Elena Dotoli: Going Behind the Lens of the Horse Industry with an Equestrian Photographer

*** This transcript was created by AI and has not been proofread ***

[SPEAKER 2]
Welcome to the Equestrian Connection podcast from wehorse, the online riding academy. My name’s Danielle Kroll, and I’m your host. On this episode, we’re talking with Elena Dotoli, an equestrian photographer and video artist. Alina combines creative and equine elements in order to capture the special moments between horses, their riders, and owners. If you haven’t seen her on Instagram, you need to check out her beautiful and inspiring work with many talented writers, including working with our recent podcast guest, Anna Buffini. I’m so excited to chat with her today and discuss things like how she got started with combining her two passions as her career, what it’s like working within the equestrian industry in a creative way, what advice she has to make the most out of photo shoots, and so much more. So let’s dive in. Elena, thank you so much for joining us on the wehorse podcast today. I’m really excited to chat with you about working in the equestrian industry, but in a very different way from, you know, what we generally think of as trainers and coaches and breeders, much more of a creative way. So I’m really excited to talk about that. And thank you so much for being here with us.

[SPEAKER 1]
Thank you so much for having me. I’m so excited.

[SPEAKER 2]
I want to start at the very beginning. How did you get into horses and what were your first few years like as an equestrian?

[SPEAKER 1]
Yeah, so I think we all had at this like one horse we loved. Like, yeah, I don’t know. For me, it was a friend who loved horses and I wanted to be her friend. So and she I used to go to this like summer camp for horses. And I was like, yeah, I just go with you. But I had nothing to do with horses. And I actually I was more like into guinea pigs than into horses. I had two at home and I loved these and like Backstreet Boys, Spice Girls, that kind of stuff. I was 11, around 11 I think. So I went there with her and I loved it. They gave me like this cute pony called Polo. And I think Polo was the reason I like kept going there because I kept going there. I was there like on every, what is it actually called? Like a summer, like it’s not just summer vacation. It’s also like Easter. Is it a holiday or is it, how do you say that?

[SPEAKER 2]
Would it be around the March season?

[SPEAKER 1]
yeah yeah so we call it like spring break march break things like that the breaks okay so i went there for like spring break and like every occasion i could go there i was like yes i want to go back there and i rode a different kind of ponies and it was like a super it wasn’t like a fancy place it was like super we had like bunk beds and you know like it was super like outdoorsy also and we just like rode outside or horses like we just I did hacks. And that’s how I went into the whole equestrian thing. But then also when I came home, I was like, I need more horses because I always went there for like the summer breaks and spring breaks. And I was like, I need more horses. So I found this halflinger breeder, 45 minutes with the bus from my hometown. I drove with the bus every day after school and helped him like cleaning the stalls, taking care of the horses, exercise the horses. I did not ride. I just helped to take care of the horses. So I always was more the kind of like groom kind of person than the rider kind of person. But it was the beginning of my whole riding or equestrian.

[SPEAKER 2]
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[SPEAKER 1]
So funny.

[SPEAKER 2]
I have a very similar start. My friend, I was eight and my friend started taking riding lessons and I was like, well, if you’re going to do it, then, you know, I guess I’ll do it too because we’re best friends and that’s what best friends do. You know, like you just, you just do what your friends do. And I got so obsessed with it. And I have to laugh when you said guinea pigs. I was like, I had rats and I had hamsters. Like I had all these little creatures. And I thought, well, I’ll just get into horses, too. And then, of course, that just becomes, you know, an even deeper obsession.

[SPEAKER 1]
Yeah, that is so funny. Like, really. I also had rabbits. I still have one rabbit in Germany. He lives with my cousin. But I was, like, always into, like, all kinds of animals, to be honest. I mean, not just horses, like, all kinds of animals.

[SPEAKER 2]
Yes. I feel like, you know, you have to be an animal person to be a horse person. It’s like it comes with the territory. You have to be an animal lover in general.

[SPEAKER 1]
Yes. Yeah, that is true.

