The One About How to Practice Your Photography

Welcome to the Cowgirls with Cameras podcast.

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I'm Kim with Be More Business and Kim Beer Photography.

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I'm Cara with Fast Horse Photography.

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And I'm Phyllis with Phyllis Brachette Photo.

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Good afternoon, you guys.

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Hello, hello.

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Good afternoon.

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I feel like we haven't seen each other in forever even though it's not been forever I know

but it seems like a long time

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you two see each other all the time so I have not seen the two of you much but...

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We really don't.

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just been a whirlwind.

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It's been a whirlwind these last couple of weeks.

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So we've all been very busy.

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Yeah, yeah.

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It's been a, I don't know about you guys, but I spent my, well, I know about you guys,

didn't probably spend your last week at Global Entrepreneurship Week speaking, and I gave

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a great presentation, and they gave me the big room to talk to.

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And so I had the big cool room with all the windows and two huge screens and all kinds of

people.

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And we talked about 16 points of having a holistic marketing plan.

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and it was really fun to watch people in the room realize that marketing is more than

social media and networking.

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Wow, that means you've made it when they give you the big room, Kim.

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And did anyone take any pictures?

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You never sent any.

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did not.

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And you know what's funny is that I normally try to take pictures for my friend speakers

and everybody was so wrapped up in what we were doing in the presentation that nobody

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remembered to take a picture, which I consider a compliment in some ways because they were

so entranced by what I was teaching that nobody thought to pick up their camera or look at

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their phone.

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But no, not that I'm aware of.

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I'm sure there was some GEW person running around with a camera somewhere and it was

recorded.

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have no idea where one would watch the recording though.

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Okay, I was just wondering.

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That's pretty neat to get the big room.

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Yeah, I'm pretty excited about the big room.

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What have you guys been up to?

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Go ahead, fellas.

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I'm sorry.

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I'm in La La Land.

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Well, I don't know.

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I can't remember when the last time we talked and what I've done since the last time we

talked.

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I've been to Texas.

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Finally got my bucket list.

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Got to check off a bucket list item of Hereford Kettle.

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My calendars are on sale.

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I got those done.

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I really don't remember what I've done.

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okay.

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Thank you, Kara.

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I like the way Kara puts little messages in of what I need to talk about.

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Sorry, best of Western horseman's kind of a big deal.

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Yeah, I was gonna say that is a little bit of a milestone.

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of your list because the Horford, Horfords were more exciting, apparently.

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Well, you know, that's been a bucket list.

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The other one was like totally out of left field.

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okay.

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Okay.

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Well, it was an unexpected bucket list.

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Okay.

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Best of Western horsemen.

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Now you got me laughing about it.

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can't.

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Yes.

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Thank you.

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Thank you so much.

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big expose in the in Western Horseman like a full page photo of just your face.

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was kind of shocking when Kara sent that to me.

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I'm like, wow, that's, that's a whole page of just me.

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Thankfully Tracy Aller did a beautiful job of capturing the essence of Phyllis.

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That's right.

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Tracy is very talented.

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I get many compliments on Tracy Allard's photos of me.

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Yeah, she did a great job.

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Yeah, thank, I'm thankful that I had those pictures to use.

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So instead of the same old pictures, not that the same old pictures that you took Kara are

still wonderful as well.

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No, I still, I still love them too.

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No, obviously I love them too.

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I've used them repeatedly.

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So in every, in every shape and form.

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But yes, that was quite an honor and then to be in the magazine like that too.

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That was, that's very cool.

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It's really pretty, it's been even more exciting too because I have heard from people

congratulating me, like people that I've known for years that I've just kind of lost touch

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with that I used to show horses with or even some photographers that I started in the

business with that have reached out and said congratulations and messaged me privately and

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everything.

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I don't like that is, I mean,

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I just think that's pretty cool that people that have come out of the woodwork, you know,

that I really haven't talked to in a long time.

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So, yeah.

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neat.

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Very, very proud of you, Phyllis.

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I knew this was your year.

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I knew it.

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Yeah, I guess y'all are glad I won't be, of course, Kim didn't vote anyway, now I won't be

begging for votes anymore, maybe.

