Mastering the Art of Light in Fine Equine Photography with Tony Stromberg

A rare interview with one of the world's top fine art equine photographers.

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"Unicorn" is a dramatic image of a Lusitano stallion taken in southern France.

Where are you from and how does that affect your work?

I grew up all over the west. My dad was a geologist for an oil company, and we moved constantly. 18 homes by the time I was 18. Very nomadic lifestyle, which is probably why I relate so well to the American wild horses… nomadic by nature. Because of all the moving, I became a loner at a pretty

early age. I am sure this has affected my work in many ways. I work best alone. In fact, when I was doing advertising photography, I would go back into the studio after everyone went home at night, and that’s usually when I did my best work. I get distracted when other people are watching and expecting me to perform, to the point where I can’t really focus.

"3 Brothers" captures Merens breed horses running in a pasture in the Pyrenees region of southern France.

Who are your biggest artistic influences?

That’s a hard one. There are not specific artists or photographers that I get inspiration from. Rather, I think it is an accumulation of everything I have seen, read, or heard throughout my life that has informed my artistic sensibilities. I also get a lot of inspiration from nature, and being

immersed in nature. I think all good art imitates nature in some way. We live in a very technical world and spend an inordinate amount of time in front of a computer screen or a phone. I think all the technology dampens creativity, and sometimes the best way to connect with our creative self is to unplug from all the technology and sit in silence so we can actually hear ourselves.

"3 Stallions" is an exquisite image of three young stallions in Spain.

How has your style changed over time?

It’s always a process. When I started doing advertising work, I was all over the map. I did fashion, food, technology, architecture, still life, catalog work, special effects, landscapes, because I didn’t really know who I was and had not defined my creative voice yet. I experimented a lot. I am completely self-trained in photography, and never went to school. I tried by doing, and by making a lot of mistakes, and learning what NOT to do. Over time, my personal style developed, but it took 20 years to find that. I spent years emulating the popular photographers, only to realize this was not me, and it was not coming from within. What I ultimately came to learn was that I had a deep appreciation for lighting.

"Luminous" is an image that perfectly illustrates the goal of photographing "the light falling onto the horse"

When I teach workshops, I tell people that they are not photographing a horse, they are photographing the light falling onto the horse. It takes a fundamental shift in understanding to really grasp that concept, but it is all about lighting. Photographers start with a black canvas, and we add light. We literally “paint” with light. After 20 years of studio photography, I learned how to “see” light. I am always looking for the light, so to speak. After I shifted my focus to horses, I realized I could take 20 years of experience in lighting and apply it to something I truly loved.

When is your favorite time of day to photograph horses?

Late afternoon, for sure. Magic hour. The last hour of sunlight is the best. In fact, in that late afternoon light, it is hard to take a “bad” photograph.

What motivates you to continue photographing horses?

I just love horses. I was burned out after 20 years of advertising work. I had lost myself after trying to be so many things and trying to please so many people. It’s a long story for another time, but when I started spending time with horses, they showed me a way back to my authentic self, and that was a huge gift to me. My work, I believe, continues to be an “homage: to the horse". I showed my true self to the horses, and in return, they shared with me their true essence, and that is what I try to convey through my work.

How do you define success as a fine art equine photographer?

When I was doing commercial work, it was constant marketing and it always felt like pushing a boulder uphill. When I started working with horses and started building a body of work with my equine photography, doors would open in front of me without much effort. The sense of struggle was gone. The 4 books I have published all came with little effort. When I started teaching workshops, I created them and people signed up, and it’s been going strong even efter 20 years of doing them. I think “success” is being able to do what you love and also make a living at it, without having to commercialize it or change it to fit someone else’s desire. I have a dream job. I travel the world photographing some of the world’s most beautiful horses, in some very beautiful places, and I get paid for it !!!

What have critics and collectors said about your work?

That’s an odd question. People that collect my work do so because it speaks to them on some level, and they love the work. I don’t think I have any critics, and if I do, I don’t really care what they think. At one point in my life, I would do whatever I could to please them, but not anymore. I know who I am, and I know my work has value. If someone does not like it, they do not have to look at it!

Why do you offer workshops and how do you benefit or find meaning from sharing your artistic mastery with other aspiring equine photographers?

After my first book was published, along with calendars, people started to ask me if I would do workshops, so I thought “why not”. I started doing a few in my hometown of Santa Fe, and it just grew from there. I am happy to share my photographic experience. It gives me joy to see people learning what I have to offer them, and I love to watch them grow artistically, and to find their own voice with their equine photography. They come to me because we all have a shared love of horses and photography and want to share our vision with the world. What’s not to like?

