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SUBSCRIBE Introduction Photography has a lot of rules. Professional photographers always do this. Professional photographers never do that. You have to use this lens. You should never sell digital files. You have to shoot manual. You can’t crop a horse that way. You should never discount. You have to structure your business this way if you want to be considered a professional. But who made those rules? In this Field Notes episode of the Equine Photographers Podcast, we’re looking at the difference between legitimate professional photography advice and personal preference that has gradually been turned into an industry commandment. Because there absolutely are professional standards, technical limitations, client requirements, safety considerations and lessons that come from years of experience. But there are also plenty of things photographers do simply because that’s what works for them. Knowing the difference matters. IN THIS EPISODE We look at how photography rules get created, repeated and eventually accepted without anyone stopping to ask why they exist in the first place. Some began with legitimate technical or business reasons. Others may have made sense for a particular photographer, client or market. And some are simply preferences that have been passed from photographer to photographer until they started sounding like professional standards. We also talk about why context matters when evaluating photography advice. The right approach for photographing a sale horse may be completely wrong for an editorial portrait. A business model that works beautifully for a luxury portrait photographer may make absolutely no sense for an official horse show photographer handling thousands of competition images. The question isn’t simply whether someone recommends doing something. The more useful question is why they recommend it. Key Takeaway Good professional advice usually comes with a reason. When someone tells you not to do something because it creates distortion, causes a safety issue, violates a client requirement, interferes with the intended use of an image or has repeatedly created a specific business problem, they’ve given you information you can evaluate and apply. “I would never do that” doesn’t provide the same information. Experience absolutely matters, but experience becomes far more valuable to other photographers when we explain the lessons behind it. Instead of simply teaching photographers another rule to memorize, we can teach them how to understand the problem that rule was intended to solve. Why This Matters Newer photographers are especially vulnerable to confusing preference with professional standards because they don’t yet have enough experience to know the difference. When an established photographer says, “Professionals don’t do that,” the statement carries authority. A photographer who is still learning may build part of their workflow, pricing, client experience or creative process around that advice without ever understanding why. That doesn’t mean photographers should dismiss advice from experienced professionals. Quite the opposite. There is an enormous amount of knowledge that only comes from doing the work repeatedly, dealing with clients and making mistakes. But photographers should learn to ask better questions. What problem does this solve? What happens if I don’t follow this advice? Does it apply to my type of photography? Does it apply to my clients? Is there a technical, safety or business reason behind it? Those questions turn advice into something useful. The Bigger Context Photography changes. Camera technology changes. Client expectations change. Markets change. Delivery methods change. Business models change. Something that was excellent advice fifteen years ago may still be excellent advice today—or the circumstances that created it may no longer exist. That’s why understanding the reasoning behind a rule is more valuable than simply memorizing the rule itself. It’s also why “it depends” can sometimes be one of the most professional answers we can give another photographer. The next step is explaining exactly what it depends on. The goal shouldn’t be to create photographers who know a giant collection of rules. It should be to create photographers who understand their craft, their clients and their businesses well enough to make informed decisions. Final Thought Eventually, every photographer develops preferences. We find workflows that make us faster, business practices that work for our clients and creative choices that become part of our style. There is nothing wrong with sharing those preferences or explaining what has worked for us. We simply need to be careful about turning them into universal rules. If you’re giving advice, explain the why. If you’re receiving advice, ask for the why. You may discover a technical reason, a client requirement, an expensive lesson or twenty years of experience behind the recommendation. Or you may discover that it’s simply how that photographer likes to do things. Both can be useful information. We just need to know which one we’re hearing. SUBSCRIBE About the Equine Photographers Podcast The Equine Photographers Podcast features conversations, interviews, and Field Notes exploring the business, craft, and future of equine photography. From workflow and pricing to industry trends and marketing, each episode is designed to help photographers build stronger, more sustainable businesses. 🎙️ Browse all episodes: Equine Photographers Podcast 📖 Read related articles at The Horse In Focus:  The post 52: Field Notes – Who Made That Rule? appeared first on Equine Photographers Podcast.