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We'll see, maybe.

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That would be a little bit.

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it again next year or is she now like out of the running?

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that they would take, I mean, unless they're going to do the best of the best of Western

horsemen and have all the winners compete.

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I mean, I would think they would be like.

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best.

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So you think it's very similar to the sexiest man alive on People magazine?

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once you're the best Western photographer, you don't get to repeat?

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Nicole, you know, I was honorable mention last year and Nicole was second.

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And then this year, Nicole was honorable mention.

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So I really thought Nicole was gonna win, but yeah, yeah.

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It'll be her year next year.

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Nicole, we're looking out for you, girl.

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Next year's your year.

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Yep.

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I'm rooting for you girl.

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Okay.

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Other than that, gosh, it's been, I'm like you guys, I'm not doing shoots like you are

Kara, but I've been super busy too.

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I don't know what I've been doing, but of course between, well, I know I did, I did get my

calendars done, but that's been, that's been

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Well, gosh, maybe I didn't get them done till before we talked last time.

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I don't know.

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But anyway, that's done.

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Yes, and they are up for sale.

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Thanksgiving's this week, and I got a whole herd full of people coming to the house.

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So I'm trying to get everything done.

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I just got a brand new faucet put in my kitchen sink.

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I'm so excited.

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I mean, that's pretty exciting.

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I'm excited.

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Yeah.

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I did, I told Kim that I did treat myself with a new present.

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So we won't talk about what that new present is.

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But yeah, I did treat myself.

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Is it Zoomy?

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well no, it's a fixed.

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It's fixed.

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It's a big one.

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Ooh, this sounds, hmm.

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If we didn't...

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borrow it.

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I can't afford one of those of my own.

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it's a 2.8 with an internal teleconverter too.

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So wow.

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Yeah, I know.

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focal length?

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400.

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If people didn't know what we were talking about, they might really think something else

is going on here.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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we did sort of let a cat out of the bag that it went on a camera of some kind.

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that almost does make it, I need to replace a few lenses.

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I might just ship over to Nikon because it would be kind of handy.

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It really would.

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just think, Kara, we could have access to Phyllis's gear closet to borrow things.

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That is tempting.

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That makes the pot sweeter.

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a minute here.

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Do you really think I'm gonna loan my gear out?

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Well, I think you might bring it along and not be using,

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You can't use every lens at one time.

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thankfully I don't have to worry about this, so.

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Yeah, I would be happy to do that for you too, yes.

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Well, I feel kind of like chopped liver going last now because you guys had way more

exciting news than I've had.

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I've done nothing but take pictures of holiday horses and I've been placing orders for

artwork and trying to get stuff in before Christmas so it can be delivered to my clients.

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And I just did a

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really pretty guild canvas order this morning and a metal order.

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And so I'm, I'm in that world right now, trying to get artwork ordered and in, and some

things are not going to make it by Christmas, which is fine.

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Cause they weren't, they didn't need to be Christmas presents, but it's been a mad dash

and I leave for Thanksgiving just like you guys do for holiday.

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I'll be heading out for that on Wednesday.

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And you know how it is when you're trying to get as much done as you can for you hit the

road.

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So, you know, and I come back right to a colonoscopy.

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Right.

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mean, I come back from Thanksgiving and then I do my colonoscopy, my post Thanksgiving

cleanse, apparently.

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that'll work out real good.

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Right.

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So I have my colonoscopy and then the next day my dog has surgery.

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So it's, I have, it's wild and crazy right now in the Swift household.

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So.

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hope that you're going to have a other than those things that are going on that business

wise, you're going to have a quiet December.

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It should be, I have a couple of photo shoots, they're like senior portrait sessions.

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So they don't need, nothing that has to be done before Christmas.

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So it's all good.

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Thank you.

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yeah, that's it.

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I was looking forward to a quiet decent, which is still relatively quiet because I'm not

on the road.

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But but I do have to work at the gallery.

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It's gone from four times down to three times, but it's two weekends and I'm not used to

working on the weekends.

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So I hope so too.

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I need to order some more stuff to put in there because I sold some stuff.

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So that's good too.

