In this episode, we’re looking back at our favorite photography moments or "things" from 2025 and spoiler alert, none of them involve shiny new gear. We talk about the things that actually mattered this year: building a community that feels supportive and alive, reconnecting with the joy of photography, embracing exploration and growth, and watching photographers step into confidence right in front of our eyes. From deep conversations about AI and creativity, to meaningful time spent on a working ranch during calving season, this episode is all about care, commitment, and why the people and experiences behind the camera matter more than anything else.

Foreign.

It's time to laugh, learn, and take your photography to the next level with your favorite cowgirls with cameras.

Kara, Kim and Phyllis, Welcome to the Cowgirls with Cameras podcast.

I'm Kim with Kim Beer photography and be more business.

I'm Kara with Fast Horse photography.

And I'm Phyllis with Phyllis Burchette photo.

Gosh, that's seems like I have to say that really fast.

Phyllis Burchette photo.

It's like a tongue twister.

A little bit.

It is a little bit of a tongue twister.

It's definitely a little bit of a tongue twister.

Neither one of you guys have your name in your business name?

I do.

Kim Beer photography.

But when you say this, you say be more business.

I say be more business.

She says both.

But then you break it up.

Your Kim Beer with be more business.

And so, see, I say Phyllis with Phyllis Burchette photo.

So that's harder.

I need to get points for that.

Well, okay.

I'm glad we squared that away right off the top of the episode and everybody knows and.

Okay.

Oh, God.

Okay, well then.

Well, we're.

We're.

Yeah.

We'Re like punch drunk or something.

Gosh, she's speechless.

I never heard Kim Speechless before.

Well, okay, so what have we been up to?

So I'll start.

It is officially, like, season for me, so.

And it was a slow.

A very slow start this year to my season.

I think the world is just kind of a wild place right now, and it's just been a slow start.

So we're recording this in the beginning of November.

So for me, it was like when the calendar flipped from October to November, it was like all my local people were like, oh, it's.

I guess it's fall.

We better get our portraits booked and we better get our stuff going.

And so I'm picking up pace a little bit, which feels good.

Good.

So, yeah.

Yeah.

So it's just been a weird year and it's hopefully going to close out pretty good in terms of the portrait end of things.

So that's what I've been doing is just remembering how to do all that, my whole process and, like getting reacquainted with that after a hot summer.

And I've not been super busy over the summer, so with portraits.

So, yeah, it's just been a lot of client correspondence and also editing because we've had events we've been coming back from, and we've had to get ready for viewing parties and stuff like that.

Just an unbelievable amount of editing too.

So way too Much sitting, which is not going well for me.

I have a little, tiny fracture in my spine, and sitting here is very uncomfortable.

So for those viewing, if I keep moving, it's because I'm uncomfortable.

So there.

That's it.

I hope that gets to feeling better, because I know that's not.

We'll be sending you lots of nice healing energy.

Thank you.

Please do.

Fractured spine.

That's never good.

I'm a kind of a whiny wimp, so I could use it.

Well, I think you've been doing pretty good if you've been hurting like that.

And now we know the reason why you've been hurting, and you really haven't complained.

Well, thank you.

Maybe.

At least not that I know of.

That.

That much.

Thank you.

Did you share a room with her lately?

Yeah, I shared one with her.

Yes.

More than you have, actually.

I'm.

I'm definitely more particular than you guys are about things.

I'm a Taurus, okay?

Tauruses, we like our comforts.

Well, I was talking about complaining about your back, not about hot water or, you know, ice.

Access to ice.

Kira must have her hot water and her ice.

And ice.

Yes.

Listen, it has to be ice, and it has to be scalding hot water.

Yeah, lukewarm's not okay.

Like, for the showers.

I have learned how to make my own ice since I have not had an ice maker darn Sears Home Services for, like, a month now.

So I'm making my own ice.

I put water in a.

In a baggie, A big baggie, like, Ziploc bag, lay it flat in the freezer, take it out the next morning, and throw it on the concrete.

And I have ice.

So, Phyllis, there's.

I hate to sell you this, but are you so old you.

