Behind the Tails
Advice for Pet Parents, Tips, Locations, and Stories from Atlanta's Pet Photography Sessions
What to Read?
Supporting Our Horse Community: The Athens Area Horse Community 2025 Calendar
Looking for a way to capture your horse’s unique spirit while giving back to the local equestrian community? In this post, I’m excited to share a behind-the-scenes look at the Athens Area Horse Community 2025 calendar, featuring some of my favorite equine portraits. Every photo in this calendar helps support AAHC’s mission to sustainably grow and strengthen our local horse community.
It’s not often you get the chance to combine passion & purpose, but that’s exactly what the Athens Area Horse Community 2025 Calendar aims to do. As an equestrian photographer and advocate for local horse owners, I’m thrilled to have had the opportunity to photograph this beautiful project. And this isn’t just a collection of pretty pictures – it’s about directly benefiting our Athens Area Horse Community (AAHC) and their dedication to supporting the local horse community.
Let me share a little more about what this calendar is, how it can benefit you, and why supporting AAHC matters so much to our horse community.
What Makes This Calendar So Special?
The Athens Area Horse Community 2025 Calendar is more than just gorgeous photos of the horses we love, what really sets it apart is the valuable information packed into every month.
Each page includes practical, region-specific data that horse owners need throughout the year. We’re talking about everything from vaccination reminders, parasite control schedules, and deworming tips, to key dates for mowing, weed control, and planting grasses that thrive in our local soil and climate.
If you’ve ever wondered when exactly to check fecal floats or spray weeds in North Georgia, this calendar has you covered. It’s a tool that’s designed to make horse care just a little bit easier.
The Athens Area Horse Community Mission
The Athens Area Horse Community’s mission is simple yet crucial: help local horse people solve the problems they collectively face and to offer opportunities for growth and improvement. AAHC focuses on serving horse people that reside within an hour of Athens, Georgia, and they are dedicated to the growth of the local community so that horses are here for future generations.
The AAHC are working to unite the horse community – to partner with county and state level leadership, fighting for sustainable development of green space, offering education and resources for both horse lovers and the general public. AAHC is dedicated to keeping our local horse scene vibrant and thriving, helping owners with valuable resources, events, and education.
By purchasing the 2025 calendar, you’re not just getting an incredibly useful guide and a work of art for your wall – you’re directly supporting AAHC’s efforts to build a stronger, more connected community. Whether it’s helping new owners learn the ropes, providing seasoned pros with up-to-date local knowledge, or organizing events that bring us all together, AAHC is at the heart of it all.
A striking gray horse captured in a serene pose by CM Bryson Photography. This elegant portrait showcases the horse's calm demeanor and refined beauty in a simple, yet powerful setting.
Photographing the Heart Horses of the Athens Horse Community
Photographing this calendar was such a special project for me because it wasn’t just about getting great images – it was about connecting with the heart of our community. Every horse, every owner, every barn I visited were unique glimpses into equestrian life in the Athens, Georgia area. I loved getting to know each horse’s story. Stroking velvet soft noses and listening to way each horse owner loved their horse reminded me of why I am an equine photographer.
This project allowed me to create something that feels personal to the horse lovers in our area. These aren’t just any horses, and this isn’t just any calendar. It’s our heart horses, a celebration of who we are as a community – and the bond we all share through our horses.
How You Can Support and Get Involved
Want to get involved? It’s simple. Purchase a calendar, and not only will you get a stunning piece of equine artwork and a valuable horse care tool, but your contribution will go straight toward supporting AAHC’s ongoing mission.
And if you want to get your own horse into next year’s calendar, keep an eye on the AAHC photo contest! I’m always excited to meet more local horses and help capture their unique personalities for the next edition.
Working Together for Our Horse Community
As a local equestrian myself, I know how important it is to have a strong, supportive horse community – and that’s exactly what the AAHC is fostering here in the Athens, GA area and beyond. When you support projects like this calendar, you’re investing in the health and well-being of our local horse industry and giving back to a group that works tirelessly to bring us together.
I’m proud to have been a part of this project and even prouder to call this community home. Whether you’re a lifelong horse owner or just getting started, I hope you’ll join me in supporting the Athens Area Horse Community and making this calendar part of your year.
At CM Bryson Photography, my passion lies in creating large-scale custom wall art and albums that capture the beauty, strength, and personality of each horse I photograph. Telling the stories of the bond each horse owner has with their horse is what keeps me going. This calendar has been one more opportunity to combine my love of photography with my commitment to supporting our local horse community.
If you’re looking for a way to celebrate your own horse with fine art photography that you’ll treasure forever, let’s talk.
5 Things to Know Before Your Pugfest Portrait Session
Pugs of Pugfest Sessions are unique sessions designed to help raise money for pug rescue during the annual Bluegrass Pugfest in Louisville, KY.
Not only do you get gorgeous art worthy images of your pug, you also help make a difference for pugs in need!
