We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Erica Richards. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Erica below.

Erica, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s talk about innovation. What’s the most innovative thing you’ve done in your career?

Thank you, it’s a pleasure to be here. Great timing on this question as I’ve just made a big change in my business. Until just recently, I marketed family photography as well as equestrian photography. Now, I am niching down to just equestrian photography. So, what does that mean? While it doesn’t mean I won’t do other photography, it does means that my company now reflects my expertise in photographing you and your horse.

There is a saying, “Jack of all trades; master at none”. I want my clients to know that I “master” at showing that bond between you and your horse, that picture of your horse that takes your breath away, that stunning picture of you and your horse in that dreamy, ethereal light.

Erica, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Life can be so funny; it can take you in a direction that you never, ever would have expected. While all my life I have loved taking pictures, being a professional photographer never occurred to me. I spent my adult working career in the film industry and doing graphics and labeling. Then I purchased my first professional camera, fell madly in love and even though it came late in life, I finally knew what I was meant to do and have never looked back!

I specialize in equestrian photography, capturing all the unique and special features of you and your horse, creating lifelong memories, the type of memories that you just can’t capture with your cell phone. I am constantly told my use of light is amazing and I love how light can create magic in photos so that it takes your breath away. And if you want that running free amazing photo of your horse to hang on your wall but the only place you have to let your horse run free is the arena at your barn, no problem, I will create a custom background and you would never know your horse was surrounded by fence. It makes my heart sing to create captivating images that make my clients say “WOW” and want to hang on their walls. It is my why when I see the look on their face when they see their artwork.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

Everyone has a phone and snaps a multitude of pictures every day. But being a photographer is really about so much more than just snapping a picture. A camera is a tool. It records facts; it records data, data about light and colour at the moment the shutter is pressed. But it doesn’t tell the story or evoke emotion, that is the photographer. As a photographer, we take in everything around us before we close that shutter, it is our eye, our heart that sees the story to tell and the tools that process that data that makes the story come alive.

Photographer Jonathan Reader said it perfectly, “I am the one who listened to the waves of light, and told you what it had to say.”

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me, it’s having a vision and then realising that vision when the photo is done. And when my client sees their artwork and their eyes light up and they have a grin from ear to ear, it makes my heart sing. One of my Moms did a video for me of her daughter seeing her pictures for the first time; she jumped up and down and laughed with glee and told me she loved me over and over. I could see Dad walking past in the background and Mom told me he doesn’t want to be in the video because he cried.

Does it get any better than that?

That is my why!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ericarichardsphotography.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/ericarichardsphotography
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/ericarichardsphotography

Image Credits
Erica Richards Photography Patti Monson Photography