Today we’d like to introduce you to Abigail Boatwright.
Abigail, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I’ve always loved reading horse magazines and grew up riding and showing Quarter Horses in my hometown of San Antonio. At Texas A&M, I majored in agricultural communications, interned at a horse magazine (The American Quarter Horse Journal) and rode on the national champion equestrian team. I graduated in December 2006, and in January 2007, I took a job with the Paint Horse Journal in Fort Worth. It was at that point that I began taking portraits on the side, to practice with my equipment and improve my techniques. I worked up to being an associate editor, before leaving in July 2011 to start a freelance career. I needed the flexibility to handle some family situations, and freelancing allowed me to work while also helping my family.
I have been a freelance writer and photographer ever since. I write and photograph for more than a dozen equine publications–including the one I interned for and the one I was previously on staff with. My photos have been published in 16 magazine covers. And I’ve received awards for my work over the years. But it gives me the greatest joy to do this job that I love while supporting my family, and also being able to be home with my two children–4-year-old Wilder and 2-year-old Felicity.
I love being able to listen to stories from incredible people–horse lovers, trainers, and experts–and share them with readers, along with taking compelling images to help tell those stories. It’s a privilege to be able to learn so much about these horses I love, from incredibly smart sources, and then share that knowledge in a way that other horse lovers can learn and apply with their own horses.
I also love being able to illustrate the relationship between a horse and its human partner. I’ve learned the angles that best show off a horse’s beauty, but when I get to photograph a horse with a person, there’s a whole new element of emotion that’s really fun to capture.
Last year, I joined forces with another equine media freelancer, and we started a company to help our fellow equine media professionals. It’s called The Freelance Remuda. We started with a podcast, and have grown to a newsletter list, Facebook community and this year, we launched a mentorship program. Our goal is to help other freelancers improve their craft and progress in their careers. We believe that by helping each other, together we will elevate the equine media industry. It’s been really fun to be able to give back and share some of the things we’ve learned the hard way as equine journalists and freelancers with up-and-coming creatives.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Not always. I started out at my dream job on staff at a magazine. I kept my job through the recession and the subsequent shakeup of the horse industry, but it was incredibly stressful, worrying about layoffs. It was a huge leap of faith to leave my full-time job to strike out on my own as a freelancer. I’ll be honest, I didn’t make up what I was earning until a year or so later. But now I’ve surpassed my previous salary by a lot…. and I’m working from home. I’m writing for many different magazines, which can be a bit tough to keep the different writing styles in mind as I’m planning and writing stories, but it’s fun because it keeps me fresh!
As our family has grown with two children in four years, adjusting to being a work-at-home mom has been a challenge. I’ve traded in bingeing Netflix and happy hours with friends for working most evenings after my kids go to bed and frantically scheduling interviews during naps. I don’t sleep as much as I used to. I don’t socialize as much outside of playdates, and I don’t watch much TV (but I do enjoy reading books when I get a few minutes). But struggling for balance in my life is so worth it. I get to play with my kids every day, take them to the zoo, put them down for naps. The tradeoff for less “me” time is OK because this is a season. My kids are growing up so fast and they’ve started going to an early learning center, so gradually I’m finding more time to work during the days again.
Last year, my husband switched careers, and his new job is a commercial real estate. That means long stretches without any income. So I’ve been supporting our family on my freelancer income, where before it was always the secondary income. This brought an immense pressure to make sure I could earn enough to pay our bills. But throughout last year, God was faithful and he brought me enough work every month to support us. I’m continuously thankful for the editors I work with for hiring me over and over, year after year; believing in the story ideas I pitch; and also giving me great story topics to tackle.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Abigail Boatwright Communications – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Abigail Boatwright Communications is my company. I write and take photos for mainly horse magazines, although I do take portraits as well. I do family portraits, senior portraits, engagement sessions, and maternity. I specialize in photographing humans with their equine partners, but I also love capturing emotional connections between humans.
I’ve done some writing for non-equine media, copywriting, bios, etc but the bulk of my work is articles for print. I write pretty consistently each month for a couple of magazines.Topics include profiles of people or horses, health, event coverage, training pieces and lifestyle stories.
I’m most proud of earning the trust of editors to do consistent work that fits their publications. I feel that being dependable and deadline-oriented are traits that my company is known for. Turning in stories that are the best I can do, with good photos makes me feel like I am good at my job! I also really love it when I’ve been able to touch a reader with a story, or I have a source tell me they felt like their story was told accurately.
All this sounds kind of boring, I suppose. But I really get great satisfaction out of being a dependable freelancer that editors can count on. 🙂 And I get excited when I can take photos of people and their horses, and the resulting images end up on walls in their homes. That is the difference between cell phone selfies and meticulously crafted images that last a lifetime.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
This is a great question! I’m hoping to continually improve my craft of storytelling through words and photography. My business partner and I have a great class of mentees we’re working with right now, so I’m excited to see where their freelance careers go from here.
Personally, I’m still chasing that elusive work-life balance. As my kids are getting older, they are a little bit less needy than they were as babies. I’m hoping to incorporate more self-care and return to riding horses. My horse passed away in 2010, and I’ve missed being at the barn every day. Someday I’d like to get another horse of my own, but for now, I’m looking forward to leasing a horse and riding regularly again.
Our family hopes to do some traveling this year and in the future. Going to the mountains, visiting friends in other countries, exploring new countries–we really enjoy traveling and experiencing new cultures, and we hope to do that again soon. For now, we’re looking forward to more family activities: game nights, camping, hiking–as our kids get older, there are so many things we want to do together!
Pricing:
- Portrait sessions (family, senior portraits, engagement, maternity) – start at $250.
Contact Info:
- Website: abigailboatwright.com
- Phone: 210-414-6761
- Email: abigail@abigailboatwright.com
- Instagram: @abigail.boatwright
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AbigailBoatwrightCommunications
- Twitter: @abbyw06
- Other: http://thefreelanceremuda.com
Image Credit:
Rachel Florman Creative
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
