Speed control can be tough for youngsters. I definitely remember the days of ineffectively kicking my slowpoke gelding in hopes of getting somewhere a little faster. This article with Mason Lyons for the Paint Horse Journal was fun and I think it's great information for riders young and old alike. What do you think?
This July 26 will mark three years since I started Abigail Boatwright Communications. I can't believe it's been that long--it seems only yesterday that I was packing up my office at APHA and nervously pitching my stories to editors. I've been really blessed to have had steady work and awesome assignments these last few years. I'm excited about what the future holds. And now I'm unveiling my brand-new website!
The biggest change this year is THIS… my website has received a makeover! The talented team at Rethink helped me rebrand my company and I'm so happy with the outcome. I hope you'll find my site easier to navigate, with content bigger and brighter than ever. Check out each of the sections if you get a minute--it's all been updated. My favorite feature is the way the portfolio items are displayed. Now you can click on each article thumbnail and it'll direct you to the full scale PDF on my site. You can also click on photo thumbnails and they pop up into large photos. I have a contact form and links to my social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. Finally, my photo proofing site on Smug Mug has been integrated into my toolbar.
Other highlights from this year:
Thanks for your interest and support. I hope to continue bringing you interesting articles and compelling photographs!
Also, if you're looking for recaps of my (personal) travels, you'll want to check out Through Abby's Lens. The rest of my personal blog lives at Downton Blabby.
My garden is pretty small. It consists of about 8 herb plants. But I'm always looking for yummy vegetable recipes. This article for APHA'sChrome addresses the problem of when your garden ripens all at once and you're left with say, 10 lbs of zucchini. I personally tried each of the recipes--one is from my own brother-in-law--and I give them all my stamp of approval. So what do you think? Full article PDF HERE.
Jana was the very first friend I made when I joined Texas A&M's Equestrian Team back in 2003. She was a team captain and she really made me feel welcome. We became close friends throughout all those practices, competitions, Aggie football games and especially nights out dancing at the Texas Hall of Fame. She's now a pharmacist (and pretty awesome at it). When Jana asked me to be her wedding photographer I was so thrilled. We shot her bridals photos in her aunt and uncle's beyond gorgeous home and at historic Gruene Hall--a honky-tonk where every Texan worth their salt should spend a night dancing. It poured down rain throughout our shoot, but Jana was a trooper and we had a good time!
Last year I traveled to the wilds of South Texas to meet with Cindy Meehl, the executive producer of UnBranded, a documentary chronicling the journey of four young men from Mexico to Canada on mustangs. The trip was a success and the documentary is set to be released this summer, but when I met with Cindy, the men were preparing to begin their epic travels. Cindy was also the director behind the critically-acclaimed documentary Buck.
It was really neat to get to know her, and I love how the article in Chrome turned out. What do y'all think? Read the whole article HERE.
Zach and I visited our friends Julie and Chris in San Francisco a little while back, and we had a wonderful time exploring Napa and Sonoma's fine wineries. Julie and Chris own an event design company called Yonder, and they needed some photos for promo materials. It was a great excuse to do a photo shoot in a beautiful vineyard! Check out a few below.
The American Paint Horse Association has made some exciting changes in the last year. One of which was a re-energizing of the member experience. A new publication was created just for members called Chrome offering a tantalizing blend of lifestyle articles for the Paint Horse enthusiast. I am proud to contribute to this beautiful publication, and I am excited to share with you some of my articles!
This article was spun out of my visit to Florida to take photos for APHA. We couldn't visit Ocala without stopping at Fox Grove Farm, the home of the late Rugged Lark and now Rugged Painted Lark. Lynn Palm and her husband Cyril Pittion-Rossillon have a beautiful French Country style home. I've been a fan of Rugged Lark since I was little--I still have his Breyer model horse. And come to find out, Cyril trained at Le Cadre Noir in Saumur, France--a place I visited while studying abroad in the area. The couple was so gracious to welcome me into their home for a tour. It was an interesting visit, and I love how the profile turned out. Check it out HERE and below.
photo by Jashley Boatwright
I've spent the last part of 2013 getting acquainted with the newest member of our family: Mr. Wilder Dean Boatwright. Born November 25, he's been a wonderful addition to our lives. Now that it's 2014, I'm excited to jump back into freelance assignments, and I've already got a full plate. I'm looking forward to sharing my projects with y'all as they are published!