You miss the invention of ice cube trays?

I don't know.

This is easier.

I don't like ice cube trays.

No, they have.

They sell at Walmart.

These really handy things that you can put waterwear.

And I have some Kim, but this is so much easier than that, trust me.

Well, thank you for explaining your theory on how to make ice.

Ziploc bag.

I like the crushed ice, so this works better.

Gotcha.

Okay.

Gotcha for me.

I love it.

You do?

You do your own ice, I'll do mine.

Yeah.

Anyway, I'm not moving on.

I'm probably a little more of a diva than you guys are when it comes to our events and.

No, really.

And that sort of thing.

I haven't noticed that.

It's my zodiac sign.

It's what we do.

Yeah, but you ended up in business with two very difficult zodiac signs, one complete freak show, and it likes everything.

Very pretentious.

I think she's talking about you, Phyllis.

I was gonna say, who's the freak show here?

That would be me.

I'm the Aquarius.

I love you guys.

Yeah.

As this year wraps up and completes its crazy cycle, let's talk about some of the things that we have enjoyed from this year.

So.

So do you.

Who wants to go first?

You can go.

Oh, goodness.

Okay.

Well, so my favorite things from this year probably are our community.

I'm super happy you all heard about that last time, so I'm not going to harp on that any longer because you've already listened to me go on about it for a full episode.

My favorite.

Well, one of my favorite things from this year, which sounds like it's something that would definitely not be my favorite thing, but was my hysterectomy.

That's a good one, though.

Though.

That's been life changing for you.

It has been.

And I cannot believe how much happier I am without a uterus, so.

And I wasn't using the thing anymore anyway, so, yeah, it was very handy to get rid of that.

And I cannot believe how much better I feel and also to figure out that I could survive it and that I was very well prepared for it to all to go to shit.

And it ended up going all very well.

And thank you for everyone who helped me in their thoughts and prayers.

And I know you guys are a engine baby beneath why I did so well.

So I. I'm very happy with that.

That experience, though, also kicked me off into a year of deep exploration.

And I won't bore you with the personal exploration details, which were very intense.

And, And I did a lot of personal work this year on my own, so I will say that.

But the other exploration that I went on kind of twofold.

I really reunited with my passion for photography.

And what was interesting, when I was editing images from cottonwood and trappers and powderhorn, I noticed that some of my creativity that I feel like I've really not been connected to over the last few years was back for me.

Like, I was like, oh, wow, this is actually fun.

And I sat and really enjoyed the editing process.

So I do want to say that was definitely a highlight for 25, because I, I, you know, like all photographers, I think we go in and out Sometimes with our like deep desire to be a photographer.

Like some days it just doesn't feel as good as others.

And it always feels so good when you get back into that zone again and you feel connected with your camera and your gear and your subject and, and that was definitely one of my highlights for this year.

And then the highlight I think I want to talk about the most is AI.

I don't know as though that made anybody else's list.

I'm looking here.

You guys gave all kinds of really interesting things, but nobody's like, I went into this year probably at the first of the year being very reticent about where AI was going, particularly with photography and with graphics, creative writing and with my place as, as a 59 year old woman in a world that is quickly like becoming very AI driven.

So it was a little scary for me at the first of the year and I'm like, I don't understand, I don't know.

I had already delved into it a lot already but I was feeling very out of balance where AI was concerned and I did a lot of learning about AI.

And since the first of the year I have been training my AI.

I have completed a lot of projects in partnership with AI.

I also have been writing custom GPTs which I'm super excited about bringing out into the world.

I can see the benefit for being able to utilize this technology for good.

And I realize at the same time that there is a, a lot of latitude for people to use it for bad and I think understanding it better makes it a lot less scary, but it also gives you the opportunity to capitalize on some of the things that it can offer.

And I'm talking not just with your photography and being a timesaver, but also with a lot of other things, especially in your business.

In my world, I work with a lot of baby business owners who they don't come into their business with a degree in business.

They don't come into their business with a lot of knowledge about marketing or about business models.