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Yep.

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All right.

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So what are we what are we talking about?

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What are we doing today?

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Well, we are continuing on our journey to become better equine photographers this week by

talking about how to practice your equine photography because we have all discussed in the

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past how important it is to practice in order to grow our skill set.

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So that is our topic du jour for today.

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for December is up leveling your photography.

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this week, this is what we're talking about.

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love it.

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Absolutely.

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And I'm going to start us off by talking about all those skills and drills that we need to

really perfect in our cameras and with our entire process really.

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So to me, practicing has a lot to do with better understanding your gear.

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And even though

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well, the part of it that I'm gonna talk about has to do with better understanding your

gear.

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Phyllis and Kara are gonna take you down different rabbit holes.

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But for me, one of the biggest improvements that I made in my own personal photography

journey was really practicing my understanding of the exposure triangle.

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And I know we've talked about this in depth on a previous episode.

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So if you're not super familiar with the exposure triangle, I really recommend you go back

and find that episode.

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And after we get this recorded, Kara or I will dig through the episodes and find out which

one it is and link it in the show notes for this episode.

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But the thing you can do to practice that is to just practice different combinations and

practice compensating

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four different scenarios.

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other words, meter a scene, take a photo, get the exposure correct, and then pick an

element of the exposure triangle, either your aperture, your exposure, your time, your

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shutter speed, or your ISO.

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Those are the three aspects that we have in the exposure triangle.

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Pick one of them and change it, and then alter the other two so that you have a good

exposure.

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The more you can practice that, the better you're going to get at being able to do it on

the fly.

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And that means that you have better creative control.

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So a lot of photography, when it comes to up-leveling it, from what I see makes the

difference between people who are shooting at kind of an amateur or beginning pro level to

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really seasoned professionals, is that a seasoned professional is able to

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make creative decisions faster.

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And although that is important in all aspects of photography, no matter what genre of

photography you're doing, being able to make good decisions quickly will always get you a

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better shot.

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In equine photography, it is absolutely imperative because we have an animal that many

times is moving very quickly.

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And so the better we are able to compensate

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for being able to get the correct exposure with the correct artistic flair to it that we

want to develop for our style, it depends on, is highly dependent on us being able to use

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our exposure triangle effectively.

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So one of the best ways that you can do this is through skills and drills, right?

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So if you ever took band in high school, in high school I played the flute.

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And Kira, did I hear you played the flute as well?

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Mm-hmm.

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Yeah.

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but do you remember in school when you were learning to play the flute, you spent a whole

lot of time playing scales.

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Like you did scale after scale after scale after scale.

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Sure.

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I was third chair.

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I was kind of most of the time just pretending to play like I was blowing and moving my

fingers, but not like pretending.

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So I was just there for the social scene.

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I was first chair.

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My friend Laurie Tomlinson and I swapped back and forth between first and second chair.

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And we were constantly challenging each other to see who could do better.

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So I played concert flute.

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So I did a lot of practicing of my scales.

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And I did a lot of practicing of all of these that had a book.

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that had a ton of music in it that was just intended to be able to get you to move your

fingers in different combinations and do so quickly so that when you're reading music you

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could do it without really thinking.

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And what that allowed me to do was to become a better flautist and allowed me to get that

first chair away from Lori when she had it and I wanted it.

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And she did the same on the other end.

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But with your camera, you can do the same thing.

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You can take a object and do your aperture over and over and over again, shoot it at

different apertures, start at 2.8 or whatever the lowest is on your lens, and go all of

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the way to the most stopped down that your lens can go.

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and shoot from the same position and that makes you practice your exposure compensation

because you're going to have to alter your shutter speed or your ISO in order to be able

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to keep the exposure correct but you're also going to get a really good understanding of

how different apertures affect your depth of field and so just practice that go through

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all of the stages on your camera

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Look and try.

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This is also a good place for you to learn where the limits of your camera are.

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Like how far can you push the ISO before it starts to get too grainy for your taste?

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How far can you push a slower shutter speed and still get a good quality image handheld?

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Like what are the limits on your camera and your capabilities as a photographer?