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This article was originally published in the premiere Winter 2023 issue of EquuStyle Magazine. All images Copyright Tony Stromberg Photography -all rights reserved. Cannot be reproduced for any purpose without permission from Tony Stromberg Photography.

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How Can "The Wild Horse Effect" by Chad Hanson Transform Your Connection to Nature?

"The Wild Horse Effect: Awe, Well-Being, and the Transformative Power of Nature" is available for presale now and on sale March 11, 2025

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EquuStyle: Who inspired you to become a photographer?

Chad Hanson: My grandfather loved cameras. I grew up watching him tinker with lenses and light meters. By the time I went off to college, it felt natural to think of the world as a subject, and to see our public land as art. I discovered “visual sociology” in school, an approach to the study of culture that uses photographs. Using photos for academic purposes put me in touch with the depression-era work of Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange. To this day, as a teacher, I still use their images in my courses. With regard to mustangs, though, it was the work of Kimerlee Curyl that inspired me early on. As far as I can tell, she has the best timing in the business.

During the workshops that I teach, on writing and photography, I often urge students to “find their heroes.” I believe there’s value in identifying, cultivating, and curating your influences. Still, at some level, it’s the face of nature that serves as the source of my inspiration. Wild horses stare at you from behind nature’s most charismatic faces, and I find the places where they live compelling too.

EquuStyle: A central theme in your book is "awe." Could you explain what "awe" means to you and how people can benefit from experiencing it?

A wild stallion on the high plains of Wyoming

Chad Hanson: When I feel awe I am utterly struck by what’s in front of me. I experience a feeling of absorption in the moment. I actually become so absorbed that it’s hard to keep track of the moments as they slide from the future into the present. I enter a time-outside-of-time. I’m also set upon by the impression that I am a small part of a greater whole, and when I shift back to my normal mode of being, it’s with a heightened sense of gratitude.

My experience of awe is pretty common it turns out, and today, in places like the Greater Good Science Center, scholars like Dacher Keltner use modern techniques for measuring the chemical changes that occur when we feel blown-away. Levels of cortisol, the body’s stress hormone, tend to free-fall. Serotonin levels increase, giving rise to a sense of satisfaction. Most important to me, when we feel awed, the body releases oxytocin, a hormone that increases what we call pro-social tendencies. Under the influence of oxytocin, we grow kinder, more generous, and less self-centered. A whole body of evidence points to the psychological worth of awe, but the social benefits strike me as equally valuable.

EquuStyle: As a faculty member at Casper College, how do you integrate wild horses into your teaching?

Chad Hanson: I teach a short course called The Wild Horse Experience. The class includes two afternoons on campus. Then we load the vans. We head out to search for mustangs on a Saturday field trip. During the course, I share as much I’ve been able to learn about wild horses, but just as important, students describe their experiences with the horses in their lives, past and present. The course unfolds as a discussion about our relationships with horses, and then seemingly without fail, by the end of the class, the conversation shifts. Whether in the field, or in the van on the way home, we end up wondering out loud about American culture and values. In the end, The Wild Horse Experience always seems to turn into a dialog about our relationship to the natural world.

A wild horse and two other wild horses standing on the snow-covered high plaines of Wyoming.

Wild horses communicate with each other through touch.

EquuStyle: Your words focus on honoring horses and giving them dignity. When it comes to wild horses, how do we treat them with dignity?

Anyone who shares their home with cats or dogs or horses knows that animals feel, show preferences, and possess personalities. In our barns and corrals, we bear constant witness to the intelligence, and sometimes the mischievousness of horses. We work with their idiosyncrasies. We teach them, and they learn. Day in and day out, domestic horses prove that they are both educable and capable of making independent decisions.

Ironically, for most of our history, when we studied horses in the wild, we tended to assume that their behaviors were instinctual and thus the result of biological impulse, as opposed to reason or choice-making. To this day, many biologists assume, “If you’ve seen one wild horse you’ve seen them all,” as if their behavior is simply patterned by “the force of nature.” Their actions: outside their control.   

I’m glad to say, in just the past few years, things have started to change. As a sociologist, I was thrilled to see, in 2021, a peer-reviewed article in the sciences suggesting that wild horses create multileveled societies. In the same year, a group of equine subjects in an Italian study passed the mirror-self-recognition test. Horses know who they are. More important, they know who they are in relation to others. We’re just beginning to understand the social relations that wild horses form beyond their immediate family bands. We need further research, of course, but it is becoming clear that mustangs engage in almost constant relationship-building. They likely identify as part of large-scale bonded groups. They can even create and acknowledge an extended clan. In my mind, each step we take to learn more about mustangs, their intelligence and their social lives, the more success we’ll find when it comes to convincing others to see their worth and dignity.