[SPEAKER 2]
So you were doing photography while you were in Germany. We had, you know, just briefly discussed this before we started recording. And you had mentioned that you were doing equestrian photography to start. Did you do any other type of photography? Like, how did you get into photography? Was that a passion? Did you start taking pictures, you know, of friends and family? Did you just want to take pictures of the horses? How did that all start?

[SPEAKER 1]
So funny story, but actually also with my guinea pigs, I took pictures, like I made a model. I like set them up, set them up on these like little, what’s it called, like sofas and couches and made them like look into the camera. That kind of, that, yeah, I don’t know how old I was, like eight or nine or so. Then I really like started the photography when I sold my first horse. I was financially, I had to do it. I was forced to sell him because I couldn’t afford him anymore because he got super sick. And I was able to pay all the vet bills, but I knew that if he would get sick again, I couldn’t pay for it anymore. So I sold him to my very best friend, also my roommate. And I still know how he is and he’s in, he’s now 20. But when I sold him and I was like, so it’s like still so emotional for me. I was like falling into this like deep hole because as a rider and a horse owner, you spend like every second with the horse, right? Like after work, you go there, before work, you go there. You’ll be like all the time with your horse. But then when I sold him, I was like, okay, what to do now? Like, I have no idea what to do with myself. And so I borrowed a camera of a friend and I just started to take pictures of my friend’s horses and my friends with their horses. And yeah, so that’s actually how it all started. And then I expanded the whole thing because my friends with the horses, they started to get married, they started to get babies. And so I took pictures of the wedding, of the baby, of the engagement. And that’s how I started into the whole thing. And I tried every kind of photography, like maternity, newborn wedding and I just figured that wedding people and also horses as like the kind of thing I want to stick with and that’s what I offered until I moved here. I did wedding a lot, maternity a little bit, then couples and horses. Yeah.

[SPEAKER 2]
Was there anything in particular that made you decide that you wanted to niche with equestrian photography? Or was it just, OK, I love horses. My friends have horses. I like taking pictures of horses. This is really fun. And then it just kind of snowballed from there.

[SPEAKER 1]
I, I’d say it’s about emotions and every time I get something that is like in between two individual and it doesn’t matter if people are horses or animals. I feel that and with horses and people are. Yeah, I just think it’s so special. It’s such a special bond. And I love to focus on that and to only focus on horses that much. That actually happened here in America. I just specialized in dressage too. So yeah, I’m like in this like super small niche or niche or whatever. I don’t know how to say that. So yeah, it just happened. I don’t know.

[SPEAKER 2]
I never know how to pronounce the word either. I say niche, but I hear people say niche or something like that. I have no idea how to pronounce it. I’m just glad that you knew what I was talking about when I said it. Speaking of like capturing the emotion so we all know you can look at a photo and you can feel the emotion whether it’s love or anger or you know Fear you you see that in a photograph and you’ve now also ventured a bit into videography and I have to say I love your videos and I Obviously, with that, we can see emotion so much more. Was it that you wanted to get into even more of the capturing of the emotion? Or do you find that, you know, the trends of social media was bringing you more into the videography? Like, how did that all come about?

[SPEAKER 1]
That’s a super interesting question, because I started videography four years ago, like a long time before like Reels and TikTok was a thing. I think we had IGTV. Is it called IGTV? And we had YouTube, of course, and some other things, but it wasn’t like that big. But I did a lot of coachings and workshops back then. And I remember that one of the guys, his name was Calvin Hollywood. He’s a German guy, so I don’t think people here know him. He’s like, he was back then the guy to know when you did photography. He did people photography, but there wasn’t like, like all these workshops for horse photographer and stuff that wasn’t existing back then, that it all came later. So we listened to him a lot, what he said. And he once said, and I think it was him, I’m not 100% sure, but I think it was him. He said, a video will be the new picture in the future. And I was like, huh, maybe he’s right. So that could so maybe happen. So I started to, to film my friends. And then the first bigger companies came up to me. And we’re like, hey, we love what you do. Could we do? the winter autumn collection with them. Sure. So and that’s how it actually all started. But then I stopped doing videography for like maybe like a year or two when I moved here. I stopped doing that again. But now I’m fully back because now I think the video became the new picture, I think it became true. And yeah, thankfully, I started super, super early. So I knew a little bit about the whole also like technique stuff before I needed it. So yeah, I was just being really lucky that I participated this workshop and heard what the guy said. So I was like, yeah, that’s maybe true. So yeah, Absolutely.

