Meet Monica Stevenson

Published 8:00 am Friday, January 1, 2016

An interview by Barbara Childs

What kind of equine discipline do you enjoy?

From a spectator standpoint, I am a fan of just about just about every equine discipline. I appreciate all things “horse” from both an animal lover’s perspective and also as inspiration and brain food for my photography and video work. I love a good spectacle!

What kind of horse do you own and ride?

My horse, Zoe, is a 10-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare, and we are training dressage at the Prix St. George level. She is one of the most people oriented and engaging horses I have ever met, which could be the result of all the photographic attention she has received since she was three years old. One of my oft-used Instagram hash-tags is #ZoeIsMyMuse, and I am only half joking.
She has been the subject of many a project, the latest being a seasonal one, where we sprayed her with human body paint in a color that complements the foliage in the woods at the time. She enjoyed every moment of the shoot, and was fed many peppermints to ensure her positive mood.

What are the joys and challenges of riding, training and learning with your horse?

We all know what the joys of training and learning with our horse are. I am sure I feel the same way about this as many do. I approach riding as an art and as a sport — and the fact that I have an animate partner sharing in the process makes it all that much more satisfying.
Challenges? Dressage is difficult and precise (which is why I like it.) And just plain ol’ time is a big challenge, as I operate with the demands of a full time career. I run my own business as a photographer and videographer, with occasional trips back and forth to NYC for jobs. All of this work, combined with my precious horse time, makes for very long days!

Who do you train with and what traits do you most admire in your trainer?

Zoe and I ride with Hokan Thorn out of Cross Creek Farm in Columbus. I admire many things about Hokan — his organized and “can-do” approach to training, his overt compassion for all the horses he knows, his ability to pull the best out of every horse, no matter its type or skill level, and his eagle eye. Oh, and did I mention his impressive collection of flashy Norwegian polo shirts?

What kind of background and experience do you have with the skills of photography, esp. equine photography in our community?

I am a freelance commercial photographer and videographer, and my clients to this point have been advertising agencies, magazines, publishing, catalogs, and ecommerce/social media. My husband and I recently moved down here from the New York City/New Jersey, and I will now be setting up shop here in Tryon, and calling the Foothills my home base! I had a studio in the West Chelsea area of Manhattan, on the Hudson River. In fact, my staff and I watched the USAir Flight 1549 land into the river — I was washing dishes at the sink and could not believe my eyes.
For the most part, I specialize in still life/product photography and video –cosmetics, food, jewelry, fashion accessories and luxury goods, pharmaceuticals, etc.  I also have made a bit of a name for myself in the hi-speed discipline of photography with beverages, liquid splashes, exploding powder, etc. It’s very technical and challenging, and suits the science/techno side of me. The market down here in the South is more general, and I will be shooting to a much broader clientele — real estate, portraits, corporate work, and of course, my big love, horse photography!

What are the themes of equine photography that you cover and enjoy, such as farms, horses, shows, special events that are applicable to our news and culture here in the Foothills?
One of the reasons we chose to move to this area was so that I could focus more pointedly on my artwork, which is the equine photography, and more recently, botanicals. I work in both black and white and color, and do large-scale scenes and portraits of horses, riders, and the environs. I just started a new project, and can’t tell all, as I am still refining the details, but it is a project inspired heavily by the equine painter George Stubbs. Hokan and his horse Django were my first sitters. We found a glorious spot at Cross Creek Farm and made a lovely environmental landscape portrait in the early morning light.
I work methodically, and studious location scouting is an enormous part of the success of my pictures. The scenery in western North Carolina is breath taking, and with the plethora of horses and their human companions at the ready, I hope to be quite busy!

What else of value and importance should our readers know about you?

My dream would be to divide my time between shooting equine portrait commissions for private clients, making my own personal photographic and video artwork here in my Tryon studio, and working commercially every now and then to stay fresh and challenged. I met a large sector of the community recently through a video project I am shooting for TEDxTryon, and this group in particular makes me look forward to being a part of the artistic fabric here. I still go up North for work every few weeks, but the magnetic pull of the Foothills is having its affect on me! I have traded the Hudson River Views for those of the Pacolet, and the less frenetic pace of life is inspirational in a way that is new and exciting to me.

Readers may connect with Monica Stevenson at monica@monicastevenson.com. To view her online portfolio, visit monicastevensonphotography.com.