SUBSCRIBE Introduction “Charge what you’re worth.” It is one of the most common pieces of advice photographers give each other when the subject of pricing comes up. It sounds supportive and empowering, but it also takes something that should be a business decision and makes it deeply personal. Your worth has nothing to do with the number on your invoice. In this Field Notes episode of the Equine Photographers Podcast, we look at why “charge what you’re worth” is terrible pricing advice, how attaching personal value to pricing can make normal business decisions unnecessarily emotional, and what photographers should actually consider when deciding what to charge.   IN THIS EPISODE Pricing is not a measure of talent, experience or personal value. It is a business tool, and good pricing has to account for far more than how much a photographer believes their work deserves. We talk about the real cost of providing photography services, including the expenses and working hours photographers frequently overlook. We also look at the role the market plays in pricing, why needing to charge a certain amount does not automatically mean clients will pay it, and why that information should be treated as a business problem rather than a personal rejection. The episode also explores experience and its relationship to value. Twenty years behind a camera does not automatically entitle someone to a higher price. The value comes from what those twenty years allow the photographer to accomplish for the client — whether that means greater consistency, efficiency, specialized knowledge, problem solving or the ability to deliver when conditions are less than ideal. Key Takeaway Your price is a business number, not a measurement of your worth. A photography business needs pricing that accounts for operating costs, time, profitability, demand, capacity, positioning and the value being created for the client. It also has to exist within the realities of a market. If the numbers do not work, something needs to change. That might be the price, but it could just as easily be the service, the client, the market, the positioning or the way the value of the offer is being communicated. The important thing is being able to evaluate those things objectively instead of interpreting every yes or no as validation of your value as a photographer. Why This Matters Photography is already personal. We create the work, attach our names to it and build businesses around our individual vision and expertise. When pricing becomes connected to “knowing your worth,” normal client decisions can start feeling like judgments of the photographer rather than decisions about a purchase. A client can love your work and still decide you are too expensive for what they need. They can value professional photography and choose another photographer. They can have the money and decide to spend it somewhere else. None of those things require you to lower your prices, and none of them mean the client does not value you. A sustainable photography business does not require everyone to say yes. It requires enough of the right clients to say yes at prices that allow the business to remain profitable. The Bigger Context Better pricing conversations require better questions. Instead of asking photographers what they think they are worth, we should be asking what it costs them to deliver the work, what the business needs to earn, who the client is, what that client is actually buying and what makes the photographer’s offer valuable or difficult to replace. We also need to understand that experience only creates commercial value when it changes the outcome for the client. Knowing horses, anticipating action, working efficiently, solving problems, delivering consistent results and handling complicated assignments without creating additional work for the client are all examples of experience creating value. That is also why copying another photographer’s pricing rarely provides the answer. Their costs, volume, market, capacity, demand and business model may be completely different from yours. Competitor pricing can provide useful market information, but it cannot tell you what your business needs to charge. Final Thought Your pricing can be wrong. You can discover that you are charging too little. You can discover that the market will not support what you need to charge. You can raise prices when demand exceeds capacity, restructure a service that is not profitable or eliminate something that no longer makes sense for your business. You can change your prices tomorrow. None of those decisions changes your worth. Instead of “charge what you’re worth,” charge what makes sense for the work, the client, the market and the business you are trying to build. Your price is a business number. Treat it like one. SUBSCRIBE About the Equine Photographers Podcast The Equine Photographers Podcast features conversations, interviews, and Field Notes exploring the business, craft, and future of equine photography. From workflow and pricing to industry trends and marketing, each episode is designed to help photographers build stronger, more sustainable businesses. 🎙️ Browse all episodes: Equine Photographers Podcast 📖 Read related articles at The Horse In Focus:  The post 50: Field Notes – Your Price Has Nothing to Do With Your Worth appeared first on Equine Photographers Podcast.

Not every photograph has the same job. Explore how art, documentation, marketing and commercial photography require different approaches.

Equine photographer Phyllis Burchett returns 10 years later to discuss photography, business, change, career longevity, and finding where you fit.

Official photographers often take the blame for horse show photography policies they didn’t create. Here’s why we may be asking the wrong person.

Not every Official Photographer contract is worth taking. Learn how choosing the right horse shows can build a stronger, more profitable photography business.

Hope is part of every business owner's journey, but hope alone has never built a sustainable business. In this Field Notes episode, I explore why intentional decisions—not waiting for the perfect opportunity—shape the careers that stand the test of time.

