Reflections From Behind the Lens

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36 – May, 2016

By Erica Greathouse

“Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever. It remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.”

These words, spoken by Aaron Siskind, explain the emotion and value captured within the freeze frame of a photograph. Everyone has heard the phrase, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” For equine photographers, it definitely takes more than a thousand words to tell the stories behind each photo they take of horses and their riders. Whether it’s a photoshoot gone wrong, a surprising turn of events, or capturing the last tangible memory of a horse before he crosses the rainbow bridge, life behind the lens is never dull. We interviewed three professional equine photographers to hear what it’s like to be in their shoes, or rather, behind their lenses.

TERRI CAGE

For the past seven years, Terri Cage of Ponder, Texas has worked with countless equine enthusiasts to help memorialize special moments with their horses. She recalls a particularly interesting session when she had the opportunity to photograph a girl with her horses and her World of Outlaw Sprint dirt car. “She was looking for sponsorships and working on a portfolio in order to show that she was a well-rounded person. It was a very interesting photoshoot because the horse and the car didn’t seem to belong together. However, it worked and looked beautiful. There was a storm rolling in that day and there were very interesting clouds. It turned out to be one of the most unique shoots I’ve ever done,” Cage says. She’s done photoshoots with high school seniors who want to show the entirety of their personalities in a single image by including their prom dresses, some type of sports equipment, and horse at the same time. Other clients want to incorporate furniture in their equine photoshoots, and many brides want to pose in their wedding dresses alongside or while riding their horses. “People are always trying to do something different, and I’m open to exploring different ideas and seeing what works. Sometimes, the different photos end up being the most beautiful and memorable,” Cage says.

While the final result of a photoshoot often conveys a sense of perfection, anyone who has participated in the experience knows there can be a lot of chaos leading up to that perfect shot. Cage always saves her blooper pictures. “Last year, I did a year-end blog with blooper pictures, and some of the funniest photos are of people trying to get a horse’s ears up,” she says. “The biggest challenge for a photographer is trying to get it all right. The horse’s head needs to be in the proper position with their ears up, the rider needs to be in place, the weather and lighting need to cooperate, and everything needs to come together in one photo. It requires an immense amount of patience,” she says.

With plenty of time, patience, and the occasional use of Photoshop, Cage’s favorite part of her job is realized when she has satisfied customers. “I’ve had people thank me for pictures I’ve taken, because a client may have lost a horse and the memory captured in the picture is something they will cherish forever.”

Click here to read the complete article
36 – May, 2016