How To Use Equine Photography For Mental Health Therapy

 If your camera makes a sound when you press the shutter, switch this off in the camera settings to avoid spooking your subject.

Don’t chase your subjects around. Even if you’re not in the field and are in an adjoining one, it is still possible to worry or hassle an animal unnecessarily in order to obtain a photograph. If they move away from you, do not follow them. Leave them be.

By harnessing the power of impactful photography, utilising effective communication
strategies, and aligning yourself with established organisations, you can play a significant
role in bringing public attention to poor horse welfare and advocating for positive change.

This element is therapeutic in the sense that you will develop an overwhelming sense of
achievement, and joy at being able to help those who suffer, and you will definitely be
learning a new skill!

Here is a list of other activities you can do after you’ve completed your therapy session!

1. Using your photographs analyse them and test yourself by naming all the points of the horse.
2. Create an online journal or collage to share with friends and family.
3. Create a photo book. Buy a hard copy and give it as a gift to your friends or family.
4. Try using different positions or angles to photograph the horse. Be safe!
5. Try and photograph as many horse portraits as you can.

More Activities in Self Help Equine Photography Course Workbook - https://amzn.to/3AXPCEF

Later on, have a look back at the photographs you made and reflect on the time you spent with those horses.

What emotions does it invoke?

Some of the skills and qualities that therapeutic equine photography can help with are:

1. Improving relationships with friends and family. Get everyone together and show them your photographs :)

2. Becoming more aware of your surroundings.

3. Strengthening and improving your confidence, self-esteem and well-being.

4. Bringing public attention to poor horse welfare.

5. Useful as a distraction from pain either physical or mental.

6. Taking you away from all of your troubles in the present.

7. Requiring total concentration.

8. Exploring your memories.

9. Creating structure and order.

10. Encouraging you to look at the world from a different perspective.

11. Giving another form of expression. Maybe verbalisation is difficult for you or you don’t find writing thoughts down easy.

12. Overcoming social isolation.

13. Reducing the level of the stress hormone, Cortisol.

14. Improving Teamwork.

To avoid the need to get up close and personal, use a zoom lens for your camera.

Use the composition rule of thirds in photography to make the subject really stand out and make your images look professional.

At some point you may wish to edit your images. No photographer, amateur or professional, can make a completely perfect image straight out of the camera. Love it or hate it, editing is a must.

You can use photography to express how you feel, what you see, your thoughts and to record valuable memories.

As you make more photographs, the better you will become. Practice makes perfect! It’s inevitable that you will make some pretty awful images to begin with IF you have never used a camera before.

They could be out of focus, maybe you missed your subject completely, have poor composition, be too dark, too light, etc.

Don't worry too much! Pick up your camera and try again.

Check out these professional equine photographers for ideas for composition, techniques, angles and effects. 

1. Matthew Seed - https://horse-photographer.co.uk/

2. Sue Westwood-Ruttledge - https://www.horsephotographeruk.co.uk/

3. Mark Beaumont - https://markbeaumont.co.uk/