[SPEAKER 2]
It’s like you’re ahead of the trend. So you already knew what to do and how to do it when the popularity came about rather than, you know, scrambling to try to learn it, you know, to keep up with things. You know, that’s that worked out really well.

[SPEAKER 1]
Yeah. And also, I think the whole video thing, it just came overnight. Like overnight, you had to do videos, otherwise you’re not being seen. It’s so crazy how fast this came. Absolutely. It changed. Yeah.

[SPEAKER 2]
And it was a huge… I know for myself, working in marketing and social media and that, it was a big adjustment because suddenly you had so much more work to do. You couldn’t just take a photo or, you know, maybe put together a couple of photos as a carousel. Suddenly it was like we all became video editors overnight. Yeah, that’s true. You know, and the nice thing is that they made it pretty simple for us. I can’t imagine, you know, doing the work like you do, which is taking like the raw video and making it look nice. For me, it’s just, you know, letting Instagram do the work where you put the video in and you pair the sound and and all that. But yeah, to do the real videography and photography work, I just think it’s such an interesting industry. And when we look at the equestrian industry, and we look at, like I had mentioned earlier, So many of us assume, OK, if I want to work in the horse world, I have to become a trainer or I have to be a breeder or I have to own a farm. And there’s so much to that. But there’s so many little things behind the scenes that maybe we don’t think about, such as photography, such as managing somebody’s social media for them, all of those different jobs.

[SPEAKER 1]
And

[SPEAKER 2]
When you look at what you do, what is it like to work in the equestrian industry or in the horse world, but to do it in an out-of-the-box way or in a creative way?

[SPEAKER 1]
I think we all have in common that we love horses. That is like the one thing we all combine. And that’s what we all needed to get started and to be able to find our jobs. And I’ve seen this all around the world when I worked with all my my writers because I have so I have like writers at like Germany and in Holland and now also I’m America and you have to like love horses and you have to know horses and you have to know the sport also a little bit to know what these people need and also the brands what they need and I’ve seen so many nice pictures of like clothes clothing brands that did not hire someone who knew horses. They just added a horse into the fashion shoot. And you can just tell that this shoot is not about the horse. It’s about the clothing. And it’s like, it’s like a different kind of view to what you, yeah, I don’t know what they show or what they want to show. So, and with me as an aggressive photographer in the equestrian industry I just have a different kind of view also to the horses and I know how to get the best parts of the horse but also of the person because you want to make the horse look majestic what is the word majestic yeah yeah yeah majestic and you want to make it show its best parts like the best parts of its body and and uh Many horses have different best parts of their body and you want to show exactly the best parts of their body and you have to be able to see that and I don’t think you can see it if you don’t know horses, if that makes sense.

[SPEAKER 2]
Absolutely, and there’s something we said if you are an equestrian and you’re looking at you know, a company that is selling breeches, as an example, and the horse doesn’t look its best, you know, whether it’s just a very unflattering shot, or what it could be. And knowing that wasn’t an equestrian photographer, so they didn’t think, well, we have to make sure the horse looks really good, too.

[SPEAKER 1]
Yeah, it’s also the phases while riding, you have to get a shot of the perfect face, is it called face? Do you know what I mean? While the horse is being ridden. No, I mean like the legs, how the legs look on the ground. I don’t know how to put it.

[SPEAKER 2]
The foot steps, the foot falls, the foot steps.

[SPEAKER 1]
That is very important for pictures because if you take a picture uphill, It’s so much better than downhill. Like the horse has to go uphill. And you have to know that because if you don’t know horses, you don’t know that a horse is going downhill instead of uphill. And also, you never want to show like open mouthers or like, you know, it’s, yeah, it’s, but that is something that comes with the knowledge about horses, I think. Absolutely.

[SPEAKER 2]
So what would you say is your favorite part of your job?

