Laura Jessica Photography

I recently took a trip up North to Ocala, FL. The overall cause of the trip was to take my horse Cassie to the Equine Medical Center of Ocala because unfortunately she became sick with Colic. She began to Colic on Thursday and by Friday evening after seeing no improvements, her Vet recommended that I take her to be monitored at the hospital due to unknown bleeding and well, because she’s an old horse and old horses don’t always come back from these type of things. The great news is that she is home and well now. The doctors at that facility were absolutely amazing! Always updating me, allowing me to visit her, and assuring me that they were doing everything to help! Wonderful people, wonderful facility.

You’re probably wondering what this has to do with Photography. Well, while visiting Ocala, I decided to pick up a photoshoot and also go for a few Photography adventures of my own after visiting hours at the hospital.

On the Saturday I decided to book a hotel and just stay up in Ocala. I live in Orlando and driving back and forth is just too much. I had my five year old with me and it would have been exhausting for her. After visiting Cassie I decided to go for a drive because I wanted to see horses and try and snap some photos. Ocala is the horse capital of the world. It’s also my favorite place in Florida. It’s home to many Thoroughbred and Warmblood farms. Thoroughbreds and Warmbloods are my favorite breeds of horse but unfortunately living in Orlando, we are stuck with Quarter Horses. Not that there is anything wrong with QH’s but they really aren’t my thing. So visiting Ocala is always extremely exciting for me. I love driving down all those country roads, admiring the beautiful scenery and the beautiful horses. I always think about how lucky I would feel to own a piece of land there. It’s literally just horse property after horse property. It’s an Equestrian’s dream.

I’m not going to lie, I had fallen slightly out of love with horses for a little while. After 20+ years being around them, I was kinda burnt out and just ready to move on. Photography is what I am post passionate about and I love my business so much, so I kinda just let working with horses go. I haven’t worked with horses for a while. I have my own horse but she is a retired pasture pet who I put all of my money into because she’s old. I am on self-care barn and juggling a needy horse along with three kids had become a bit much. I kept telling people that when my horse eventually passes away I am taking a big break from horses. Anyone who knows me knows that horses have been my life since I was like 5 years old.

After visiting Ocala, I can say that I do NOT want a break from horses and I have very much fallen back in love with them. I visited HITS Winter Circuit and went to meet some of the show horses over there who were just breathtakingly beautiful. I snapped some photos of them and I even went up to the competition rings and got some shots of the riders on their horses. I was just in heaven. I used to compete but I stopped a long time ago. I don’t really ride anymore either. I am by no means an Equestrian nowadays. I am a glorified stable-hand at best. I love the hands on work of the barn. I love the medical side to horses. I find it fascinating watching the vet and I know a ton of medical related facts about horses. I love all that, and I would like to get back into it one day and maybe own another horse business but right now I truly want to focus on Equine Photography. I love it. I am good at it (Definitely want to get better at it). It brings me happiness. Like I said before, I picked up some work during this visit. It was with a past client. I was lucky enough to do a Lifestyle shoot with the horses and it just brought me to my happy place. I left Ocala absolutely sure that I want that feeling to be a permanent on so I am going to make it my mission to travel around the state and pick up some more Equine Photoshoots.

In the meantime, here are some shots from last weekend. I do not have the Lifestyle Photos ready yet but I will post them when I have finished editing them.