An Interview with Equine Photographer Carien Schippers  Carien Schippers has been photographing professionally since 1976. She has an AAS degree from SUNY Cobleskill in Animal Husbandry and a two-year certificate from the New England School of Photography. For many years she was primarily an event and farm photographer, more recently she has been developing an extensive stock archive of equine images for publication as well as a fine art print site at www.horsedrivephotos.com. The photos from this collection have been exhibited in galleries all over the Northeast and have placed well in numerous juried art competitions. As a lifetime student of the horse she excels in capturing the spirit and beauty of the equine and is in constant pursuit of finding fresh, unique and creative perspectives of her subject. She is a keen observer and able to capture the subtle nuances of horse and herd behavior, giving her a highly recognizable style of work that has been widely published in a variety of magazines, calendars, books and catalogs. SHOW NOTES Carien has several websites you can visit Her Website http://www.imagequine.com Her Personal Profile Facebook https://www.facebook.com/carien.schippers Her Business Page on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ImagEquine Her Website for the Horse Drive http://www.horsedrivephotos.com Her Blog http://imagequine.blogspot.com The Equine Photographers Network Website http://www.equinephotographers.org The Equine Photographers Network Newsletter Sign-up http://www.equinephotographers.org/subscribe.htm * Host: Peter DeMott * Host: Gigi Embrechts * Our Guest: Carien Schippers and her life growing up with horses. * The Equine Photographers Network. * Some go pro too soon. * All the work associated with actual photography business. * Shoot what’s in your back yard to get started. * Work your way up from local 4H shows in your area. * Choosing the work. Don’t do things that you are not confident about yet. * Being versatile, stock, horse shows, portraits – learn as much as you can. * Invest in your gear and your education. * Look at other people’s work. * Put your ego aside and put your work out there to learn. * Susan Sexton said, “you can not be emotionally attached to your photographs”. * Experiment and find your own style, don’t just follow the latest trend. * Where her income comes from. * EPnet, Portraits, Shows, Editorial work etc. * The business worked well around raising her children. * Her opinion is that nailing down to a very specific niche is not the best plan. * Learning breed specific standards. Look at websites and magazines to see what is expected. Learn them all. * Basics of Equine Photography online workshop available every year. * Learning about horses too – not just about photography. * Most equine photographers are women because they love horses. * A digital camera does not make you a professional photographer. * Dealing with people and people skills are also important.