Today we’d like to introduce you to Haley Johnson.
Hi Haley, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I grew up as a horse-crazy kid that was always obsessed with capturing the beauty of these big athletic silly prey animals. I remember trudging through the snow in the pasture of my family’s farm as a child, pointing my little point-and-shoot camera at my pony when I was 10 years old and thinking I wanted to do this when I grow up. That never went away. I took every art class I could in school, painting horses and photographing them every chance I could. I was on the yearbook staff in high school and had the opportunity to continue growing my photography skills. I especially loved covering the football team where I got to be down on the sidelines, following the action. I made friends with the local newspaper photographers and we spent the games comparing shots- them with their big expensive Nikon cameras, me with my crop-sensor Canon with a 70-300 lens that I had agonized over buying because while it wasn’t a fully professional lens, it had been expensive and it was one of the best pieces of glass I would own for nearly 10 years.
When I went to college, I remember telling my family that I wanted to study equine photojournalism, but that wasn’t really a major field of study, so I would get as close as I could. I attended Truman State University where I majored in Studio Art with a concentration in painting, and I got double minors in Photography and Equine Studies. I loved it. I took courses in everything from color theory, art history, equine nutrition and training, and of course photography techniques. I used my own horses as models for homework in all three areas of study- they were the subjects of my paintings, my equine physiology projects, and of course my photography. I got jobs in the University Art Gallery and with the Agricultural Sciences in order to keep my scholarships and pay for film and art supplies. Eventually I was able to upgrade my camera body to a used professional full frame Canon 5Diii, which was my pride and joy and which I still have today. That camera eventually launched my photography business, but not for six years.
After I graduated in 2017, I went to work in marketing and graphic design for a commercial truck company in Kansas City. There I spent most of my time behind the computer, but several times a week I got to go do photography and video work to create original content. Looking back, that was always my favorite part of the job- taking photos and videos as well as editing. Eventually, I moved on to work at a new company for commercial real estate where my focus was more marketing and graphic design based in 2021. I think I made it a year before I picked up my camera again.
In the meantime, I was training and beginning to compete my younger horse more heavily. At our first show, I realized that there was no photographer present- and I would have paid anything for professional photos of those memories. I still would.
In January of 2022 I began taking portraits of friends with their horses and realized a piece of myself had been missing for years. Getting to create art and capture memories that would be treasured forever brought me joy that I hadn’t experienced at my job in years. I started researching the steps to opening a business, and in February 2022 HLJ Images, LLC was born. In May I photographed my first horse show as the official photographer at White Fox Manor (JP Equine) for Kansas City Hunter Jumper Association, and I was hooked. By 2023 I moved to full time equine photography and I haven’t looked back since. I now photograph portraits and shows across the country, both for myself and for other photographers. Some of my favorite memories include photographing my first show at the American Royal, my favorite place to go to horse shows as a child. I’ve spent two springs in Aiken, SC where I had the opportunity to work with Christine Quinn to photograph Olympic riders at The Event Like No Other Grand Prix Showcase at Bruce’s Field as well as several other events including Pine Top Advanced Horse Trial with Liz Crawley photography. Suddenly I’m getting to chat with my heroes and photograph them at the top of their game, something I dreamed of as a child but never believed would happen. This past year I’ve taken on press positions for US Eventing Association, and I’m thrilled to announce that I just accepted a position to be on their press team for the American Eventing Championships in 2026 in Lexington, Kentucky.
I dreamed of this life for decades, and there are days I can still hardly believe that this is what I get to do every day. There are definitely times when it’s far from easy- horse shows are long, often baking hot or freezing cold, and I’m out there on my feet all day with hardly time to eat or run to the bathroom. I am still working on finding the work-life balance where I don’t constantly feel the need to respond to every message at 10:00 at night or 6:00 in the morning. Still, I get to wake up every day and choose to create art of the animals that I love. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else anymore, and I doubt I ever will.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I’ve experienced plenty of bumps in the road- learning curves, equipment failures, times where I wasn’t sure I could handle the long hours and constant behind-the scenes work that is small business ownership. I’ve had memory cards fail me at horse shows, cameras and lenses get dropped, and plenty of nasty emails that make you want to throw your hands up and walk away. Fortunately the good always outweighs the bad, my equipment is insured, and I have backups of backups of every photograph ever taken. I also have to remind myself- while it might seem like the end of the world, they are photos. They are important, but not worth sacrificing my mental health for.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am an equine photographer- meaning I specialize in photographing horses. This is not an easy field to break into- not only is the equipment more expensive than regular portrait photography because horses require longer, faster lenses, but to be able to capture horses well, it helps to understand them. Having a deep knowledge of equine behavior means that you can observe stress signals and redirect a session before the horse gets upset as well as know how to capture the best expressions to showcase happy, engaged horses. These are prey animals and they don’t always like to cooperate, so knowing how to work with them is half the job.
Another big component is knowing how horses move and how best to capture them. It’s very easy to make horses look awkward and ungainly with the wrong timing. Having four legs to worry about is hard! That is something I worked hard on- being able to press the shutter once to time the movement with the shot that I want to best showcase the horse took years of practice. Combining these aspects with traditional photography knowledge of lighting, composition, and posing is a special set of skills that I am very proud of and will always aspire to continue improving.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I was always an artsy horse girl. I was always drawing horses, painting horses, and taking photos of horses. I was also a bit of a jock and a bit of a nerd. When I wasn’t training and competing with horses I played soccer, ran track and cross country, and took every advanced class that I could. You could say I have never done things 50%- I went all in on everything I took an interest in.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.hljimagesphoto.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hlj.images/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hljimages
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/haley-johnson-design/