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I know photographers who are not

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comfortable hand holding an image under 500 shutter speed.

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I happen to be, I will hand hold it to 50, but it depends on who you are and how much you

move and your physical body and how you particularly hold your gear.

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So all of this gives you an opportunity to really hone and practice and get better and

better and better at what you're doing.

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It is also something that is ideal for you to do with your camera.

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that doesn't involve necessarily running down a horse and a model.

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You can set up something as simple as some owl statues, like Phyllis did for all of our

presentations on Depth of Field.

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You can set up some little owls, some cute little owls, and take pictures of them or

whatever it happens to be, little cat statues, horses, whatever you want.

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But you can do it on your dining room table or close to, right?

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So you have an opportunity when it's cold and rainy and snowy outside to be using your

camera on a regular basis and developing that muscle memory.

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And also, another good thing to practice in this kind of skills and drills with your gear

is also to look at the things that you commonly need to change the settings on.

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Like a lot of times we need to shift our settings off of the...

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focus that the camera does on the eye if you have a camera that has eye tracking, there

are times that you don't want to use the eye tracking or that you want to change how the

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autofocus is set up or you want to change from like on our cannons from AI servo to one

shot.

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So you want to be able to practice changing all of those things.

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on your camera while you're doing your skills and drills.

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And again, you can do a lot of this stuff without necessarily having to have a horse as a

subject.

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What do you guys think of that?

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Have you ever practiced?

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I did this a lot when I was learning photography.

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Well, you have to, the muscle memory is so huge too, just with that piece of it, when

you're actually working in the field, you need to be able to move between settings pretty

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quickly, or you could really miss those moments.

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You made me think about something I did a long time ago, Kim, talking about the owls.

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I also did it with shutter speed too, but I just did it very simply with my fan, my

overhead fan, like doing the different settings with shutter speed so I could like, and

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now that I think about it, that would be another great thing to put into our presentation.

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Yeah.

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So, and I'm like, forgot, I forgot I even had that.

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yeah.

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a good idea.

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But because I mean the shutter speed, know, yeah, watching, watching, just watching

something as simple as a fan going away and changing your settings on your shutter speed

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is really helpful to get the concept of what that, you know, what the different settings

mean.

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And another good, good task to do is to also shoot down a fence that is got clearly

delineated posts in it and use different, different apertures to be able to understand how

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compression affects depth of field, because that's another key aspect of equine

photography is being able to get the appropriate compression on your subject so the horse

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looks pulled together rather than all stretched out.

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do have that one presentation with my friend Suzanne in there with the building behind

her.

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Yeah.

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For compression.

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Yeah.

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things at different paces.

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I do think that's something that newer photographers have a hard time with because you'll

see a lot of them like at our events and stuff and they'll want to back the subject like

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right up to the bushes behind them.

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And it's like taking the time to do that and then seeing what happens when you pull them

off of those bushes and then seeing what happens when you zoom in, you know, and pull them

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off the bushes and kind of just seeing the difference to really understand how to create

and get the most out of your gear, you know, create something that's artsy.

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Absolutely.

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Because it does it frees you up to be a better photographer because you you don't have to

think about it as hard it becomes second nature.

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And I think that's the thing that we love about our events in particular is because people

have an opportunity to practice a lot when they're out shooting with us.

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And that's what I think the improvement at the end of the event comes in.

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And the thing is to keep yourself sharp in between shoots.

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And I know for me personally, I don't shoot a lot in the winter.

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So I just don't have subject matter here.

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I don't do a lot of photography.

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I don't do any studio photography anymore.

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I don't even do jewelry anymore.

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So my camera stays wrapped up in its bag a lot during the winter months.

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And when I first pull it out, even though I am a professional photographer, have been for

a really long time, I will struggle in the beginning to get my mojo back.

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I don't know if you guys ever

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Put your cameras down long enough to experience that, but it happens.

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I totally agree.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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the difference between the south and the north.

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of the summer, heat of the summer.

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Definitely that boob sweat keeps me from getting my camera.

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Alright, that's my two cents.

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Okay, so I'm going to talk about looking for inspiration.

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And I don't know, maybe people are wondering like, what the heck does that have to do with

practice?

