TMA Photography

07/25/2026

It's time to make your stall reservation(s) for the California Championship Show, September 2-6 at the Paso Robles Event Center. 5 days of Ranch & 4 days of rail.

07/24/2026

If It’s Online, Does That Mean It’s Free?

Copyright and screenshotting proof images have once again become a major topic of conversation across the equine community.

Much of the disagreement comes from a basic misunderstanding of how copyright, licensing, and proof galleries actually work. Why do photographers place proofs online? Does owning the horse create rights to the photograph? Is a screenshot really different from purchasing the image?

This new article answers those questions without focusing on one photographer, one exhibitor, or one social media dispute. The goal is not to add more outrage to the conversation. It is to give photographers, horse owners, parents, trainers, and businesses a resource they can use the next time the subject comes up.

Copyright, Proof Galleries, and Screenshots: What Every Horse Owner Should Know

http://thehorseinfocus.com/?p=798

07/05/2026

One of the biggest lessons I've learned over the years is that every photographer has a bottleneck.

Sometimes it's equipment. More often, it isn't.

It might be waiting on clients, stopping to make decisions that could have been made beforehand, disorganized files, poor communication, or simply trying to do too many things at once. Those small interruptions rarely seem important in the moment, but over the course of a long day they quietly become the reason you're behind schedule.

The photographers who consistently handle large workloads aren't necessarily the ones who work the hardest or move the fastest. More often, they've spent years refining the process around the camera. They've eliminated unnecessary steps, created repeatable systems, and built workflows that allow them to focus on the photography instead of constantly solving problems.

If there's one takeaway I hope photographers get from this week's article and podcast, it's this:

Don't ask yourself how you can work faster.

Ask yourself what's slowing you down.

The answer to that question will probably have a much bigger impact on your business than the next piece of equipment you buy.

07/04/2026

Most photographers don't lose hours because of one big mistake.

They lose them two minutes at a time.

Waiting for the next horse. Looking for a memory card. Renaming files. Moving lights. Changing lenses. Answering questions. Solving problems that probably could have been prevented before the first horse ever arrived.

None of those things seem like a big deal on their own. The problem is they don't happen once. They happen over and over again throughout the day, and those small interruptions eventually become the reason you're running behind.

One of the biggest shifts in my business happened when I stopped asking, "How can I work faster?" and started asking, "What's slowing me down?"

Those turned out to be two very different questions.

That's exactly what this week's article explores. If you've ever finished a long day wondering where all your time went, it may not have been the camera that was costing you time at all.

If you'd like to join other equine photographers discussing topics like this, we'd love to have you in the The Horse In Focus Discussion Group on Facebook.

You can find the group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/3262407017298390

06/28/2026

Over the years I've accumulated far more memory cards than most photographers think I need.

Not because I enjoy buying them, and certainly not because I use them for long-term storage. The reality is that my workflow has always been built around risk management. Cameras fail. Hard drives fail. Memory cards fail. Most of the time everything works exactly as expected, but professional workflows aren't built around what happens most of the time. They're built around what happens the one time something doesn't go according to plan.

I know photographers who own two memory cards and simply rotate them through their cameras. I know others who have dozens. Neither approach is necessarily right or wrong, but it's always interesting to hear how different photographers think about risk, backups, and protecting their files.

I'm curious, how many memory cards do you typically carry, and what happens to them once they're full? Do they go straight into your backup workflow, or do they become temporary storage until the next shoot?

06/27/2026

Equipment has a remarkable ability to fail at the worst possible moment.

The camera doesn't know you're photographing a national champion.

The hard drive doesn't know you're delivering a commercial project.

The flash tube doesn't know you're halfway through a horse show.

When something decides it's done, it's done.

Over the years I've dealt with dead batteries, failed flash tubes, bad triggers, computer issues, and a few other surprises that showed up uninvited.

What's the worst equipment failure you've ever experienced?

06/16/2026