A lone wild horse surveys its habitat in the Wyoming wilderness.

EquuStyle: What do you believe is the most effective way to change the way wild horses are managed?

Chad Hanson: As a general strategy, the Bureau of Land Management treats wild horses—legally defined as American icons and living symbols of the West—as if they were livestock bound for slaughter. In truth, we do not even afford them that level of decency. The BLM hires livestock companies with helicopters to chase and capture our mustangs. But in agribusiness, they only use choppers to locate animals. Business people would never order a helicopter to descend on a herd of stock. If we scared cattle with helicopters, they would run desperately, and potentially injure themselves in the process. We see cattle as having value (economic value) so we take steps to assure their safety. On the other hand, helicopter roundups in horse herds nearly always end with mustangs injured and killed. There are BLM staff that schedule roundup after roundup, knowing they can expect chaos, death and brutality.

The good news: people are like horses. We are not all the same. There are BLM staff members that appreciate mustangs. Within the BLM, there are men and women who would much prefer to use humane and affordable strategies to manage wild horses. I consider it my job, our job, to find those people and to work with them. They could use our help and cooperation is contagious. I am a proud member of a coalition of petitioners in a lawsuit aimed at stopping the complete elimination of two Wyoming herds, so I understand, when we are backed into a corner, we have to appeal to the nation’s highest authorities. But lawsuits come with high stakes, and consequences that we can’t fully control. Long term, I am committed to creating situations where wild horse enthusiasts and BLM staff can work together on behalf of our mustangs.

Chad Hanson's image of a lone wild stallion in Wyoming.

EquuStyle: In the current environment, with traumatizing helicopter roundups and holding pens, how can citizens effectively demand an end to the violence?

Chad Hanson: I encourage citizens and horse advocates to think big—bigger than we have in years. I am a fan of a concept called the “Overton window.” In short, the idea suggests that, at any given time, there is a window, of a certain size, that limits the number of solutions to public policy problems we see as “acceptable.” Thus, successful advocates “open” the window, stretching it in the direction of their interests. In other words, it helps to ask for more than what might seem currently feasible. It’s the only way to make a proposal that feels “unthinkable” today, turn into tomorrow’s “obvious” or “sensible” approach.

I would like to see a diverse coalition of citizens and equine advocacy groups wondering, in open and public forums, “Why don’t we have a Wild Horse National Park?” What about a series of, “Wild Horse National Monuments?” How about the identification of regions that we could call, “Wild Horse Commons,” in states with adjacent herd management areas? I’m talking about large and well-studied regions, home to genetically viable herds, managed on the range through non-violent, humane and affordable means. Everyone knows that suggestions on these lines will meet with opposition, but none of these proposals will ever come about if we don’t start the conversations.

In the long run, persistent efforts in these directions might bear fruit. And in the short term, discussions about expanding protections for mustangs hold the potential to pull currently “outlandish” ideas into the realm of the possible. If we shift the conversation toward hard-to-achieve goals, then suddenly, the reasonable (but currently out-of-the-question) suggestion to halt the helicopters and treat wild horses with dignity starts to feel like “common sense.”

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Seen Through Horses: The Transformative Power of Horses for Veterans

A veteran engages with a therapy horse during a H.O.O.V.E.S. program. Photo credit: Sean McConnell

For many Veterans, returning to civilian life comes with invisible wounds. The weight of post-traumatic stress, traumatic brain injuries, and the challenges of reintegration can diminish well-being and quality of life. Yet across the country, Veterans are discovering a unique path to healing—through the profound connection between humans and horses.

Healing Through Horses

In 2024, Horses for Mental Health (HMH) and Arenas for Change (ARCH), with funding from the Veterans Affairs Adaptive Sports Grant (VA ASG), partnered with 14 organizations across 11 states to provide equine-assisted learning services for 354 Veterans.

To assess the impact, 213 Veterans completed pre- and post-program assessments, and the results were remarkable:

✅ 93% reported improved mental health and well-being

✅ 99% said working with horses significantly enhanced their healing

The true impact is best understood through the voices of those who experienced it firsthand:

Photo credit: Sean McConnell - H.O.O.V.E.S.

"I was barely a shell of a man when I came here. Now, I have confidence, clarity, and for the first time in decades, I see a future for myself."

"Horses don’t judge. They just meet you where you are. That made all the difference."

"For the first time, I feel like I’m not just surviving—I’m actually living again."