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Like how can getting out and seeking inspiration help you practice your photography?

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So in my opinion, it, when you go out and you look for inspiration, it can help boost your

creativity and encourage you to think outside the box and explore new perspectives.

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Like maybe things that you wouldn't think about.

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shooting before I can be, I always say I'm not an exceptionally creative person.

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I have to work hard to be creative.

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And this this section that I'm going to talk about is how I do that.

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so going out and seeking expert inspiration, can help you find ideas to better tell

stories.

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I mean, we all want to do a better job of telling stories for our clients.

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whether that be a portrait client or a brand that you're working with.

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it also, also when I seek inspiration and maybe others can agree with me on this.

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it helps me see where I might want to learn a new technique or I might want to grow in

some way.

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So it gives me some ideas on, wow, I could actually learn to shoot something like that for

horses.

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So I think through that.

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So a couple of ways that I seek out inspiration, I'll just run through those kind of

quickly.

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The first place is I look to online spaces.

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So I love to go to Pinterest and create inspiration Pinterest boards.

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I sometimes will even do that with my clients.

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But also I like to go to Instagram and I pretty much do clear Facebook and TikTok for

inspiration, but I do like Instagram for inspiration.

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I feel like there's a lot of beautiful art artists on there, a lot of really creative

stuff on Instagram and they make it easy to save for later.

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I also like to do online searches and look at other photographers work and websites

online.

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And I'll even go, if I'm looking for something really specific, like I want to know some,

I want to create, come up with some ideas on how to shoot a product or how to shoot a

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particular type of action.

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Like maybe someone saddling up a horse, for example, I might even go to like stock image

sites and look at that to kind of be a jumping off place to kind of spark my own

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inspiration.

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I was thinking a lot about this last one I have here, Phyllis, when you were doing your

judging recently.

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was thinking about how watching when they do the judging live online and you can go on and

watch that, how that can be super inspirational to be able to see what the judges are

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saying and see the ways that people came up with really creative entries for the different

categories.

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And then just kind of watching what did really well and once again, like what the judges

are critiquing and saying.

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So I thought that was a really interesting way to kind of use the online space.

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I also look, I subscribe to a lot of horse magazines.

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I get, I don't know, four or five a month that come in.

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And then I'm also one that'll pick one up here and there at the feed store or whenever I'm

out.

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And I love to flip through photography magazines, equine industry magazines.

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and get ideas there.

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I will clip things, I will photograph things to save in my photos, I will do all of that

if I find something that's really inspirational or just something that I wanna try and see

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what my take of that could be.

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Books also are a great place.

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Betsy Bird from Ride the Sky Equine Photography and I wrote, we did our posing book

earlier this year and we've had a lot of photographers message us.

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that they're taking that book with them to their shoots or they're taking pictures of

particular poses that they want to try when they're out in the field.

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And they're using that as inspiration.

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And that to me is just such a fun kind of unintended consequence of putting that book out

into the world.

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So I really love that.

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Other places that aren't online and aren't print necessarily, I like to look to other

artists for inspiration.

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So going to museums or

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art galleries here in St.

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Augustine.

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can walk around the plaza and there's these really great little art galleries you can walk

through and even craft fairs.

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have some really cool arts and crafts fairs where independent artists have stuff for sale.

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That is such a cool way to get ideas.

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You might find something that's in some form of mixed media and say, I want to try that as

a photograph or I want to try to photograph something like that and see what I can create.

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And then the last place I'm going to mention, and you guys are happy to hop in with your

ideas, but is just go outside, like go and drive around and look for places that are

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inspiring that might, that you might want to photograph.

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My husband says all the time, we'll go out on road trip and I'll be driving and I'll be

like, my gosh, look at the reflection on that pond or that retention, that retention

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ditch.

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Look at that beautiful reflection.

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God, I'd love to put a horse right there.

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You know, and, or look at the sky and I don't even have my camera.

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I would love to have a horse in that field with the sky.

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You know, I say that all the time and he's like, I feel like when we're, when we're out

and about, you're looking at the world in a totally different way than I am because I'm

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always looking for the picture.

