Introductions / About Me

Hello, I'm Julia! Welcome to my new blog!

I wanted to start a blog to share experiences in my life and my tips & tricks I've learned over the years. My blog will be a mix of lifestyle-type posts, photography experiences and advice, and general musings.

To start off, I wanted to re-introduce myself! I am an equestrian and photographer first, but I hope to shed some light onto some of my other passions and hobbies as well.

Equestrianism

I've been riding horses since I was about 11-12 years old after being a competitive gymnast for years. I initially started riding mostly geared toward Hunter/Jumpers, but currently ride Dressage as well. I don't show myself, but enjoy photographing horseshows and experiencing them vicariously through the riders I photograph. I enjoy grooming, groundwork, equine massage, tricktraining, and bareback + bridleless riding as well.

I own a 15-year-old bay Off-Track Thoroughbred (OTTB) that I named Wasabi. I've owned him since he was 8-years-old and we've had quite the journey together. I initially got him to be my step-up Hunter/Jumper horse, but due to soundness issues over the years, we have transitioned to many careers over the years. During some periods of my time owning him, he was completely unrideable, so I spent time training him to model. What does that mean? I taught him to stand square, to stand still without being held by someone (since I am often alone when I am testing out new ideas and use him as my model), and to put his ears forward.

We've done trick training and started some basic liberty work. I've ridden him bridleless and tackless except with a neckrope before. We've casually done mounted archery. He's great on trail as well (as long as no crossing water is involved). Wasabi is a wonderful horse to have friends or beginners ride because he's so bombproof and lazy, and he is great for when clients want to take photos with him. I even took him to Northwestern University when I graduated from college to take my graduation photos!

My equestrian mindset is centered on equine well-fare and happiness, and the unique bond which horses and humans share. I am always in awe of the beauty of horses and enjoy discovering their unique and funny personalities. I use positive reinforcement training in my personal life and using science-based research to inform treatment and training practices. I believe that my photography encapsulates all of these aspects of how I view and interact with horses, as I try to capture their beauty while also highlighting their individualism.

While I do offer standard packages and recommend my clients popular poses, I also let the individual horses guide their sessions even for Fine Art. Clients often tell me how much their session capture's their horses' expressions or quirks. For Horse & Rider portraits, I always love to include bloopers and candid images that show the relationship between the horse and owner! These are just a few examples of how my personal connection with horses manifests in my work.

How I Became A Photographer

While I double majored in Psychology and English Literature, with a minor in Spanish, from Northwestern University, I have always had a creative and entrepreneurial tendency. I have enjoyed physical art, such as painting and drawing for a while. I have also started two other small businesses: one pet-care and training business for dogs and cats in my neighborhood, and more recently a custom beaded browband business. I have always been crafty and learned anything I wanted to do myself including photography.

My dad had a Sony point-and-shoot camera I would play with when I was at the barn. Later on, we got a Pentax DSLR camera that was bright red. I loved that camera and the color was a conversation starter. I started photographing friend's horses and friend's pets for free until I learned to use Adobe Photoshop in the most basic settings. I slowly started practicing black background editing and trying more types of photography. I had my first paying client during the Covid-19 pandemic for a friend who wanted photos of her granddaughter with her horse. From there, I grew my skills and confidence over the next couple of years.

I officially registered and legalized my business after graduating last year and have been enjoying photographing Equine Fine Art and portraits, starting to shadow and photograph weddings myself now too, and photographing portraits of all kinds along the way. I've photographed larger horseshows for well-established Dressage and Hunter/Jumper photographers, as well as doing my own smaller shows as well. While I am competent in Hunter Jumper photography and can cover western disciplines, my main interest is dressage photography due to the flexibility and creativity it allows me, so my longer term goal is to become more established as a name for myself in Dressage Photography.

The two features that set me apart the most are that I offer Equine Jewelry to be used during Fine Art Sessions and that I offer Painted Background session in addition to the more common black or white background sessions. I worked at a friend's small business which works with jewelry every so often over the years, so decided to put those skills to use and started thrifting jewelry to convert into what I call Equine Jewelry. I now offer a selection for use during sessions in my Equine Client Closet which can be personalized in color, hanging charms relating to your horse's name or occasionally a completely custom sourced piece.

A Few Of My Other Interests

I am a HUGE animal lover. I have a 12-year-old calico cat named Pompona who I got when she was a kitten. Pompy often sits on my lap when I'm editing photos! When I was in high school and college, I started a small dog-walking and pet-sitting business to make some extra money while being a student. I am often told by clients that I am so good with their dogs that may not normally behave well for strangers or for more nervous dogs in making them feel more comfortable during their photo sessions, and I credit my long-term animal training experience for that. I've worked with all sorts of dogs, from high-energy puppies, reactive dogs, nervous rescues, blind and deaf dogs, and elderly dogs with other special needs, so I feel very comfortable working with pets of all kinds and achieving good results without any stress.

I am also an avid chef! While I am by no means professional, I enjoy cooking from scratch and testing new recipes. I am pescetarian myself, but my family eats meat, so I will cook both. I really enjoy baking as well, but I will admit I am a terrible baker. My cooking method is about throwing in ingredients and not necessarily measuring, which can be great for cooking, but not so successful when baking unfortunately. I may post some of my favorite recipes on the blog eventually!

I have always been very crafty and artistic. Aside from photography, I enjoy drawing and painting horses and other animals. I regret that I haven't had the time to do much drawing or painting in years, but I hope to complete a few drawings or paintings a year if I'm lucky. As I mentioned earlier, I learned to make my own beaded browbands by sewing in beads to empty channel browbands. This helps upgrade my matchy tack collection and make new browbands whenever I want! I do sell them to friends and people online to help fund my matchy addiction if anyone is interested.

Along with the jewelry making for horses, I've made a few custom pieces as gifts as well. Generally, if there's something I want to have, I will attempt to learn to do it myself before buying it because I enjoy picking up new skills all the time!