pick and choose which of a set of photos they liked the best, and even request collages of four or five different photos. The choiced could be made right at the show, right away, and the pictures could be either mailed or picked up the next day. By responding quickly with both proofs and copies, the photographers were able to pull in more customers.

In the end, you probably won't get rich that way, but I would say that if you are talented, then you can make a living.

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Equine Photography Jobs

If you are really lucky, yes. However, in the real world and in this economy, it might be difficult. You can always go to school for something else and work as a wildlife photographer as a hobby. One day you might be able to do it professionally, but in the mean time you'd have another way to make a living. IOr, if you studied photography you could always be a different kind of photographer if you needed to until you found the perfect wildlife photography position.

You said that you could manifest anything that you want, so manifest making a good living at it. Not meaning to be a rude comment either, I know what you mean. The only reason that we want anything is because we think that it will make us happy. If you are doing something that you really like then you will always be successful. It might take a while to build up clientele, so you could do something else on the side to pay your bills until that gets going full blast.

I think its a very realistic career, and certainly at races, and different events throughout the country. Maybe keep other options in mind, and maybe to start with don't specialize until you have a name for yourself. If you would like to contact me directly, I can put you in contact with a number of people who may be able to help. Maybe also consider selling your photographs, not only of course to magazines, etc but also to artists looking for particular stills to work from.

Horse and rider I know are very good at running interviews for people starting up, so compile some good pictures together and contact them, and I am sure they would happily give you a page, as they do for my Mother most months.

Honestly equine photography does not provide alot lot of money. It would be extremely difficult to make a living out of it. My aunt is a professional photographer, but doesn't make enough money to support herself so she also has another job that pays much better. If you love photography then continue to pursue it. It can be a very enjoyable hobby that can also be a part time job. Its also a great first time job and I have several friends who send pictures to equine magazines and get paid for them. I hope you continue to take pictures and enjoy your SLR camera. I've always wanted one. : )

My daughter has just graduated with her degree in photagraphy and she has done a number of equine photos over the years.. However she also does a number of other photo shoots like weddings, pet pics etc.. And she still has to work another job to pay the bills. Perhaps one day she will find a good job in the business to make a living at it but you will need to keep your options open and take more pics of other things too :) If you would like to chat with her her web site is on mine.. Firelite Foto

Smokie

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