Well hello there!

It's been an idea in the back of my mind for a while now and I finally took the leap to create a blog for my photography business. So before I dive into all things horses and photography, I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself, briefly share about me and how I got to where I am today.

My name is Rachael Watts and I'm a professional equine photographer in Texas. I'm 30 years old. No human children yet, but my fiancé and I have a small farm that consists of our four horses, two dogs, one cat, a pig, and about a dozen chickens.

I was born infected with the horse bug. I was running around on my hands and knees pretending to be a horse, reading every horse book I could buy at the Scholastic book fairs in school, and dreaming of one day having a nice barn, a fancy show horse and riding competitively. In middle school I showed my Welsh Pony, Zip, in the Van Zandt County 4-H shows and ran around in playdays. My step-up horse I got in high school, Princess, was another piece of the puzzle that got me a little closer to completing the picture I had in my head. We won countless ribbons, a couple belt buckles and a trophy! She is my heart horse, and just celebrated her 25th birthday.

When I was in high school, I wanted my senior pictures to be with my horse. I had a lot of point & shoot pictures of us showing or trail riding over the years (you know, the 4x6's you'd get from a disposable camera), but I didn't have any really pretty pictures that showed the bond we had. Something that I could hang on the wall to admire. I had a couple friends try to take the pictures I was envisioning, but they never came out looking like the types of inspiration pictures I had saved on Pinterest! I started searching for a photographer that specialized in equine photography and I felt like I had found a "hole" in the market for the types of images that I was wanting. Every one that specialized in horses was so far away, it would've cost just as much in fuel as the session itself. I took what I learned from photo/journalism class in school and enrolled in an equine photography workshop in 2013 and found a passion I didn't know existed.

I know how happy it makes me seeing pictures of me with my horses. I want to give other people that same joy. I want to create beautiful artwork that they can hang on their wall to see every day, to remind them of the special bond they share with their horse.

Because they are not just pictures. They're memories... and sometimes those memoires are all you have left. Because tomorrow is not promised.

Until next time,

- Rachael