I just posted photos of Diva's equine maternity shoot. Now, you can see what was in that bump! Meet Bradshaw, a precocious foal with a mind of her own! I absolutely love photographing babies--especially of the equine variety… so please sign me up if you have baby horses and you want portraits!
When my fellow Texas A&M Equestrian team teammate Kate Evans asked me to do a maternity shoot with her beloved mare Diva, I was all about it. When I found out that the HORSE was the one pregnant, I was even more excited. I began googling inspiration online and realized nobody does horse maternity shoots. I couldn't find anything! So that gave me a burst of creativity to try something new. Kate and Diva have been best buds for many years, and this foal means a lot to Kate. Capturing the mare and woman relationship was really special. I'm honored to have photographed the pair and I hope y'all enjoy the photos. I'll post pics of Diva's little baby in a future post!
One of my favorite things to do at major horse shows at Will Rogers in Fort Worth and the Oklahoma City Fairgrounds is get my boots cleaned. It's like a pedicure for cowboys. No matter the condition your boots are in, you'll leave with boots like new--or better than new. I wish I could get them cleaned more often by those guys.
So for this article, I picked the brain of one of the pros down at Will Rogers. Frank Holland has decades of experience cleaning boots, and he shared some great tips to recreate that horse show boot-cleaning care at home.
Here's the full article--enjoy!
It was such a pleasure to work with the legendary Dick Pieper for this article. He shared some functional conformation points he looks for in good performance stock. Hope you enjoy! Read the PDF HERE.
This was a fun shoot with an outgoing family in Cibolo, Texas. I enjoyed getting to shoot them in the beautiful summer sun--hope you like the photos!
This was a fun article to write. I'll admit, I'm not a trail rider, mostly because my trust steed Willy was a pain outside arena walls. We tried trail riding and it just wasn't our thing. Maybe if I'd written this article sooner, I'd have had better tools to try the great outdoors! Anyway, I hope you enjoy it!
If you want to read the PDF, as always, HERE it is.
I really love how horses are a common denominator around the world. Whether you're living in France, Australia or good ol' Texas, some things are exactly the same. In this article, I interviewed youth riders from around the world to see what things are the same, and what things are surprisingly different about being an AQHA horse lover. Full article HERE.
I wrote this article for the April 2013 Horse & Rider and it was an interesting topic. I myself was considering boarding options, so it was great to learn from other riders what situations worked best for them. I also got to include a quiz--something I've not done in articles before, but it worked for this one. What do y'all think? You can read the full article HERE.
This weekend I'm covering America's 1st Campdraft in Kiowa, Colorado. You can see my posts and photos on the American Quarter Horse Association's website HERE. Last spring, I went to Australia for a few weeks. One of the best parts of my trip was attending a campdraft in Beaudesert, Queensland. I wrote a story about campdrafting for the American Quarter Horse Journal and it appeared in the January 2013 issue of the magazine. If you're wondering what this sport is and why Quarter Horses are a really good fit, check out my article.
Two years ago today, I left the Paint Horse Journal and struck out on my own as a freelancer. It's been such an adventure and step of faith. I've been blessed with great editors and found some awesome opportunities. I like reviewing my progress... and looking forward too! I'm going to take a quick look back at ABC's Year in Review if you don't mind:
Publications:
I still write articles for thePaint Horse Journal (woo hoo!) and take photos for Paint Horse Racing occasionally. Both Paint Horse Racing and Paint Horse Connection have gone digital, and in place of Connection in print is Chrome, a lifestyle publication for APHA. I've been writing quite a lot for that magazine this year.
