MCCOOL PHOTOGRAPHY

Amy McCool

McCool Photography was created 20 years ago. I had a vision then, and it still holds true today.

To me, being an Equestrian Photographer means being somewhere and doing something that I love. It means working long hours in smoldering heat or biting cold with less than optimal seating or standing arrangements for 10+ hours a day. It means shoving lunch down my throat without chewing in the 2 minutes between horses. It means sunburns, big fat ant bites, chapped lips, and leg cramps from doing 800 squats in one day shooting low in the show jumper ring. It means…you get the picture.

But it also means that I am where I'm supposed to be and I'm reminded of that every time I'm shooting. When the little girl riding up to a .80 jump on her pony yells out "You can do it girl.! You can do it!” I know I am where I’m supposed to be. Or when the Grand Prix rider hollers out "Thank you! Thank you! I’m sorry! I love you!" after the horse saves her butt and I begin to cry, my eyes squeeze out a tear and I choke up like a child, thankful that I'm far enough away in the ring that no one can see me. I know at that moment I am where I’m supposed to be.

I'm also reminded what this means to me when I overhear people saying "Oh my god! That is the best photo I have ever seen of my horse! I didn’t know he was so beautiful!", or emails that say “"McCool Photography is the best and thank you so much for being there and taking such great pictures of my horse and me.”

I’d like to say every bit of this was part of my vision but all of the intricacies of the last 20 years weave together and surpass what I could have ever dreamed of. And for that, I am truly grateful.