Equine Photography Session Checklist: What to Do Before, During, and After Every Session

There are certain things I would prefer not to leave to my memory.

Whether I packed all the weird little things I use to get horse ears up is one of them. Whether there was one photograph the client told me she absolutely wanted is another.

And whether I backed up the images from yesterday's session definitely makes the list.

That's why I like checklists in an equine photography business. As a horse photographer, there are simply too many moving pieces to depend on remembering every little thing, and the actual photography is only one of them.

Before a session, you're communicating with the client, watching the weather, thinking about the location, preparing equipment, and making sure everyone knows what needs to happen. During the session, you're paying attention to the horse, the person, the light, the location, your equipment, and occasionally whatever interesting thing the horse has suddenly decided is happening somewhere behind you.

Then you go home and there's still work to do.

A good equine photography session checklist gets some of those details out of your head and into a repeatable process. You don't need my exact checklist. But if you're doing something at nearly every session and depending on yourself to remember it every single time, it's probably a pretty good candidate for one.

Quick Answer

An equine photography session checklist should cover what you need to do before the session, what to pack, what to remember while photographing, what to check before leaving the location, and what needs to happen when you're back at the office.

The best checklist isn't the longest one. It's the one that keeps you from relying on memory for things you do at nearly every session.

Before the Equine Photography Session

Your checklist should start well before the camera goes in the car.

Confirm the date, time, and location. Make sure you know where you're going, how long it will take to get there, and whether there are any special instructions for getting onto the property.

And, of course, keep an eye on the weather. Apparently scheduling an outdoor session with horses gives the weather permission to become a full participant in the planning process.

Your client should also know what needs to happen before you arrive. That might include grooming horses, cleaning tack, planning clothing, and having grooming supplies available for any touch-ups during the session.

This is also the time to go back to what the client told you matters to them. Is this session about the relationship between a horse and rider? Is there a particular location that's important to them?

Do they want photographs with a spouse, child, trainer, or other important people in their life? Do they want multiple horses photographed together? Or do they want the session to be all about the horses with no people in the photographs at all?

And is there one particular photograph they're hoping to create?

You don't want to remember that request while you're driving home.

There are also a few horse-specific logistics worth figuring out ahead of time. Do any of the horses need to be transported to the session location? Will someone be available to help handle horses during the session? Are there any behavioral or physical considerations you should know about?

A horse who can't comfortably stand in a particular position, doesn't get along with one of the other horses being photographed, or has strong opinions about certain situations is information I'd much rather have before we're standing in the middle of the session.

Your own pre-session checklist may also include contracts, payments, questionnaires, planning calls, wardrobe consultations, product conversations, or whatever else is part of the way you run your business.

The point isn't to make every photographer follow the same process. It's to make sure your process actually happens.

Equine Photography Packing List: What to Bring to a Session

This is where the old-fashioned packing checklist earns its keep.

You probably don't need anyone to tell you to bring a camera.

Although, to be fair, I did have a photographer friend drive an hour to a session once only to discover she'd packed everything except her camera bag.

So perhaps we shouldn't assume anything.

Camera Equipment

Your equipment list will depend on how you photograph, but mine would include:

• Camera bag. Yes, we're putting this on the list.

• Camera bodies and lenses

• Charged batteries plus backups

• Memory cards plus backups

• Lighting equipment, if needed

• Lens cloths and whatever you normally use to clean your camera and lenses

• Any stands, modifiers, triggers, reflectors, or other equipment required for the session

The important part isn't whether your equipment list looks like mine. It's knowing what your normal kit contains so you don't have to rebuild the list in your head every time you walk out the door.

And yes, check the memory cards. Owning six memory cards is considerably less helpful when all six are sitting beside your computer.

Things for the Photographer

Your equipment isn't the only thing that needs to make it through the session.

Water, sunscreen, bug spray, snacks, appropriate shoes and clothing, and whatever weather gear makes sense for the conditions can make a very big difference when you're working outside. Equine sessions don't always happen five feet from the car, and once you're halfway across a field, the water bottle sitting on your kitchen counter isn't particularly useful.

I also keep a few little emergency items like safety pins and a lint roller in my bag because they've come in handy over the years. That doesn't mean you need to duplicate my bag. Your packing checklist should reflect the things you actually use.

Professional Horse-Ear-Getter-Uppers

Then we have the part of the equipment list that makes perfect sense to equine photographers and causes everyone else to wonder what exactly we do for a living.

The professional horse-ear-getter-uppers.

Squeakers. Peppermints. Pom-poms. Mirrors. Stick horses. Remote-control cars. Interesting noises. Whatever safely gets a horse interested in the general direction you'd like him to look.

The collection tends to grow because horses eventually figure out our tricks. Something that gets one horse's immediate attention may be completely unimpressive to the next.

Treats can be useful for getting a horse's attention, but I never give a horse anything without the owner's permission. Horses can have dietary restrictions or medical issues, and some owners simply don't want other people feeding their horses.

I also don't give treats during the session. Once some horses figure out there's food involved, getting their attention is no longer the problem. Getting them to stop looking for the food can be.

I'll use peppermints or other treats to get attention if the owner is okay with it, but the horse gets the actual treat when we're finished.

Consider it payment for services rendered.

During the Equine Photography Session

A checklist shouldn't be something you're staring at every four minutes while you're supposed to be photographing. It's there to make sure the important things don't disappear from your brain once the session gets moving.

Safety stays at the top of that list, and that includes your own.

I have a terrible habit of getting so focused on the horses I'm photographing that I stop paying attention to where I'm putting my own feet. If I'm moving through a field watching a horse, I'm watching the horse. I'm not necessarily watching for holes, uneven ground, or whatever else is waiting to take me out.