I covered the 2012 NRHA Cowtown Classic and 2012 NRHA Futurity for NRHA's The Reiner. I also wrote a medical article for the publication. I'm sad this year's Cowtown has been canceled and I'll have *just* had a baby during this year's Futurity, so I'm missing my reiners this year!
I've been a regular contributor for Western Shooting Horse since September 2011 and I continue to write two articles for each issue. I've started profiling some ranches with long histories this year and taking photos for my articles with WSH, so that's been a fun addition.
I've written several articles for the American Quarter Horse Journal over the last year, including one from my trip to Australia covering an exciting event called campdrafting. I also wrote a piece about the Australian Outback Spectacular dinner show in Queensland for America's Horse -AQHA's member magazine.
I've written several articles in the last year for Horse & Rider as well! Still one of my favorite horse magazines after all these years.
I covered the Cowtown Classic forQuarter Horse News last year, and this year I covered the APHA Youth World Championship Show reining classes too. I just turned in a profile for QHN honoring the late Gunner - one of the most influential Paint Horses in reining history. It was such an honor to write about him for QHN.
I wrote an article for Western Lifestyle Retailer for the 2012 fall issue. WLR is a special edition published by Cowboy Publishing (Quarter Horse News, Barrel Horse News, Western Horseman) In January, I started a regular assignment writing the Special Advertising Section for Western Horseman each month.
That's another newsstand publication with huge circulation--and one I love reading every month! You won't see my byline, but that's mine! It's been really interesting talking to so many companies I've never spoken with before.
Social Media clients:
Last year I began integrating social media reports into my services for social media clients. It's been a great way to tangibly monitor our efforts.
I still work with Salon Friends, providing photos, social media coverage and press releases/media work. It's a great company that got its start around the same time I did, and I've loved watching it thrive.
D. Jones Clothiers is another one I've worked with for two years, and that company's social media presence has grown tremendously. We utilize Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Mailchimp--and after several years with a traditional blog, we're integrating a Tumblr blog. We're revamping the company marketing strategy in conjunction with some really exciting projects, so I can't wait to see what its future holds.
Veritas Life Events s a new company I began working with last year. it's a non-profit dedicated to improving the lives of teenagers in a holistic way, which includes exciting trips to places like the Grand Tetons. Social media presence includes Facebook and Twitter, but the future will hold expansions of our current strategies.
I recently started a Facebook fan page for my own work--ironic that it has taken me this long to do it, but I'm liking it so far as a way to aggregate my published work and photos.
Writing clients:
In the last year, I've written a bio for Jena K Photos, press releases for Salon Friends and marketing work for APHA -- press releases and show coverage from the World Shows especially. This year I even did my first video news production--I wrote parts of a script and put together a short news video that APHA's video team shot and edited at the World Show.
Photography:
I've shot several portrait sessions, bridal sessions and recently, a wedding that I am currently editing. I invested in even better equipment. I'm learning to shoot video--a critical skill for the direction I'm headed in editorial.
Some photos of mine were used in a Barrel Horse News article, and APHA still uses my photos for marketing and social media--it's always fun to see them pop up!
I've photographed several covers this year, including America's Horse, for which I earned a second place award at AHP (the photo above) :-) I have a cover for Paint Horse Connection, two for Paint Horse Racing and two for the Paint Horse Journal.
This next year will be really interesting for my freelance career. I'm working a LOT right now, which is a blessing. I love what I do and it fires me up to have a full plate. I am still going work next year, but I'll be integrating life as a mom as well. We will see what that looks like, but for now, it's full steam ahead. :-)
Thanks for reading! I appreciate it!
The
is one of my favorite horse shows to cover. Talented reiners gather at Will Rogers to duke it out for some serious cash. Last year I covered the show (candid photos too) for both NRHA and Quarter Horse News. Check out the QHN coverage below. To read the complete article, go HERE.