And the cool thing about AI is it has access to a lot of knowledge and if you can, if you know how to get it to do it, it can be a huge, huge help for you in getting some of those foundational things out of your way that were so tedious and, and time consuming and overwhelming that you didn't get them done.

So that's what I'm looking forward to for next year is bringing some easy, fun, enlightening and non scary ways to be able to interface with this great technology.

That can help you with your business.

And I'm super, super pumped and excited about that.

So it's one of my favorite things from 25, and it's also one of the things that I am most looking forward to in 26.

That is awesome.

I can't wait to see what you do.

Like, some of the things you're doing with AI like, it's going to be good for all of us.

Kim takes it and then shows the rest of us how to do it.

Yeah, well, not only do I want to show you how to do it, I want to give you a way to do it that doesn't feel horrifically tedious and boring.

Like, that's the thing I remember back.

I think it's been a couple of years ago, I saw this little meme about AI that said, I don't want AI to do my art and my photography editing.

I want AI to wash my dishes and clean my floor.

Exactly.

I can do more time to outside taking pictures and doing other things.

And the realization that I had midway through this year is not so much that I do have a robot vacuum, by the way, but it's not so much about the dishes and the floor, but it's about all of the dishes and the floor metaphor in your business that really keeps you from being able to get out there and do what you love to do.

And also all of the boosters that AI Gives us to be able to.

I've been working a lot on learning how to collapse time, so Learning how to utilize it to collapse time so that you do have more time for all of those things that you love to do.

So stay tuned.

There will be lots more.

All right, who's going next?

Um, I could go next.

I just.

Mine's going to be short and sweet.

Like, I feel like.

Like, on an emotional level, I struggled a lot.

I finally started therapy, which was, like, a long time coming.

And it's like, through all of that, through all of this year, I've lost people.

I've met new people.

I've made new friends.

And that has been so hard and so good in so many ways.

And I have to say, like, my favorite thing about this year has been, like, the strength of my little family, of my husband and my son, and just how much that's meant to me this year, watching my son grow.

Like, he's 12 now.

He's almost a teenager.

And I always said, like, people are like, oh, the baby years, the baby years.

But every year that my son has gotten older has been my favorite year.

Like, I love the person he's been coming.

Like, it's just so much fun.

And he's.

He gets more and more fun the older he gets.

Like, and I hope that I'm getting ready to probably go over that hump into, like, hard times with teenager stuff, but I'm going to embrace this as long as I can.

But with that being said, like, having all of this emotional, hard stuff like that, I think that definitely took an effect on, like, just my photography and my creativity and, like, so much of that.

It affected so much of it.

So part of that transition and everything that.

That I went through, like, having, like, new people come into my life through photography, through our community and our work and our workshops and our events, like, it has been so amazing for me to just meet so many new people and all of the photographers that have become our friends and there are colleagues out there in the world, like, that's been really meaningful to me.

And then being able to see, you know, I don't want to call them baby photographers, but, like, new photographers that are.

They're new to the.

To the art of photography, coming into our world and being able to watch them just, like, come to their first event and then come to their second event and, like, how their photography has grown, like, from that first time that we shot with them to the second and third time that we shot with them, that brings me so much joy and it gets me so excited.

And I would say that's definitely been one of the.

Aw.

I can add you two to that, too.

Continuing the fact that our.

The fact that we've cowgirls with camera is.

In.

What year are we in now?

Like, how many years has it been for us?

I don't even know.

22 was our first.

22.

122 Cottonwood was our first official event.

So three years that we've been doing this now and, like, our growth and just how we.

Watching it continue to work together and.

Each other and four years of events, so.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And we're still.

We still like each other.

And we're still talking to each other.

Still talking to each other.

We can still take long, long car rides most days.

We are.

Yeah.

Yes.

We can share a room for a week with all three of us in the same room.

And there's no blood.

Yeah.

So, yeah, that's a good thing.

What about you, Phyllis?

Well, you.

You kind of ex.

You kind of already hit on both of yous on the community.

But, yeah, I just.

I think it's really been cool.

I'd say a couple of my favorite things.

Was it really gear?

But because a lot of.