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And I'm sure you guys are the same way.

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Like you're always like, God, this would be a beautiful picture.

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Yeah, it's hard to turn it off.

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It is really hard to turn it off.

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And when you turn it on, like you might find a place that's like, wow, this is a gorgeous

place.

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wonder if I could get access to it to bring a horse or I wonder if I could get access to

it to photograph.

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And sometimes just seeing that landscape will inspire you with ideas.

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You know, you might, it might be, you know, a row of fence line.

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that just is inspiring and you're like, I got ideas.

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I wanna put somebody next to that or I wanna hang something on that fence or I wanna have

someone walking next to it.

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So it just might bring out ideas to you.

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Before I move on to this other little piece, I wanna say, did you guys wanna add anything

about finding inspiration?

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I really do agree about art and craft fairs because I mean I don't do them personally but

I just think it's neat to go walk around and see the different photographers that have

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booths set up and and look at what they're doing and and what's selling and that kind of

thing too I think it's really cool that's a great inspirational place to go for sure even

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painters too it not just photographers but you know

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painters are to me I get a lot of inspiration from painters as a matter of fact I've been

collecting like Western art that I see like I've been screenshotting it for ideas for

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setups for next year for our workshops and and events so I do think there's a lot of

inspiration to be had from there because you can get kind of stuck in a rut of the things

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that you've done over and over and over and over again and it's kind of nice to get

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out of that particular.

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think it's time for another trip to the Booth Western Museum in Cartersville, Georgia,

because that's where I always get a lot of inspiration from.

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And I haven't been in two or three years, so they probably got some new stuff I could pull

some ideas from.

396

So good idea, Kim.

397

Yeah, and I also think that just, you know, scrolling social media is helpful.

398

If you if you want to do that, or also looking at, like you said, the digital like, stock

photo sites, sometimes that's helpful.

399

Sometimes it's it's not very inspiring.

400

But you know, there's other ways to be inspired to inspire your creativity and including

things like reading or one thing

401

that really inspires me kind of combines reading with the fine art books.

402

And that's like getting a really good, well illustrated book about a certain subject and

in seeing the images that the photographers put forward in that.

403

And I may I just recommend that Barbara van Cleaves book Hard Twist is like one of my

favorites.

404

So if you have an opportunity to get your hands on a copy of Hard Twist by Barbara van

Cleaves,

405

it.

406

Also, I get a lot of I'm always hearing like music and there's songs that I go, that'd be

cool to set up a I mean, because I love especially songs that are telling a story.

407

And that'd be cool to, to set up a shoot, you know, about the idea of the story that

they're telling in that song.

408

So I get a lot of inspiration from music to

409

Absolutely.

410

So, Phyllis, I want to say something about prompts, but I think it's better in your

section.

411

So if you want to go ahead and talk about your section, I can just add that, add what I

want to say about prompts there, if that's okay.

412

sure.

413

I mean, you can go ahead and say it if you want.

414

Well, I know you're gonna talk about setting up your own photo shoot.

415

I know you're gonna talk a little bit about that.

416

One of the things that I was thinking about when I was thinking about this topic and I was

thinking about inspiration was I like to not just practice techniques and stuff, but I

417

also like to practice prompts.

418

And I'm doing a little series, I've just started it, I've only done one little video on it

so far, but I'm doing a series where I'm showing people like,

419

don't do this, do this in terms of posing.

420

But what I was, thank you.

421

I got a couple others I've recorded, but I have to like put them together.

422

But it's one of the things I was thinking about was prompts and how I knew when I first

started, it was very scary for me to try to tell people how to do certain things.

423

Like the words that come out of your mouth, like how to tell somebody, you know, how to

put their hands in their pocket or how to stand next to a horse or.

424

how to place their hand on a horse's mane.

425

Like the words that come out of your mouth, maybe you're doing a couple shoots could be so

nerve wracking to prompt.

426

So prompting a couple shoot and like, not just like, this is what I want you to do and

show them a picture, but like practicing how to say what you want them to do.

427

Like the words that come out of your mouth.

428

anyway, I was thinking a lot about that and it's okay to also think about these are the

things I know I want to photograph.

