Weekly Brief October 9, 2020

Boy howdy, it’s been a while since I did one of these. It’s also been a while since anyone has said, “Boy howdy,” so it seemed right to throw that out there. 

StreamhorseTV

StreamhorseTV is a site listing all the horse related livesteams, much like a TV guide. It keeps you up to date with where you can get your horse show fix, for example, I learned that this weekend is the Pennsylvania National Horse show, taking place at Tryon. It should be noted that Tryon is in North Carolina, which all sources indicate it is not actually in Pennsylvania. It’s actually two states away, depending on if you’re counting just the states in between, or all states that must be traveled through. I wasn’t consulted on this decision though, so I’m sure they have their reasons.

But regardless of all that, I did a guest post for them all about Equestrian Photography. Be sure to check it out for some tips and posing advice!

Photography

I’m going to use that as a segway into my next topic, my photography. Although it feels kind of strange to be saying that – imposter syndrome maybe?  I’m just going to ignore that feeling though.

I’ve been creating a home studio to take portraits. I do travel, but sometimes I just need to work on things in a controlled environment. Here are two photos from my recent session.

I also had to start adding watermarks because I had photos stolen and stuck on someone else’s blog. It was quite rude, really, especially when the thief refused to take it down. I thought I could trust you, internet?!?! 

Anyway, I’ve learned my lesson. Everything is getting a watermark now.

In addition to creating my little studio space, I’m working on developing my marketing. After all, you could make the absolute best product in the world, but if no one knows it exists, how are they going to buy it? Same with blogs, by the way. You might truly have the greatest blog ever, but if no one knows you exist, you’re going to have trouble finding readers. 

I’m making business cards and flyers, and I’m going to do some marketing the old fashioned way – by showing up at people’s houses and asking if they need a new vacuum or a headshot. Surely this technique will always work?! 

Just kidding, I’m going to work on some partnerships with local businesses. I’m a introvert so it’s a little scary, but I can put on my extrovert face for this. 

Tornado Toddler

She climbs, she runs, and she loves kicking balls. She’s a bundle of energy who loves being outside. 

I take her outside with me to take care of the horses in the evening. She tries to help by grabbing handfuls of hay to give to the horses. Then she plays on the gate while I put the hay out in the field. We have a good system going. 

When we are all done, she insists on saying good bye to each horse individually. We trek around the paddock so she can give each one a pet, and sometimes she’ll say their names.

The first few times we went to Stu, I was a bit nervous. He’s a young, weirdo horse, and my baby likes to run full speed straight into things. We left the field a few times without saying bye to Stu, and Bridgette flung herself to the ground in a full tantrum. So we started saying bye to Stu. After the first few times, he seemed to recognize the baby, and let her wallop him in the head with her version of a pet. It was actually very tolerant of him.  

I hope you all have a great weekend!