When we first talked about doing this, I thought y'.

All.

That's what y' all were talk new lens, what kind of gadgets, or what's.

What's your new gadgets?

What kind of gadget?

So.

But, yeah, I mean, gosh, I think the community has really been.

It's been very cool.

I mean, very.

It's cooler than I expected it to be, and I think it has so much room for growth and improvement and even more connections.

But I think part of it has been, like, being able to stay better connected with those photographers that I already knew or that we already knew.

But then also, gosh, meeting all the great new people out there that we had that we would never even know had this community not existed.

So I think that's amazing.

I think that's very cool.

So thank you, guys.

But my other thing that, for me, I don't know, I guess I think of, like, things, like favorite things kind of in terms of the older I get, things that I enjoy, things that I get to do now that I. I've been wanting to do for a while was go to a. I know this sounds crazy, but I always wanted to go to a working ranch during cabin season, and I got to do that this year thanks to Audra and her husband at the Arapaho Ranch in Nebraska.

I guess coming from my world, from the equine breeding world, I knew about long nights, early mornings, or no sleep at all, and the just total dedication that went into the foaling season.

Demands from you and this.

The cabin being there during cabin season, course, and I was only there for, like, four days, so.

But it kind of brought me back to that same rhythm of what we did when we were running a breeding farm.

Actually very similar.

It's all about that care and commitment that goes into making sure those calves get on the ground.

And watching the ranchers tend to every calf with such patience and heart really gave me an even.

I already had a big appreciation for ranchers, but it gave me an even deeper appreciation for those people that live this life every single day.

They don't get a break.

They.

Because cows.

Animals have to be fed.

They have to be tended to every single day.

And I knew what that was like, but it's.

It's even.

I think the cabin is really.

Even though cows in general calve easier than horses do, it's still.

I mean, when you're talking about having four or five hundred head of cows to.

To calve, that's.

That's a big commitment.

But, yeah, I. I just think that was very cool.

And so it's really an experience that.

That stayed with me.

Not.

It wasn't just about the photos.

It was a whole.

The whole experience.

Yeah, well.

And such a neat thing to be able to, like, as we document.

You know, we.

We go out to working cattle ranches, and it's like.

We get to document, like, a moment in time, and it's just kind of like breaking the ice on, like, what that lifestyle is really like.

So getting to, like, photograph it is.

It's such a privilege, you know, to be able to.

It really is.

And to get to just share, like, a little piece of that since, I mean, the three of us.

Well, I guess Kim kind of did for a while.

I mean, like, you know what I mean?

Like, I don't work on a cattle ranch.

I never have.

You know what I mean?

Like, I'm horse owner.

I've done it.

Yeah, you've done Kim's.

Kim calved out her.

Yeah.

Not on the scale, but.

Yeah.

Just having.

Getting to see firsthand some of that.

Even if it's just a snapshot of that industry that, you know, that America loves so much, it's just an.

A beautiful thing to get to experience and to just document, and I just have so much respect for it, and it's a.

It's a privilege and an honor to get to do it.

Yeah.

And it's not just.

I mean, things don't always.

It's like.

It doesn't matter what kind of business you're in.

Things don't always go, yeah, well, and there's the heartbreak that goes along with it, too.

But, yeah, it's.

It's just seeing just the care that they took of every.

Every single.

Every single.

Even at that scale, the care that they took of every.

Every individual animal there was.

I don't know.

I just kind of want to cry a little bit.

Sorry.

It was neat.

It was very cool.

Yeah.

Very cool.

Okay.

That's all I got.

That's it?

That's all you got?

What was your favorite piece of gear you bought this year?

Well, actually I bought a.

Well, I.

Well, I have two because I am getting that.

Oh, thank you.

So I'm excited about that.

Excited about that.

But also.

And this will be good for our next year for trappers.

I bought because I needed it for this trip we're going on this week because we're not going to have a power at night.

I bought a camping lantern.

So I'm excited about that.

It is exciting.

Crazy.

No, that's not crazy at all.

And I do have.

Yeah, go ahead.

No, I was going to say it has 300 hours of runtime.