429

How do I tell my model to do that?

430

And what I see a lot of people do is they'll say, hey, I have this picture that I found

and can you do this pose?

431

Right?

432

That's great, but it can be really tricky to get, you know, the person will like, can I

look at it?

433

Can I look at it?

434

So being able to use some of these techniques about how to practice your photography and

extend that to like in the next stage where you're starting to think about how do I tell

435

people

436

to position their horse or how do I tell people with words to position their body or to

pose for lack of a better word?

437

I mean, how do I tell them to do that?

438

So that's all I wanted to say is that you could use this practice for other things outside

of just the technique of your camera.

439

You can take it to kind of that next level.

440

Sure, think being practicing how to speak to clients and even if you're just using it with

a potential client or your friend, you're shooting your friend, it's a photo shoot that

441

you've set up with your friend.

442

Treat them like they're a client, you know?

443

Because being tactful and there's a right and a wrong way to say everything.

444

Yeah, you don't want to hurt somebody's feelings by saying it one way.

445

And you want to encourage them.

446

yeah, that's great advice, Kara.

447

Well, and you you want to keep the vibe of the session up.

448

So a lot of times I'll have someone that I'll ask them to do something, for example, or I

wanted them to try something and it's not the end.

449

It wasn't a good, it wasn't a good prompt.

450

gave a really weird expression or it gave a weird stance.

451

And I might be like, okay, perfect.

452

And then we'll move immediately onto something else because I, instead of being like, no,

that was terrible.

453

Let's do, let's try this instead.

454

Right.

455

But sometimes I am tempted to be like, no, that was a terrible idea.

456

Sorry, let's move on.

457

Like I said, I'll be like, okay, perfect.

458

That was excellent.

459

Move on.

460

Like, let's move right to the next thing.

461

I think I remember one time a very, very, very long time ago when I was starting, I was

like, well, that didn't work.

462

Yeah, but you know what'll happen is when you give that prompt and you're like, that was

great.

463

Let's move in.

464

Then you move on to the next thing.

465

And then you don't show that picture in their viewing appointment or in their gallery.

466

That's the one they'll be like, what about the one where, yeah.

467

No, I know.

468

I've been there.

469

Yeah.

470

We've all been there, I guess.

471

Yeah.

472

all been there.

473

Anyway, I'm sorry.

474

I'll quit interrupting.

475

Go ahead, Phyllis.

476

It's fine.

477

You didn't interrupt me.

478

hadn't started yet.

479

But that's, but yes, setting up your own photo shoot is really a great way to experiment

with.

480

Of course, we've already talked about different techniques and techniques and lighting

setups and composition styles.

481

Besides helping you become a better photographer, there's several benefits of doing

self-directed photo shoots.

482

Number one, of course, is creative freedom.

483

I mean you're doing this, this is your photo shoot, you have complete control over the

concept, the location, the styling, everything.

484

It's all up to you and it's up to you whether you make or break that shoot, which is good.

485

I think that's great.

486

You're doing it for yourself.

487

You may have some expectations but you're the only one that you have to prove that to.

488

Skill development of course, you could get to practice with different camera settings like

Kim was talking about.

489

You can even change lenses.

490

And once you get back to the office, you can even practice with different post-processing

techniques.

491

Another great one to me is having this as, using it as a portfolio building.

492

You get to create a strong portfolio to showcase your work for potential clients.

493

And I know when I was starting out, I did a lot of setting up my own photo shoots, a lot.

494

Because I really, I wasn't sure if it was something I even wanted to do as a living.

495

So I was just...

496

doing it because it was fun, you know?

497

But all those images ended up being part of my portfolio before I was really doing this,

you know, for a living.

498

And it's a great, I think setting up your own photo shoots are a fantastic confidence

boost.

499

You get to gain experience and confidence in your abilities by testing your process for

shoots and offerings for potential clients too.

500

I just, really can't.

501

I can't stress how important I really, I call this going out and just doing work for

myself, but just it's the same thing as setting up your own photo shoot.

502

I can't stress how important this is.

503

And people think they have to have a reason to go shoot.

504

To me, the reason to shoot is because I want to.