In this post, I’m sharing 5 things you need to know before attending your Pugfest Portrait session.
1. Bring the Good Treats to Your Pug Portrait Session
We’re going to ask your dog for their attention in a new environment with a lot of distractions, so be prepared to pay & pay well in treats they really love. Some dogs are happy working for Cheerios, but most dogs need higher value treats at their pet portrait event session.
Some ideas for high value rewards include:
Cheese
Hot Dogs
Liverwurst
Chicken
Leftover Steak
A Super Special Toy
2. Be On Time to Your Pug Portrait Session
We’re almost always fully booked, which means your session will immediately follow the session before. Being 5 minutes early, can help us keep on track.
Unfortunately, due to the nature of this event, we aren’t able to see late arrivals.
You’ll notice in your preparation & reminder email sent 24 hours before your pet portrait event session I recommend planning to arrive 5-10 minutes early to give you a little time in case you need it finding our booth at Pugfest. I also include a map of where to find us in your preparation email.
If we’re ahead of schedule, we’ll even snag you & your pug early to save you the wait and let you get right back to the Pugfest fun!
3. Check in When You Arrive to the Booth
My assistant will take your name when you arrive and let you know when it’s your pug’s turn in the spotlight. Please be patient when waiting.
4. Let Me Know What Your Pug Needs
I’m a dog lover like you & I’d love to love your pug with pets and kisses and treats and squeak funny toys and make silly noises to get their attention, but some dogs hate that.
If your dog needs more space, doesn’t enjoy attention from new people, or just plain hates squeaky toys - let me know!
I work with several dogs at these events that I can only love quietly from afar, and that’s 100% OK!
The number one goal of your pug portrait session is to make this a great experience for you both.
5. Keep it Fun
You might be worried I won’t get any good images or that your pug is too hyper or unfocused or just not behaving as well at your portrait session as he might at home.
That’s normal.
This is exciting stuff for most dogs - new place, new people, new smells (or exciting place & fun people if they’ve been before) - and they’re going to be a little busy. If they are acting silly or just not as obedient as usual - just act like it’s the cutest thing ever and we’ll get better photos!
As long as you’re relaxed and having a good time, your dog will be better able to enjoy it too!
Haven’t booked your Pugfest Portrait yet?
Click here for all the details.
What to read next?
5 Things to Know Before Your Pet Portrait Event Session
Pet Portrait Event sessions are short themed sessions I host to help you have fun updated photos of your dog in a low stress environment while also helping raise funds for animal rescue groups.
Not only do you get great images for Instagram, you also have a positive experience with your dog and teach them that getting their picture made is awesome!
In this post, I’m sharing 5 things you need to know before attending your pet portrait event session.
1. Bring the Good Treats to Your Pet Portrait Event Session
We’re going to ask your dog for their attention in a new environment, so be prepared to pay & pay well in treats they really love. Some dogs are happy working for Cheerios, but most dogs need higher value treats at their pet portrait event session.
Some ideas for high value rewards include:
Cheese
Hot Dogs
Liverwurst
Chicken
Leftover Steak
A Super Special Toy
2. Be On Time to Your Pet Portrait Event Session
Nearly every pet portrait event day is fully booked, which means your session will immediately follow the session before. Being 5 minutes early, can help us keep on track.
Unfortunately, due to the nature of this event, we aren’t able to see late arrivals.
You’ll notice in your preparation & reminder email sent 24 hours before your pet portrait event session I recommend planning to arrive 15 minutes early to give you a little time for unexpected delays. If we’re ahead of schedule, we’ll even snag you & your dog early to save you the wait!
3. Wait in Your Car
We’re super lucky to have a private space at Canine Country Academy so I can open this event even to dogs that may be fearful or reactive to new people and/or dogs.
Feel free to take your dog to potty when you arrive early, but to make sure that it’s a positive experience for everyone, we DO NOT allow dogs to see or greet each other in the parking area.
Either myself or one of the Canine Country team will wave you in when we’re ready for you to come in for your session.
We want the trip to & from the car to be a positive experience too!
4. Let Me Know What Your Dog Needs
I’m a dog lover like you & I’d love to love your dog with pets and kisses and treats and squeak funny toys and make silly noises to get their attention, but some dogs hate that.
If your dog needs more space, doesn’t enjoy attention from new people, or just plain hates squeaky toys - let me know!
I work with several dogs at these events that I can only love quietly from afar, and that’s 100% OK!
The number one goal of your pet portrait event session is to make this a great experience for your dog.
5. Keep it Fun
You might be worried I won’t get any good images or that your dog is too hyper or unfocused or just not behaving as well at your pet portrait event session as he might at home.
That’s normal.
This is exciting stuff for most dogs - new place, new people, new smells (or exciting place & fun people if they’ve been before) - and they’re going to be a little busy. If they are acting silly or just not as obedient as usual - just act like it’s the cutest thing ever and we’ll get better photos!
As long as you’re relaxed and having a good time, your dog will be better able to enjoy it too!
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