SUBSCRIBE Introduction When photographers talk about mistakes, the conversation almost always turns to technical problems. We talk about missed focus, poor lighting, bad timing, or equipment failures because those are the mistakes we can see immediately. Looking back over more than twenty years in business, I’ve realized that the mistakes that had the greatest impact on my career weren’t usually technical. They were business decisions, assumptions, and habits that quietly influenced the direction of my business over time. In this episode of Field Notes, I share seven lessons that experience taught me—lessons I wish I had understood much earlier in my career. Photographers spend a lot of time thinking about pricing. We compare rates. We compare portfolios. We compare gear. And when someone charges more than we do, it’s easy to assume they’re simply a better photographer—or that they’ve somehow convinced clients to pay more for the exact same thing. But what if clients aren’t paying for the photographs nearly as much as we think they are? In this episode, we’re looking beyond the finished images to explore the real value clients are investing in every time they hire a professional photographer. What This Episode Covers Why the most expensive mistakes often aren’t technical. The cost of waiting too long to make important decisions. Why trusting a handshake isn’t always enough. How small problems become expensive when they’re ignored. The importance of protecting your time. Why assuming everyone thinks like you can create unnecessary challenges. The danger of focusing on the wrong competition. Why success doesn’t eliminate problems—it simply changes them. Key Takeaway The mistakes that shape a business are rarely the ones photographers spend the most time worrying about. Experience has a way of changing what matters, and often the lessons that have the greatest impact aren’t found behind the camera—they’re found in the decisions we make as business owners. Why This Matters Every photographer makes mistakes. That’s part of learning any craft. What matters is recognizing that some mistakes cost far more than a missed photograph. The decisions we make about boundaries, relationships, priorities, contracts, time, and business strategy often have a greater influence on our long-term success than any technical skill ever will. Learning to recognize those lessons earlier can save years of frustration and help build a stronger, more sustainable business. The Bigger Context One of the themes that continues to emerge throughout Field Notes is that photography and business are not the same thing. Technical ability may open the door, but experience teaches us that running a successful photography business requires judgment, perspective, and a willingness to continually evaluate how we make decisions. As our careers evolve, so do the questions we ask and the lessons we carry forward. Final Thought If I could sit down with the photographer I was twenty years ago, I don’t think we’d spend much time talking about cameras. We’d spend our time talking about decisions. Because those are the lessons that took the longest to learn—and the ones that ultimately shaped my business far more than any piece of equipment ever did. SUBSCRIBE About the Equine Photographers Podcast The Equine Photographers Podcast features conversations, interviews, and Field Notes exploring the business, craft, and future of equine photography. From workflow and pricing to industry trends and marketing, each episode is designed to help photographers build stronger, more sustainable businesses. 🎙️ Browse all episodes: Equine Photographers Podcast 📖 Read related articles at The Horse In Focus:  The post 44: Field Notes – Photography Business Mistakes appeared first on Equine Photographers Podcast.

Ten years after her first appearance on the Equine Photographers Podcast, Shelley Paulson returns to reflect on the evolution of her business, changing priorities, and the lessons that come with experience.

Most photographers believe clients are paying for the finished images, but that's only part of the story. In this episode, we explore why trust, consistency, communication, and professionalism often have a greater influence on pricing than the photographs themselves—and how understanding that can transform your business.

Most photographers think they have a speed problem. They don't—they have a throughput problem. Learn how better systems and workflows create a more profitable photography business.

Carien Schippers joins the 10 Years Later series to discuss a decade of change, business evolution, industry shifts, and lessons learned along the way.

SUBSCRIBE INTRO Backup gear is one of those topics that almost always turns into a discussion about equipment. How many camera bodies do you own? How many lenses? How many memory cards? Do professionals really need backups for everything? But the longer you’re in business, the more you realize that backup gear isn’t really about gear at all. It’s about preparation. In this episode, Suzanne explores why professionals spend money on systems, equipment, and processes they hope they’ll never need—and why the ability to recover from failure is often more important than avoiding failure in the first place WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS why backup gear is really a risk management conversation the difference between hobbyist thinking and professional thinking why professionals invest in redundancy how backups extend beyond cameras and lenses the hidden costs of equipment failures why preparation often looks excessive until something goes wrong the relationship between luck, planning, and reliability how backup systems create confidence for both photographers and clients KEY TAKEAWAY Backup gear isn’t about equipment. It’s about building a business that can continue operating when something inevitably goes wrong. The professionals who survive unexpected problems aren’t necessarily the ones with the best luck. They’re usually the ones who prepared for the possibility that luck might run out. WHY THIS MATTERS Most photographers focus on acquiring equipment that helps them create better images. Far fewer spend time thinking about what happens when a critical piece of equipment, technology, or infrastructure fails. Clients rarely remember the problems that never happened. They remember whether the photographer delivered. The ability to recover quickly from equipment failures, technology failures, or unexpected disruptions is often what separates a professional operation from a fragile one. THE BIGGER CONTEXT This conversation extends far beyond photography. Horse shows have contingency plans. Airlines build redundancy into critical systems. Businesses develop procedures for situations they hope never occur. The common thread isn’t fear of failure—it’s an understanding that failure is sometimes unavoidable. Professionalism is often less about preventing every problem and more about ensuring that a problem doesn’t become a disaster. Backup gear is simply one visible example of a much larger principle: preparation creates resilience. FINAL THOUGHT The best backup plans are often the ones you never have to use. Most of the money spent on backup cameras, backup memory cards, backup hard drives, and backup systems will hopefully never prove necessary. But the day they are needed is rarely the day you have time to put them in place. Because in the end, backup gear isn’t about cameras. It’s about being able to keep moving when things don’t go according to plan. RELATED CONTENT: Read the companion article on The Horse In Focus The Backup Gear Myth: Why Professionlas Spend Money Preparing for Problems They Hope Never Happen SUBSCRIBE About the Equine Photographers Podcast The Equine Photographers Podcast features conversations, interviews, and Field Notes exploring the business, craft, and future of equine photography. From workflow and pricing to industry trends and marketing, each episode is designed to help photographers build stronger, more sustainable businesses. 🎙️ Browse all episodes: Equine Photographers Podcast 📖 Read related articles at The Horse In Focus:  The post 39: Field Notes – The Backup Gear Myth appeared first on Equine Photographers Podcast.

