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Platinum

cortneydrake@icloud.com

My passion for photography started as a young girl while growing up in the show ring with Quarter Horses doing rodeos, western pleasure, and hunter under saddle in Oklahoma. I used to dream of photographing the "big-wig" horses and designing their advertisement posters you see in the programs at the World Show or on websites. I never tried to pursue that dream until recently.

In March 2018, I decided to resign from my career as a Project Engineer at a commercial construction company in Tacoma, Washington. Not only that, I decided that finishing the last class to get my Master's Certification in Project Management wasn't what I wanted to do either. I wanted to do something that made me happy and something that I actually enjoyed doing. Pushing for a career that I wasn't entirely in love with was creating a lot of negativity in my life which is why I decided to walk away regardless of how invested I was.

A good friend of mine, who used to photograph horse shows, asked if I wanted to take over for her since she was starting a position with a company. I decided to give it a try and then quickly I had five and six horse shows lined up that season. This was when I fully made up my mind that my childhood dream would come true one day. I want to photograph the love between horse and rider to show their inseparable bond for one another. I want to photograph the moments that I know I used to feel with my horses for every one else.

My goal is to photograph the story behind the scenes and to show the world the love and connection that you and your horse have. Of course I want to help your social media feed be filled with wonderful photos of you two, but I would also love to help you pick out printed photographs that you will be able to cherish for a lifetime and for generations. The world has turned digital but one of my favorite things to do is to look through photo albums with actual printed photographs and watch the memories unfold. There is always a story to be told and if I can photograph that for you, then you will be helping me achieve my childhood dream.