[SPEAKER 1]
Oh, so the favorite part of my job is actually to travel. It’s bad and good, but traveling is one of the best parts about my job, I’d say, because I get to see all these nice places. I get to meet incredible, talented writers. I get to see The sweetest persons on earth, like I became friends with so many of my clients actually, because I’m just, I don’t know if that is just being lucky or also I’m a little bit of good marketing because people book me that also like me because I show myself on Instagram and I talk. And if people don’t like me, they don’t book me. So I end up becoming the clients I want to have, right? And that is something I feel super fortunate about. And But also like being with the horses, because I have a mare, she’s in Holland right now for training. And I know her since she was a baby. My husband back then, he was my boyfriend, bought her when she was a foal. And I saw her growing up and I got her for my 30th birthday. When she was three, I was completely overwhelmed. with a three-year-old so I gave her to like pros and she’s still with pros being there and being trained so I really miss being with horses and being with horses while having the footage shoots it’s something I really love and like booping nose you know yeah I really that is like some of the best parts of my job booping noses that’s always a fun spot

[SPEAKER 2]
And what would you say is the hardest part of your job or the yeah, let’s say hardest rather than the part that like you don’t like What would you say would be hard or challenging?

[SPEAKER 1]
Yeah, it’s absolutely accounting and administration. It’s like taking overhand. It’s so much. And people can assume how much time this costs and like the tax consultants and being up to date and paying taxes in advance. And like it is really it is a lot. But also traveling is also a lot like just how I said it like it’s good and bad because it’s so much fun but also it is really exhausting being on tour and to live out of the suitcase to be on the road all the time going to bed late night standing up super early before sunrise and to see the next client it’s like all super combined like everything is super combined and still finding time to secure all the data. Then also being in a super good mood for my customers because they need to get like a little bit of energy from me because sometimes they’re a little bit like too excited about a photo shoot. So I have to like bring them into a good mood with just being there and being nice and not being stressed, you know. So that sometimes can be hard too. Mm-hmm.

[SPEAKER 2]
Yeah, I can imagine that. You’re right about having to be on for people all the time, like having to kind of set the energy. Yeah, that would be definitely a tiring part of the job. So what are some things that many people don’t know about your work, like whether it’s frequently asked questions that you get or things that you have to correct people on all the time?

[SPEAKER 1]
I don’t really have to correct people, but I think what many people don’t know is how much work one shoot is. Like one photo session is unbelievable much work. Like it is so much work and I don’t think people just know it. It’s not just showing up and doing the session. It’s also the whole process before the photo shoot, like sending emails about timing, the date, clothing, how to prepare. what package, like consulting. And we jump on calls mostly of the time to just discuss what they need. Then I have to go there, drive there. I have to prepare all my stuff. I have to set up when I go there. I have to know the location. I have to see everything. You just have to perform and you have to do so many things for one photo shoot. So, and I think that’s something people really don’t know. But, so other than that, I get a lot of questions about Photoshop, like people want to get Photoshopped a lot, like being slimmed or like, I don’t know, just like, yeah, different things. And also, I want to dress, like the clothing question. That’s something I get a lot, like, yeah, I don’t know what to wear. I have a closet full of nothing to wear, like that kind of thing.

[SPEAKER 2]
And post-production as well, so after the photoshoots, the amount of time spent on editing, all of that, I’m sure is extremely time-consuming as well.

[SPEAKER 1]
Yeah, I didn’t mention that. I think I did, but it’s actually the most like this takes the most time then to sort out all the pictures I can’t use because I don’t know, the eyes are closed or the ears are backwards. But then also knowing which of these you still need, because sometimes I swap ears or I swap eyes. Like, for example, I have two pictures sometimes like a one picture is made out of three or four or five pictures, because I take the best parts of like these pictures and bring them together into one picture. Like sometimes, yeah, sometimes it takes a lot of work for one picture to get like the one picture. But of course, I charge that I have to, I need to do that. But yeah, that is, yeah, it’s possible. So to those listening,

[SPEAKER 2]
you would be looking at my, like, mouth agape right now. I had no idea that that happened, that you could take multiple different, like, oh, I really like these ears, I like this eye, and I’m gonna put it on this stance, you know, like, things like that. I had no idea that happens. And it makes me also feel… Let’s talk about this, actually. the idea of like the social media highlight reel. So right now I’m thinking, okay, I’m going to be less judgmental over all of my crappy little cell phone photos that I’ll take of my horse and be like, why don’t my photos look very good? I mean, number one, I’m just using my cell phone. But number two, so when we look at some of these beautiful photos that we’re seeing, like on social media and things like that, we do kind of have to understand that there could be some Photoshop involved.