Fortunately, I have Veronica, my assistant. She does a whole lot of things that make her invaluable to me, and one of those things happens to be keeping me from injuring myself.

There are professional football coaches who have assistants whose job is basically to keep them from wandering onto the field when they get caught up in the game. Veronica occasionally serves the same function for me. She has been known to grab me and yank me out of trouble when I'm paying far more attention to the horse than to where I'm going.

You may not have a Veronica, so pay attention to your footing, your surroundings, where the horses are moving, and where you've placed your equipment. No photograph is worth getting yourself, your client, or a horse hurt.

Beyond safety, the checklist can help you keep track of what the client actually asked for. If there are multiple horses or people involved, did you photograph the combinations you discussed? Did you create the specific photograph the client told you mattered to them?

It can also help you make sure you're creating enough variety without turning the session into a rigid shot list. Depending on the session, that might mean different groupings, locations, orientations, or perspectives. The goal isn't to collect every possible combination. It's simply to avoid getting home and realizing you created 47 variations of essentially the same photograph.

And sometimes the horse changes the plan.

If something clearly isn't working, you don't have to spend fifteen minutes trying to force a particular photograph simply because it was on the list.

Before You Leave the Session Location

Before anyone changes clothes, untacks horses, loads horses into trailers, or starts heading home, take a minute and make sure you're actually finished.

Did you photograph all the horses you were supposed to photograph? Did you get the combinations of horses and people the client wanted? Was there a specific photograph they mentioned during planning that you haven't created yet?

I also like to give the client one last chance to tell me if there's something we haven't done that they were hoping we would do. It's much easier to deal with that while everyone is still standing there than after the horses have been loaded and the trailer has disappeared down the road.

Then do one more check for your own stuff.

If you've been moving around a farm or property, make sure you're leaving with all the equipment you arrived with. Light stands, reflectors, jackets, water bottles, squeakers, and whatever else you've scattered along the way.

And lens caps.

Photographers are notoriously good at setting down a lens cap and apparently sending it into another dimension.

The goal here is pretty simple: make sure you got everything you needed and you're taking everything you brought.

Back at the Office

The session may be over, but there are a few things I don't want to trust myself to remember when I get home, especially after a long session.

First, deal with the images.

Download the cards, get the images into your normal file structure, and make your backups. Most importantly, verify that the images are actually where they're supposed to be before formatting or reusing a memory card.

You don't have to use the same backup system another photographer uses. The important part is simple: download, back up, verify.

From there, your checklist depends on your own workflow. You may need to send a post-session email, update the client in your CRM, prepare images for an ordering appointment, create a gallery, place product orders, record payments or expenses, or schedule the next client touchpoint.

You don't need to add steps just because another photographer does them. But if something needs to happen after every session, put it on the checklist instead of hoping you'll remember it three days later.

And don't forget to reset your equipment for the next session. Charge the batteries you used, return memory cards to wherever they belong once they're cleared and ready, put the ear-getter-uppers back in their bag, replace anything you used up, and generally put your kit back together.

Future you will be considerably less annoyed when the next session rolls around.

Your Checklist Should Match the Business You Actually Run

This is where checklists can go sideways.

You find someone else's beautifully organized 83-step workflow and suddenly decide that's what a real photography business is supposed to look like.

It isn't.

Start with the way you actually work. What do you need to do before every session? What do you always need to pack? What do you need to remember while you're photographing? What should you check before leaving the session location? What needs to happen when you get back to the office?

Every time you catch yourself saying, “I can't believe I forgot that,” you've probably found another candidate for the checklist.

Your checklist can live on paper, on your phone, inside your CRM, in project-management software, or taped to the inside of a cabinet door. The tool matters considerably less than whether you actually use it.

An Equine Photography Checklist Doesn't Have to Make the Session Rigid

The whole point of a checklist is to help you remember the predictable things without making the experience itself predictable.

Every horse is different. Every person is different. Relationships, locations, and light are different. You don't need to approach every session exactly the same way.

But you also don't need to reinvent how you pack your camera bag or what happens to your memory cards when you get home.

The repeatable parts can be repeatable. That leaves more of your attention available for the parts that aren't.

Build Your Own Equine Photography Session Checklist

If you're currently running most of your business from memory, you don't need to sit down tomorrow and document every process you've ever used.

Start with one session.

Before you leave, write down what you need. During the session, notice the things you keep checking or trying to remember. Before you leave the location, make sure you got what you needed and you're taking home everything you brought. When you get back to the office, write down what needs to happen next.

Then use the checklist at the next session. Change what doesn't work. Add what you forgot.

That's how useful systems get built. Not because somebody on the internet handed you the perfect workflow, but because you paid attention to how your business actually works and created something that helps you run it better.

And if your final checklist includes camera bodies, memory cards, sunscreen, bug spray, peppermints, a squeaky toy, and a remote-control car?

Welcome to equine photography.

Frequently Asked Questions

What should be on an equine photography session checklist?

Your checklist should cover session preparation, camera equipment, personal gear, horse attention-getters, safety, client requests, anything you need to check before leaving the location, image backup, and resetting your equipment afterward. Add or remove items based on how you actually photograph and run your business.

What should an equine photographer bring to a horse photography session?

At minimum, bring your normal camera kit, charged batteries and backups, memory cards and backups, any lighting equipment you use, lens-cleaning supplies, and the personal items you'll need for working outdoors. Equine photographers may also carry tools for getting horse ears and attention, such as squeakers, mirrors, pom-poms, or treats used with the owner's permission.

Should equine photographers use the same session checklist for every client?

The repeatable parts can stay the same, but the session itself shouldn't be treated as identical. Different horses, people, locations, client requests, weather conditions, and safety considerations may require changes. The checklist should remind you what not to forget without dictating how every session has to happen.