Welcome to Summer Camp!

Our models are real people with their own horses. They are comfortable being in front of the camera but because they are not professional models posing may not as naturally . I choose to work with "everyday" people because they allow your potential clients to see themselves in your portfolio and it also allows for you to practice your posing prompts with real people.  

Please remember that horses have a mind of their own — they may not want to participate the way we wish, however it is important to stay patient with them and our models as we ask things of them. Safety for models and the horses will come before any poses. 

Due to the shoots being outside and my lack of ability to control the weather no matter how hard I try, the schedule of the retreat events are subject to change in case of poor weather. This may mean times or even day of the school may get moved to accommodate the weather and the models. If models are okay with light rain, rain shoots may take place. 

We will have shoots in evenings and mornings, including sunrise shoots and will be during traditional meal times so if you need to eat at a certain time for health or hanger issues, please pack a meal or snack for the car. 

Transportation to and from the shoots will be provided however if you have a locals only ticket you will be responsible for providing your own transportation to/from the shoot locations.

Iowa this time of year will be HOT and HUMID — expect temps in the mid-80-90s during our shoots and humidity levels 70-90%

One of us will start out directing / posing the models and then everyone will have a chance to jump in and direct if they want. Many of the poses we will direct will have the models looking at their horse or off in different directions but at anytime if you want the model to look directly at you please raise your hands and ask them to look your way — raising the hand so they know who said it.

Mariah or I will share their camera settings periodically throughout the shoot but if at anytime you would like to know what our current settings are ask and we will shout them back out.

It is highly encouraged to move around throughout the shoot and play with different angles but be courteous of the fellow attendees — if you need to walk in front of someone’s camera let them know but never worry about being in front of me or Mariah because you getting the shot comes before us always!

This is a primarily natural light event but if you would like to use flash or play around with some constant light we can try and accommodate that the best we can throughout as long as it doesn’t interfere with others work. I will have canon flash and different constant light options available if you would like to try anything out. Pretty much any of my gear in my bag is up for you to play with.