[SPEAKER 1]
Yeah, sure. You know, and it’s… Yeah, but yeah, sure.

[SPEAKER 2]
Yeah, so what about the idea, obviously, social media is a huge topic these days. And it’s becoming more and more of a topic for equestrians where we need to have our our social media about our horses. And, you know, we want to try to get like brand deals and be ambassadors for different things. It’s just becoming this whole other thing. And do you find that when you had first started photography, it was more so for the love of the photos, like, if I was a client, I would get a photo, because I wanted it framed in my house, I wanted to see the beautiful photos and have the memories. And you find that maybe now it’s sort of trickling to I need some photos for my Instagram feed.

[SPEAKER 1]
Actually, it’s, it’s the same than in Germany. But that’s also because of my clients I had, like I had, like, I always had clients that booked me just for the social media part. And I had clients that just booked me for a keepsake, like, I don’t know how to say yeah, but yeah, like just to Brent. And because in Germany, I also started because my mayor when she was three, she boarded at a place where also an influencer girl from back then boarded her horse. And so we ended up to do pictures. And she had a lot of like different sponsor partners. But that’s also I mean, so when I started, I am, I’m immediately fall into the whole social media thing. And I did not have Instagram back then. I was still just on Facebook. That’s, that’s like, how long is it ago? Like seven years, maybe? I don’t know, like a long time ago. And she had so many followers, because she was just like up to date. And they’re early, like she had, like, she jumped on this trend, right? Like, when it popped up. And she had a huge following there and also sponsorships. And that’s how I started actually to do my photography. And that’s why people booked me from the beginning through Instagram. and because they saw what I did with her and they wanted to have the same and so I met them for like the whole weekend and we created content for the next half a year. So we had I can’t tell how many outfit changes we did like I can braid hair so we did like many different hairstyles too and I can also curl like I did all the hair stuff too And then we dress the girls differently. And we had like content for the whole half a year, or maybe like three, three months, maybe not half a year, but at least for three months. And then through all these girls, and they had a big following. I got requests from brands that work together with the girls. And so everything kind of started, but I still also had the clients that just booked me for printing pictures. Yeah.

[SPEAKER 2]
And now, if somebody wanted to get started with their own social media page and they think, okay, right now I’m not able to book a photographer, what advice would you give them to how they can make their photos look nice or their videos look nice? Is there specific lighting or angles or things like that that you can, any advice you can give?

[SPEAKER 1]
Sure. Always go against the sun or use sunrise and sunset times. It’s just the prettiest time and the sun is not that high. Because if the sun is super high, you get hard shades on your face and you don’t want to have that. Or maybe use the shade tool, like a big shaded area. That’s working as well. You always have to watch the light and maybe just Google about the lighting because there is so much to know about. It would explode this podcast if I would tell you that. But just Google about lighting for photography because that is the most important thing. But then also just be authentic, be yourself and show your face. Many people forget to show their face and to show a little bit of personality and they just post quotes. And I don’t think that brings you anywhere. Like maybe you get a little bit of like, likes for the picture and I do the same now I’m also posting quotes like I can’t like I’m doing the same at the moment because I’m a little bit lazy with my own. social media because I focus on creating videos. It takes like all the time I have. So I also do a little bit more of the quotes and also I post together with the writers. We do the, what is that called in English, co-author. I think that’s in German. If you share the post, what is that called? Yeah, you’re right. Yeah.

[SPEAKER 2]
So it’s like the co-author, the cross-posting.

[SPEAKER 1]
Yeah. Yeah. So we have to make it fit like both accounts and we can’t be, you know, like too personal on what we write there because it should fit both of our accounts. So yeah, but I would just recommend show your face, be be authentic. And actually, I have a friend, I have a super good example for a nice Instagram account. And that is, I think her current, because she has many different accounts. And one of her accounts is Mila the Mustang. But she also now owns a farm and it’s called Maisie Marguerite. on Marguerite Ranch. I can’t remember but I yeah and she has no like professional cameras and she does an amazing job with her Instagram and social media.

