Artist Bio

Stacy is an award winning photographer with international and national accolades from such prestigious organizations as the London International Creative Competition and the Interational Photography Awards. Stacy has also been published in numerous equine publications including USDF Connection, Practical Horseman, and Dressage Today.

Stacy Lynne Wendkos first discovered horses when she was 5 years old and watched the movie “The Black Stallion” for the first time. Having that little girl love of horses, it wasn’t long before she was enrolled in riding lessons and was instantly hooked. Five years later, she discovered photography when she got her first camera, a Kodak Disc, with allowance money she had saved up. In high school, Stacy was given her father’s old manual Minolta SLR with two lenses and the spark of interest Stacy had for photography ignited into a full-fledged passion.

Horses and photography have remained central to her life ever since, although they stayed on separate tracks the first half of her life, learning and growing within each discipline. She began developing black and white film and prints, mastering the ins and outs of the darkroom. During a year abroad at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia, she honed her skills for framing and using light and shadow. She also experimented with alternative processes for developing images and studied the theory behind creating color photographs. Though she was drawn to photography, she shelved her camera for several years while attending law school.

Upon graduation, Stacy realized how much was missing from her life without her two core passions, and she soon resumed both. It was also around this time that she found a deep appreciation for the technicality and complexity of dressage training. She started shooting equestrian friends in competition refining her timing, and technique to get the best possible images. An opportunity arose to be the official photographer of a dressage breed show and Stacy chose to join her two passions into a professional career. Since starting Stacy Lynne Photography in 2007, her images have appeared in national and international publications.

While equestrian competition was shut down at the beginning of the Covid pandemic, Stacy pivoted her business to equine portrait photography. That has since morphed into selling fine art photography privately, from galleries and at art festivals, while continuing to do portrait sessions for her clients.

Stacy’s photography has been inspired by many different styles and genres. Throughout school, she maintained an interest in art and its history. Her style is influenced by contemporary photography masters - Man Ray, Robert Mapplethorpe, Annie Leibowitz - as well as National Geographic photographers. These influences lead to a dual interest in nature and portrait photography, including nudes and the human form. Stacy uses the principles of chiaroscuro to produce dimension with light and shadow to create and convey emotion within her work. Stacy’s continued obsession with horses compels her to refine her techniques and to seek new ways to capture the unique personalities and temperaments of her subjects, but she also uses tight detail shots and interesting angles to show the beauty of every aspect of the horse. Her goal is for people to feel the light glancing off individual hairs, the ripple in hair delineating the massive muscles of a horse, and the power and presence these animals radiate.

Although the bulk of her artwork consists of horses, Stacy continues to explore and expand her portfolio with work out of her studio including flowers and her kitchen series, as well as landscape/nature photography.