Behind The “Horse Shoot” Concept

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If you follow me on Instagram, you would’ve seen my recent photoshoot with horses. This is a concept I have dreamed about bringing to life for more than 6 months. Of course, what we see in our minds eye and what we actually bring to life can be two very different images. My personal work, as a creative and a photographer, has been learning to go with the flow, as there’s only so much within my control.

Things I could control: location, models, time of day, clothing.

Things I can’t control: weather, illness, how large animals are going to react “on set”

Let’s start with concept:

I did my usual scan of Pinterest for some ideas to go off of —- mostly in regard to what the models were going to wear. I am terrible with styling, I wish I had the budget to pay a stylist but alas I make this art on a shoestring budget and by the kindness of others, so I’m always making due with what I have in my network.

Here were a few of my inspo photos:

That second photo above caught me for styling inspiration. I’d love to be innovative enough to not need to draw off someone else, but ya know, I can’t do it all as much as I’d like to think I can. That’s where collaboration is such a gift. However, if I feel inspired by something I’ve seen, I usually go for it.

I approached local clothing brand Field Day, the owner of which (Trinity), I had just met through a friend, so I felt comfortable asking if I could borrow a couple pieces in exchange for use of the photos. Now, in other circumstances, I would’ve asked for a more abundant trade, such as clothing to keep in exchange for photos or money. But because I had a personal connection with Trinity, and she is a fellow hustler trying to keep her business above water, I didn’t feel the need to ask to keep the clothing. Had it been a bigger brand, I would’ve treated circumstances differently, so the brand would value my work and not take advantage of free photography.

I also needed a hat. I had remembered seeing a local hatmaker on Instagram. I cold messaged her asking if she’d be willing to let me borrow a wide brimmed black hat. I found an example in her feed and sent it over. Even when I’m asking for a favor, I find it valuable for everyone to be super clear on what I want. None of this “oh whatever you have lying around will be fine” nonsense. I value my vision enough to be clear, I’m never begging for anything. If someone says no, then I move on to the next option. Lucky for me, Jacqueline was kind enough to lend me what I was looking for.

This is a long-winded explanation, but if you are reading this as a budding professional photographer, I believe it’s important to explain my experience with contra deals so you don’t undervalue your own work. Many photographers can be cagey about the way they do things (including myself sometimes). Many of us have to figure things out from scratch with no help or input. Hence, why I charge for these articles. Life experience is worth something, this is my thank you for valuing it enough to pay for this writing.

(Gotta pay the troll toll to keep reading - I promise you this, there’s lots more below this line)

Next on my list was finding horses and a location.

I searched locally in Nevada County. I put out a call on Instagram, received a lead, messaged that person and got a very polite “no thank you, I don’t have time” in response. Next I messaged my cousin who lives an hour away, who was into the idea but had just given birth and didn’t have the headspace for at least a few months. I realized, even if I found horses, I’d need to find a suitable location. I wanted a vast and sweeping landscape without houses or man-made structures.

Then it dawned on me. My aunt has hundreds of acres 2 hours away in Plymouth, CA and she has horses. It was a longer commute than I wanted to do for a photoshoot, but it was going to be a lot more simple to coordinate the horses being on site than transportation etc. My Aunt Mary was enthusiastic and willing to help (thank goodness) and had a friend with a horse that was also up for joining us.

Now, I don’t have too much experience with horses. Something I learned on site, is that the horses I was likely seeing in the photos on Pinterest, were trained horses for photoshoots. As with any animal who doesn’t speak human, you’re at the mercy of their cooperation. I’ll get into that a bit more later.

Lastly, models:

I’ve been lucky enough to have a network of willing models (and when I say models I mean, people who enjoy modeling, but it’s not their full or part-time gig). Many of the first experience group shoots that I host are free to volunteers. I’ve met so many incredible people and new friends by hosting these shoots. Some of the women have traveled to be part of other shoots I have done as well, such as an underwater music video in LA, and I’m always humbled by their willingness to donate their time to make this art with me.

For this project I had been in touch with Jenna, who has some modeling experience, but beyond that she is also such a pleasure to work with. I also messaged my sweet friend Meegan who is such a strong force in front of the camera, and also, once again, a pleasure to have around. We were driving 4 hours roundtrip together, I wanted to be sure the vibe in the car was going to be life-giving and not life-taking. Since it was bound to be a couple hour shoot, I needed morale high.