[SPEAKER 2]
Now that’s that’s great advice.

[SPEAKER 1]
I think

[SPEAKER 2]
Remembering to show up and show your face like you had mentioned is very important. So that would be advice for if somebody wasn’t able to book a photographer at this time. Now let’s pivot and say if somebody was able to book a photographer, what advice would you give like leading up to the photo shoot? So what do you generally tell people to do the day of, beforehand, You know, all of those things to make sure that your photo shoot is a good experience.

[SPEAKER 1]
So before you even book me, ask the barn owner if this photographer is okay to come because sometimes the barn owners or the trainer, they have someone they work with. So make sure I’m okay to be there. So that’s the first step, I’d say. Just so you have to feel comfortable in your outfit. And I just know it from myself because I used to do pictures. with my mare when I just got her. And I was wearing these like fancy striped jeans and I look at the pictures and I looked like 10 pounds smaller. I was like, oh my God, why did I wear these trousers? So maybe wear the outfit and do like a picture of yourself. Make someone do a picture of you. To take a photo of you. Yes, thank you. So you see yourself in the picture, in this outfit, because sometimes you’ll be like, oh my God, no, I don’t like myself in that. And that’s also why I always tell my clients to bring more outfits, because we start the shoot and I show them the first few pictures and sometimes they’ll be like, oh my God, no, this top doesn’t work at all. So they just can go change. And yeah, you have to feel comfortable. It doesn’t bring you anywhere. If you wear the newest dress, if you don’t feel comfortable or sexy in it, you know, like you have to feel like you have to be yourself. And if you always wear your hair up and you feel more comfortable in it, it doesn’t make sense to open you up for the pictures, for the footage, because you may don’t like yourself having your hair down. Like that is just some things I would always recommend. And then If you also just prepare your horse the same way you would do it for a horse show, just clean, like deep clean is the key. So deep clean your horse, like everything, also the nostrils, the mouth, eyes, and don’t put too much shiny spray on the horse, because sometimes that can be a little bit too much. And then just trust the photographer. If they tell you something, just follow them. That’s I think the biggest advice that I can give for your photoshoot.

[SPEAKER 2]
So you had mentioned working with some influencers and that originally back in, I think it was in Germany, you had worked with some influencers and then of course now in the United States you’re working with some influencers, brands, top riders. What is your advice for if somebody wanted to get into not just photography, but any sort of creative industry within the equestrian world? What’s your advice for networking and connecting with those ideal clients?

[SPEAKER 1]
So what I did when I moved here, because I had to start from zero, I looked online on social media. I also searched the web for like, in my case, dressage riders, because I was actually looking for big influencers, just the way I did it in Germany. But I really couldn’t find like these kind of influencers here. In Germany, it’s a whole different world when it comes to horses and Instagram. like we have people with huge following and a big engagement and they just like they share a lot in their stories they talk to the camera it’s like it’s so different to here and I do the same so I also talk to my camera and sometimes I wonder if Americans think what is she doing? That’s just, yeah, that’s how I know how to use Instagram, just to be active with my clients and to show myself and my, yeah. So, and that’s what I did. And I just texted these, so I follow, like, I looked it up and I checked if I liked the writing they showed, if I like, like, I wanted to make sure that I stand behind what they did and I contacted them and thankfully they all said, yeah, sure, let’s work together. And that’s how I ended up having all these amazing people in my work and also in my portfolio. I just realized I had to go with trainers instead of influencers the way I knew it, because That is something I was able to find in America. I couldn’t find like the big influencers I was used to see with horses in Germany. So I just switched the plan a little bit and it worked perfectly fine. And I actually enjoy it so much to work with all these professionals because I can just focus on myself and on my work. because they know what they do, right? So I can like really trust, because they, they are professionals, they are like experts in what they do. So I can learn also a lot from them. And I actually learned so much from them. And also, they teach me a lot of English but that’s not a story because I came here with like no horse vocabulary because we didn’t learn that in school so I was like okay can you please just stand close to the horse’s back because I did not know all the words so they teached me a lot also in like words and but also in like writing and stuff so I so a long story short, reach out to the people you like to work with. And then if you show these people on your social media, other people that will be close to the ones you search for yourself will reach out because what you show, you get booked for. That’s just a super easy example. So for example, if I would show reigning horses or Icelanders, or no, it’s called Icelandic. I would be booked for these kind of horses and not for dressage horses. Right now, I just show dressage horses so I get booked for dressage horses. That’s a little, not so secret, but it’s, yeah, that’s how I do it.