So is that not amazing?

Nice.

I'm a big fan of this.

Yeah, I am a big fan of it too.

So you may not be able to find how to get my Pepto Bismol lid open at 3am this time around when we're.

You may wake us all up when you turn this thing on.

You may wake the whole camp up.

Well, on the lens, on the lens front, I do.

I did take for a test drive.

I didn't put it on my favorite things list because I don't own it yet.

But I did take for a test drive Canon's new 70-200Z lens that does have that same zoom thing like Canon is.

I mean, the Nikon lens Phyllis is talking about.

And that lens will be in my bag when I start my season next year.

I loved that lens and I think I got really good quality video out of it.

So I'm super excited to do some more shooting with it in the future.

It's a little bit on the spendy side, but it'll be worth the investment.

So yeah, I didn't buy any new gear this year.

I didn't buy any.

I just rented it.

The year's not over yet, Kara.

Well, I didn't buy any new gear this year.

I was just thinking of like what did I.

And how did I reinvest back into my business.

And this year I invested in a vid online video course which has been great with Mark.

With Mark.

Yep.

And then I invested in.

I started using the Evoto for my editing.

Just part of the process of editing to help making things.

Yeah, like more efficient.

I would think those are probably some of the biggest things that just kind of helping my business run a little smoother.

But I didn't buy any gear this year and I know maybe when the sales hit, we'll see.

Maybe I'll get me myself another R3.

But I haven't.

I didn't buy any big gear.

I'm kind of proud of myself.

Yeah.

You never know when it's.

But now you've.

You've had a year without.

So 26.

You should definitely buy something big like you've built up for two years.

Oh yeah.

I'll be due.

I'll be due for something new.

You'll be.

You'll be definitely due.

Yeah.

And.

Well, I think we all had that switch to mirrorless sticker shock thing going on there for a little while.

That was a big leap over there.

So that would have been a favorite thing a few years ago was the mirrorless cameras.

But now that's old news and we're on to other stuff.

Isn't that crazy?

Like, we've not been into the mirrorless camera era that long, but we're already upgrading our lenses.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, technology changes so fast.

I know.

Well, and I think that the, the push for videography has.

And so you're seeing technology coming out that supports doing the video piece of things like getting better at editing.

It was DaVinci Resolve.

But Kara's been learning a lot about Premiere and there's just a lot of.

And, and just like I know that Photoshop just had a new release within the last 24 hours of when we're.

We're taping this.

But the AI world is just like shifting and changing things all over the place for.

For video editing as well as still photography.

But I think you are definitely being highly encouraged and supported in your journey to do a lot more video and especially the shorter form video.

So I think that tools are definitely ranking in that direction.

I just remember when I went to imaging 10 years ago, they told us that if you weren't doing video, you were getting left behind.

So.

And that's 10 years ago.

So.

Well, there you go.

PPA was ahead of the game, but I do think now with the integrations in it, I think it's one of those.

The more important pieces.

All right, Anything else?

We'll wrap this episode up.

We've.

We have a lot of favorite things.

No, I mean, nothing wrong.

Nothing wrong with a short little episode.

Just to bring people out of the new year into the new year.

So hopefully they're thinking about what were their favorite things like.

Yeah.

And what are they gonna of those favorite things?

What are they taking into the new year or what do they want in the new year?

So if you are not already following us online, we are on Instagram, Facebook and Tik Tok and at Cowgirls With Cameras.

We also have a website, of course, where you can find all of our upcoming events, which is cowgirlswithcameras.com and you probably are sick of hearing it at this point, but we have an awesome online community dedicated to equine photographers and you can find that@cowgirlswithcameras.community.

so just, just go out there and look for us.

You're going to find us.

We're everywhere now and we love being there and we want you to come say hi to us.

Thanks for listening to this episode of Cowgirls with Cameras.

Don't let the laughter and learning stop here.

Join our community on social media and.

Be sure to visit our website for.

More opportunities to fulfill your photography goals.

Head to cowgirlswithcameras.com that's cowgirlswithcameras dot com.

See you next time.