About Janine & The Blue Bridle

The creation of  TBB in 2005 represented a convergence of two lifelong paths for Janine.  Born in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida in 1974 with a lead rope in one hand and a camera in the other, it seemed only natural that her innate talents would lead her to what she was born to do.  But it took almost 30 years for the pieces of the puzzle to come together before she realized her true calling!

As a child, she had a serious love, if not obsession, with horses.  She drew and sketched horses constantly, ran around on all four's pretending to be a horse, ate, slept, breathed, and of course, wanted to ride and show horses.  Ironically, it was not until her college years when she moved to the heartland of the bluegrass state, Lexington, Kentucky, that she was given her first opportunity to indulge her love of all things equine.  Throughout college (1994-1999) she worked for several of the Thoroughbred industries' premier breeding, training, sales, and medical facilities while at the same time focused her creative energies  into her studies of Architecture, furniture design, and photography at the University of Kentucky.  After completing her Bachelor's degree in Architecture and moving to the island of Hilton Head in the Lowcountry region of South Carolina, she decided to put her design career on hold and ventured to continue in an equestrian profession- and began managing a stable and instructing lessons in the area.  At that point she realized that an equestrian career was going to be a life long persuit and not just a hobby,  but still felt a need to express her creative side in her day to day work.  She began using her artistic talents to photograph her students and take images for the stable's newsletter.  As fate would have it, a few years later, she stumbled on to an opportunity to work for a portrait photographer.  It was at that point that the lightbulb went off in her head!  From that moment of "eureka!" the concept of the blue bridle was formed and a revolutionary new chapter in her life began.  Janine now happily photographs horse shows, portraits, and weddings professionally in the Lowcountry of  South Carolina, and travels regularly to photograph in Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, and Kentucky.  While still active in the equine profession as a part-time instructor, photography has now become her main career focus- but still dreams of the day when she will ride and compete professionally.  Until that day, Janine will delight in bringing to her photography a special insight and desire in capturing the essence that is equine.

Our philosophy....

I created the The Blue Bridle to offer its clientele a unique perspective on photography.  It is my belief that every moment of being is a simple and pure expression of who or what we are.  To capture that moment of truth in life is what I believe photography is all about, and is why I so admire the nature of the horse.  No bones about it- he is what he is, and he ain't what he ain't!  My photographic vision is best described as photojournalistic and feel that this type of photography captures the true essence of the horse.  With each horse, rider, and sitting location  having a unique chemistry, I look for moments that express those unique circumstances with a  timeless and classic, yet modern and artistic quality, and that exemplify the personality of the horse or the relationship between the horse and rider.  This way of seeing best lends itself towards "on location" and "at liberty" portraits, both of which also capitalize on our miles of pristine coastline and truly awesome tidal marshes.  Tecnically, the blue bridle works with the latest in Nikon digital cameras and equipment which provide you with quick turn-around and accurate images.   We always use a professional print lab (not an at home inkjet printer on photo paper) and print your images on Archival grade Kodak papers so that you obtain the best quality results for every image!

~Thanks for taking the time to stop by and visit our site.  We look forward to creating an image that you will treasure for a lifetime, please feel free to browse through the gallery to take a peek at a few of our outstanding images from past sittings.  

Janine Lee, The Blue Bridle equestrian photography