[SPEAKER 2]
Yeah, I mean, it’s all about like the law of attraction, right? That if you want to work mainly in the dressage industry, then showcase dressage. Like if you want to work in the dressage, don’t show barrel racing, because then you’ll be associated with a barrel racing photographer and you actually want to work in the dressage, you know, so. Yeah, that makes total sense. And then what about brands, you know, working with brands and things like that? Like, how did you establish some of those connections? Was it because you had worked with some big names? And you know, it trickled from there?

[SPEAKER 1]
Or, or how did that go? They contacted me most of the time and asked if I knew that. So when I see my trainer clients, I tell them to tell their sponsor partners so they know that I’m coming. And sometimes they end up sending products. And we take pictures because it anyways, like we anyways take pictures of them and then they just wear the newest breeches and I don’t know, like the newest top. And the company can buy these pictures afterwards if they are interested in that or not, because it’s just a good to have. So they save a little bit of money because they don’t have to pay the photographer and my clients get new products. But I think because of all that, I also have a lot of requests, inquiries, inquiries from brands that just book me for like a whole day to get their collection, the new collection or to, yeah, that’s, I think it’s also like the same, just show that you know how to do it and then you will get booked for exact thing.

[SPEAKER 2]
I want to highlight something because what you said is so smart. that if you are working, you have a photo shoot coming up with a rider and you tell them, tell your brands and sponsors that I’m coming. And that is so smart because number one, like you said, you’re saving those brands money. You’re getting more bookings and more money. and your models or riders are getting stuff. So it’s a win-win-win for every single person involved, and then you’re more likely to get even more. I think that is so incredibly smart.

[SPEAKER 1]
I think many photographers do that. So they just sell because I sell different licenses to companies because it’s a whole different way of of picture rights if you use them for commercial purposes. So of course they have to pay it separately, but still they save the money for the photographer on location. They don’t get what they need sometimes, right? Because maybe they need like super detailed close-ups. I don’t offer that because they have to pay me on location. So if they want to give me like a super precise advices, they have to pay that. But that’s fine. So many companies do that. But if they just want to have their sponsor partner, like the trainer, wear the newest stuff, they are happy to send it and she can wear the new stuff for the pictures. But then afterwards, they have to pay the licenses to use these pictures because they have to tell me which ones. So they get the whole gallery, can pick the pictures they want to have. And then they just pay the license. But if they want to have me do certain things, they have to pay me for the time on location. I charged it differently. Or separately, yeah.

[SPEAKER 2]
No, very, very smart. And like I said, I’m not, I’m not in any way in that side of like, I know nothing about the photography, videography industry. So I’m like, whoa, wow, like, I’m just everything is new to me. So I think it’s great. I think you’ve given great advice. And I hope that our listeners are picking up on some of these tips as well, if they’re like me, and they didn’t know. So if some of our listeners are interested in combining their creativity or skills with their love of horses, so it doesn’t have to be photography or videography or anything like that, it’s just it’s a sense of creativity or skills, maybe it’s art, maybe it’s writing, whatever it may be, what advice would you give them to get started?