505

So number one, of course, if you're going to set up your own photo shoot is plan ahead.

506

mean, start conceptualizing the shoot early, write down what you need, and even make a

shot list.

507

I think that's real important.

508

That's something I kind of lack sometimes.

509

Even before we go on some of our trips and in places, especially places we've been to

repeatedly, is sometimes you're looking to try to do something different.

510

So I think having a shot list is really important.

511

If you can, it's great to scout the location before you go.

512

you're going to be shooting beforehand to determine the best place to set up and optimize

the light and the background.

513

I think we talked about this before but just utilizing different like Google Maps and

Google Street View if you're not able to get there in person like you know of a great

514

location but this is where you want to shoot but you're not able to to go scout it before

the actual shoot date.

515

Utilize Google Maps and Google Street View and just keep in mind what you're going to need

for outdoor portraits.

516

You'll need some open shade.

517

a barn or structure maybe for black backgrounds and a safe turnout obviously for if you're

going to be doing Liberty shoots.

518

If your client's going to be in the saddle well actually for any shoot any type of shoot

you want to look for a subject separation from your background.

519

This is going to be key to helping your subject stand out and drawing the viewer's

attention when you get those images finished.

520

Of course there is some other apps and I think we've gone through this before on other if

you're on location and you want to check out

521

what the position of sun is, you've got the SunTracker app, you've got, I like the

Photographers Ephemeris which does have a little bit of a learning curve but it's really,

522

it's specifically designed for photographers working with natural light.

523

Even if you're just setting up your own photo shoot, I think it's really, really important

to have your own assistant.

524

I don't care whether you have to hire one and get a friend to come or...

525

or the model, whoever you're shooting that day, if it's a friend of theirs, be sure to

have somebody to help assist on that shoot, to get ears up, to see things that sometimes

526

we don't see through the camera.

527

And I like to keep a lot of props handy, you know, for ears, of course, just like we all

do.

528

And then we also have the apps, download the apps.

529

I use all ears on my phone for horse sounds.

530

I just do want to make one real quick

531

comment about the the apps for horse sounds is if you just be aware that if you're

shooting some horses, particularly stallions, may get a little antsy at the sound of other

532

horses.

533

yeah, I think that's yes, always ask to make sure that's okay.

534

Like always ask even if it's just your friend that you're shooting and you think you know

their horse, ask them if it's okay to use the horse sounds before you do it.

535

Anything else y'all can think of?

536

No, not me.

537

No, I hope that this will inspire some folks, especially during the winter.

538

I know a lot of folks that listen to this podcast in the winter time.

539

Maybe they slow down here in Florida.

540

I hear my dog sparking.

541

I apologize, everyone.

542

know here in Florida, we're working right now.

543

We're busy.

544

We're out shooting.

545

But we also have a slow period in the summertime.

546

But in the winter, I've got some.

547

some photographers that I mentor and they shoot, you know, in the summertime, but then the

winter it's all snowy and they're like, well, nobody wants snow pictures.

548

Nobody wants to do their family portraits in the snow.

549

And I encouraged them.

550

I'm like, you know what, become the photographer that's known for that, you know, that you

can create something really cool in the snow and, and get out there and start getting some

551

content, creating your own shoots.

552

If you have to at first doing model calls or something, just so that you've got that

content that you can share.

553

And it's such a.

554

You know, find a way to do that for me, summertime, it's so miserable outside, but I'll be

the first one that will be like, who's got a nice lake you want to go shoot in and we'll

555

go out and they'll take their horses swimming and we'll photograph swimming pictures, you

know, where it's cooler.

556

can all stand in the water and make sure there's try to get Gatorade, out in the, out in

the pond.

557

But yeah, I mean, like try to, try to get out there.

558

I hope this encourages folks to get out there and do that.

559

Go shoot.

560

Yeah, and if you need a place to do that, we've got all sorts of great events coming up

this next year.

561

So head over to cowgirlswithcameras.com, check out our events page.

562

We've got several events coming up that still has some room.

563

So we've got room for you if you wanna join us.

564

And find us online at, find us on Instagram and Facebook at Cowgirls with Cameras.