Now, I said above that one thing I can’t control is illness. A few days before our shoot I recruited a new friend to join us. I had a feeling I should bring a third model in the event someone got sick or couldn’t make it. As fate would have it, the night before the shoot I got two messages with possible cancellations. One was from my alternate last addition model, saying she overcommitted and had to bail. I understood, hell this isn’t paid, so I can’t hold it against someone if they can’t make it. But then I got a message from Meegan saying she was feeling sick and wasn’t sure if she was going to have it in her. At this point, I started to hit the “oh shit” button. I messaged a few other people to hop in with us, but nobody could swing it on such late notice.

I went to bed and hoped for the best. In the morning, I got a message from Meegan saying she was going to be fine and could join us for the shoot. Thank gawd.

I would’ve made it work if only Jenna could join, but I really wanted more than one body there, and I was grateful that the original plan was coming to life again. I mention all this as a reminder that life often doesn’t go to plan, so it’s always important to either be fluid and unattached to your vision (if stakes are low) or have a plan B or C in the event things fall out of your hands.

We had a lovely drive to Plymouth that flew by. Something I have realized about making this work is that it truly is a holistic experience. I take everything into account, from how the location feels to the lead up and making sure everyone is comfortable and I believe this lends itself to the imagery I capture. See how much fun we have:

Day of the shoot:

I planned to get us to site a couple of hours before golden hour. I’d rather be early than too late and rushing. The gals both brought some items to wear, which was great. I’m historically a nude photographer, but lately I’ve been wanting to branch out. I love nudity, I love how raw it is, and I love not having to think of styling or how the clothing will age or date over time in the image. But I am flagged and shadowbanned on Instagram because I photograph people in the nude, and I also don’t want my work to always be associated with any kind of sexual undertone because people aren’t wearing clothing. It’s also a good practice for me to push myself and the work to be just as good in clothing as it is naked.

Everything went smoothly, thank goodness. We had a perfectly overcast day with diffused light. My aunt and her friend were so kind and patient while we worked through images.

I didn’t have a shot list in mind, I had some of my inspiration photos floating around in my subconscious to work from, but I did what I always do. Just started shooting and looked for what was working and what wasn’t. I take a very intuitive approach when it comes to these shoots. I get quiet and I watch. I’ve always done this, even when I was starting out with music photography. I witness what wants to happen, and then I insert myself just enough to push the boundaries. The beauty of working with people who are comfortable in front of the camera is that I have the space to get quiet. I let them move in the ways they feel comfortable. I let them find their angles, and then I holler when it’s just right, saying “that’s it, hold that there”.

I will say I had to adjust my expectations with the horses. There were lots of flies and mosquitos, so they kept whipping their heads and stomping, making it hard for the models to fully relax when posing with them. One of the horses only wanted to eat grass the entire time so unless he was moving, or we were holding the reins tightly, his head was down in the grass munching. We were lucky to have two horses to work with that day to give them breaks so they’d cooperate more.

Jenna had grown up with horses, so she was the one I nominated to actually saddle up and get up on the horse. I would’ve loved to have them both up there, but we didn’t think the horse or image would be too comfortable.

I was surprised that I enjoyed the clothed photos more than the naked photos once I took everything into post-processing.

I did put a dress on Meegan from my collection that I wish I would’ve left out. Once again, I’m not a stylist. I didn’t see it at the moment, but after I felt it read more Asian influence than cowboy / ranch aesthetic.

I also had it in mind that day to recreate a painting I had seen in Melbourne, done by my new friend Bonnie. She asked if I recreated it to please include some red slippers. While the images look nothing like the painting and I dont feel that I nailed it, I’m glad I tried and it was a sweet nod to a new friends creativity.

I had fun with post processing and AI background expand as well:

You’d never know this was AI huh? Unless you zoomed in. They haven’t mastered the high-res background expand yet.

I think that about sums it up. I’ll leave you with a few images not listed on Instagram to further turn your gears and creative notions.

(I thought I could make my underwater fabrics into skirts with a belt. It sort of works but also I think it looks kind of weird)

I love how these two have the same expression.

Sometimes nudity makes sense in my images, but on this shoot I just couldn’t figure it out. Maybe I’m being too hard on on the images, but my overly critical eye just can’t find the art in it. It almost looks too sensual for my taste. However it was the end of the shoot and we were getting swarmed by mosquitos. Had I approached with nudity in the beginning of the shoot I might’ve been able to make it make more sense.

I’ve been more-so enjoying teasing at nudity recently. Some side bum or fabric draped around the subject.

With anything I do creatively speaking, my ethos is that it doesn’t hurt to try. It’s not film, I’m not paying for each frame (except with my time culling), so why not just try an idea whether it’s mine or the models.

anyhow, at the end of the day, as long as we all had fun, then I’m pleased that we went out and tried it at all.

Little Green Eyes x Naked Conversations

Authors

Jessie McCall