A Path to Transformation

At the heart of this work is transformation—what Arenas for Change calls an “ARCH Moment.” These life-changing turning points mark the shift from struggle to hope, allowing individuals to step through a metaphorical arch of new perspectives and personal growth.

For Veterans, healing unfolds in the presence of a horse, where the nervous system—often overstimulated and dysregulated by trauma—can begin to settle. Horses offer a calm, nonjudgmental space, allowing Veterans to experience safety, connection, and trust.

"Being in their presence is the greatest peace I have ever experienced!" – Veteran participant

Photo credit: Sean McConnell - H.O.O.V.E.S.

Photo credit: Amanda Held - H.O.O.V.E.S.

Photo credit: Amanda Held - H.O.O.V.E.S.

Photo credit: Sean McConnell - H.O.O.V.E.S.

Horses’ intuitive responses provide honest, unfiltered feedback, reflecting emotions and behaviors in ways that help Veterans process their experiences from a new perspective.

“They showed me how I was showing up to others, and I did not realize that at first. It was eye-opening, for sure.” – Veteran participant

Through these interactions, many Veterans describe a profound reconnection—not just with the horses, but with their own authentic selves.

“I feel lighter and more free to be myself.” – Veteran participant

Photo credit: Sean McConnell - H.O.O.V.E.S.

Amanda Held, founder of H.O.O.V.E.S. in Ohio, has witnessed these transformations firsthand. “Many Veterans walk into our program feeling disconnected and hopeless. But after working with the horses alongside our personal growth curriculum, they rediscover trust, confidence, and purpose. The grant funding allowed us to serve Veterans who might not have had access otherwise.”

For Carol Young at Healing Strides of Virginia, the experience is just as profound. “The most powerful thing is watching a Veteran who was once withdrawn begin to reconnect—with themselves, with others, and with life. These programs aren’t just helping—they’re saving lives.”

A veteran participating in an equine-assisted services program at Healing Strides of VA.

Healing Strides of VA facility

Sustaining the Impact - Seen Through Horses Campaign

Providing these services takes dedication—not just to the Veterans, but also to the horses. Programs rely on financial support to ensure proper care for their equine partners, maintain facilities, and train skilled facilitators.

Photo credit: Sean McConnell - H.O.O.V.E.S.

Beyond the VA Grant, programs like H.O.O.V.E.S. and Healing Strides of VA expanded their reach through the Seen Through Horses Campaign, a national awareness and fundraising effort led by Horses for Mental Health, with support from title sponsor Zoetis. 

Through this initiative, these organizations gained visibility, attracted new supporters, and secured additional funding to continue serving Veterans and caring for their horses.

"Participating in the campaign allowed us to reach more people who believe in the power of horses to heal," said Young. "It helped us sustain our work, not just for the Veterans, but for the horses who make it possible.”

The Bigger Picture: Horses for Mental Health & ARCH

The Seen Through Horses Campaign, produced annually by Horses for Mental Health during May, Mental Health Awareness Month, brings together programs nationwide to increase awareness, raise funding, and advocate for the integration of horses in mental health care and personal growth services.

Additionally, many of these programs benefit from training and support through Arenas for Change (ARCH), which equips facilitators with an innovative, story-based approach in their equine-assisted work. This approach helps professionals create safe, engaging, and meaningful experiences, empowering clients to author their own transformative journeys.

The results are clear:

✅ Veterans are healing

✅ Programs are growing

✅ More people are recognizing the power of horses to change lives.

And for the men and women who have served our country, that means hope—not just for today, but for the future.

Photo credit: Sean McConnell - H.O.O.V.E.S.

Photo credit: Sean McConnell - H.O.O.V.E.S.

Photo credit: Megan Smits - H.O.O.V.E.S.

Support the Mission

To learn more about these programs or to get involved:

Horses for Mental Health: https://horsesformentalhealth.org/ 

Arenas for Change (ARCH): https://arenasforchange.com/

To access the full VA Grant outcome report, visit: https://horsesformentalhealth.org/veterans-2024grantreport/

Visit the website

Support the 2025 Campaign

Visit the website

EquuStyle Art & Travel magazine thanks Tyler Brklacich Co-Founder & Executive Director of Horses for Mental Health and Lynn Thomas, CEO and Founder of Arenas for Change (ARCH). Please share the link to this article to help raise awareness about HMH’s Seen Through Horses Campaign, especially during May which is Mental Health Awareness month.

All images Copyright Horses for Mental Health, H.O.O.V.E.S. and Healing Strides of VA -all rights reserved. Cannot be reproduced for any purpose without permission from Horses for Mental Health , H.O.O.V.E.S. and Healing Strides of VA.

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