[SPEAKER 1]
you have to make a good research about the market. So whatever you want to do, you have to know your competitors and you want to know the pricing, the current pricing for whatever you want to sell. If it’s a service or product, I don’t know. That’s, I would say is always the first step, just like get to know, is it existing already? And what is the price for it? And who is your competitor? And then, Yeah, I mean, there’s like a whole marketing thing behind it, right? But you can just like look that up, like online, how to start my business. But I think my biggest thing and also what I missed in the super beginning was to look up competitors and to look up like a comparable work and also to So whatever you do, you want to be the best because you want to, you know, like it’s just what I’m the best for yourself, but also the best, like you want to offer the best offer for everyone. So just make sure that you are up to date and that you know how to do your job the best way possible. So also I recommend to do workshops and coachings and, and, and book someone who already does whatever you want to do. And, um, yeah. Just ask others that also do it and don’t be shy or be like, oh my God, I don’t want to ask her because you can ask. Some people maybe ask for money if they share their knowledge, but that’s fine. I paid a lot of money to get others’ knowledge. Yeah, absolutely.

[SPEAKER 2]
That’s good advice as well is to take workshops and take different things and even ask people. You know, I remember I had once, this is completely different, but I was interested in physiotherapy. And I thought, that’s a lot of schooling to have to take. Before I do that, I’m going to go to a physiotherapy clinic and see if I can job shadow. And I job shadowed them and I realized that this is not what I want to do. You know, and so it’s just those things that’s very important to test the waters rather than diving right in, you know, to ask those questions. Like you said, more often than not, people, whatever industry they work in, they’re more than happy to answer questions. You know, to just say, here’s my advice, or whatever it may be. And that’s so important, is anybody that’s interested in getting into something, find out who’s doing it, who’s doing it well, and see if you can, like you said, book them, speak with them, take a workshop or a class with them. I think that is really important.

[SPEAKER 1]
I think so too.

[SPEAKER 2]
So we have a few questions that we ask every podcast guest. And they’re just quick rapid fire questions. And I’m we’re going to start with the first one. So it’s Do you have a motto or a favorite saying?

[SPEAKER 1]
Yes, I do. And it’s Oh, God, It’s actually German, so let me just try to translate it. If it’s meant to be, it will happen. If not, it’s not meant to be. I think that’s how I could. Yeah. I love that.

[SPEAKER 2]
I completely agree with that saying. The second question is, who has been the most influential person in your equestrian journey?

[SPEAKER 1]
I love Ingrid Klimke. She’s like a super nice lady and she’s amazing.

[SPEAKER 2]
She is amazing. We’re very fortunate to have her as a trainer on our WeHorse platform. And there is nothing that woman can’t do. She’s absolutely incredible.

[SPEAKER 1]
That’s true.

[SPEAKER 2]
The third one is, if you could give equestrians one piece of advice, what would it be?

[SPEAKER 1]
Read and practice.

[SPEAKER 2]
The last one is, please complete this sentence. For me, horses are… Best friends.

[SPEAKER 1]
I like that.

[SPEAKER 2]
Is there anything else you’d like to add for our listeners?

[SPEAKER 1]
No, I think I shared a lot.

[SPEAKER 2]
All good stuff. It was great. We really appreciate it.

[SPEAKER 1]
Hopefully, yeah.

[SPEAKER 2]
And where can people find you? How can they connect with you? And also, how can they see your work?

[SPEAKER 1]
Oh, they can follow me on Instagram. They can see me on Facebook. They can see me even on TikTok. I have a website. Just type in my name and then you’ll find me. Perfect.

[SPEAKER 2]
I’ll link all of your social media and websites and that in the show notes as well so people can find you. It goes without saying that I highly recommend checking out her work. It is so incredible. And our recent podcast guest, Anna Buffini, was also one of her clients. So we love seeing the work that the two of you do together.

[SPEAKER 1]
Oh, thank you. I love Anna. She is like the best person to be around. She’s wonderful. Yeah, she’s amazing.

[SPEAKER 2]
Thank you so much for being with us today. I really appreciate your openness and honesty and all the advice that you’ve given to everybody. So thank you so much.

[SPEAKER 1]
Thank you too. It was such a fun time.

[SPEAKER 2]
Thank you for listening to this episode of the Equestrian Connection podcast by wehorse. If you enjoyed this episode, it would mean the world to us if you could leave us a rating and review, as well as share us on social media. You can find us on Instagram at wehorse underscore USA and check out our free seven day trial on wehorse.com where you can access over 175 courses with top trainers from around the world in a variety of topics and disciplines. Until next time, be kind to yourself, your horses and others.