INTRO Most people think standards live in equipment, software, or technology. They assume the quality of an industry rises or falls based on the tools being used. But standards don’t come from cameras, editing programs, or AI. They come from the work people see repeatedly over time. In this episode, Suzanne Sylvester explores where professional standards actually originate, how they quietly shift, and why the responsibility for maintaining them rests with the people creating the work—not the clients consuming it. WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS why most people misunderstand where standards come from how expectations are built through repetition and exposure the role of accuracy in equine photography and marketing why consistency matters more than individual images how reliability contributes to professional standards where photography and design intersect the difference between work built with purpose and work that simply looks finished why clients are reacting to standards rather than creating them how AI contributes to the “close enough” problem who is ultimately responsible for maintaining industry standards how standards shift gradually through everyday decisions KEY TAKEAWAY Standards are not defined by tools. They are built through thousands of small decisions involving accuracy, consistency, reliability, and communication. Every image delivered, every advertisement created, and every gallery published contributes to what people eventually come to expect as normal. WHY THIS MATTERS In the equine industry, representation matters. A horse that is inaccurately photographed, misleadingly edited, poorly presented, or inconsistently marketed affects more than a single image. It influences buyer expectations, client trust, and the overall perception of quality within the industry. The standard isn’t maintained through occasional great work. It’s maintained through consistently making correct decisions over time. The Bigger Context This episode continues several themes explored throughout the Field Notes series: technology versus understanding AI and “good enough” work consistency as a professional skill client expectations responsibility within creative industries the long-term impact of everyday decisions As tools become more powerful and content becomes easier to produce, the gap between creating volume and maintaining standards continues to widen. The expectation hasn’t changed. What has changed is how easy it has become to produce something that appears close enough FINAL THOUGHT The standard doesn’t move all at once. It shifts through small adjustments, rushed decisions, and work that looks acceptable but isn’t entirely correct. Most people don’t notice it happening until expectations have already changed. At the end of the day, this isn’t about cameras, software, or AI. It’s about decisions. And every decision contributes to what the next person expects to see. That’s how standards are built—and why the people who understand the work are ultimately responsible for holding them. RELATED CONTENT: Read the compaion article on The Horse In Focus What the Standard Actually Is—And Who Is Responsible for Holding It (Part 7) SUBSCRIBE The post 38: Field Notes – Where People Think the Standard Lives (Part 7) appeared first on Equine Photographers Podcast.

INTRO The line between photographers and designers has been shifting for years. Photographers are creating ads. Designers are picking up cameras. And in many cases, people are doing both. On the surface, that looks like a natural evolution. But underneath it, there’s a growing gap in how those roles are being understood. WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS how and why the line between photography and design has blurred how the design industry shifted before photography did why designers moved into photography why photographers started taking on design work where the overlap works—and where it starts to break down how AI behaves differently in design vs photography why accuracy matters more in equine work KEY TAKEAWAY The divide isn’t photographer vs designer. It’s the difference between understanding the work and relying on tools to make something look finished. WHY THIS MATTERS In equine marketing, both photography and design carry responsibility. A strong image with weak design fails to communicate. A clean design built on a weak image fails differently. Both sides have to hold. THE BIGGER CONTEXT This episode connects everything from the series: accessibility technology pricing AI The tools are overlapping. The roles are shifting. But understanding hasn’t increased at the same rate. FINAL THOUGHT The question isn’t: “Who does photography?” or “Who does design?” It’s: “Who understands what they’re creating?” Because these aren’t just images. They’re representations. RELATED CONTENT Read the full article: Photographers vs Designers: The Overlap No One Talks About Subscribe The post 37: Field Notes – Photographers vs Designers: Where the Line is Actually Drawn (Part 6) appeared first on Equine Photographers Podcast.