Wendy grew up in the Santa Ynez Valley on a farming and ranching operation.  She was involved in showing and fitting cattle as a youth.  She graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo with her BS in Animal Science and Masters in Agriculture.  Wendy began her livestock photography business in 1982 and had a club calf sale preparation business as well for several years.

The “COWFOTO” business began primarily to assist local cattle breeders with their photo needs for sale catalogs and advertising. Over the years many livestock shows and livestock events have been added to the calendar each year. Wendy was the Official Photographer of the California State Fair for 26 years. Other long-term contracts include:  the Grand National at the Cow Palace, Cal Poly’s Western Bonanza, Western National Angus Futurity, Santa Barbara County Fair, California Mid State Fair and others.. Many long-time and valued relationships have been established through the business over the past 30 plus years. “The best part of the business is the people you meet, the young livestock enthusiasts that you watch grow into outstanding adults and of course, the opportunity to be around some of the best livestock in the country.”

Wendy jumped in the digital photography world in 2002. Digital photography has made the business better in every way. Quality, ease of image storage and the ability to send photos within minutes to magazines has made a huge difference in the business. The ability to show the customer the photo on the computer within minutes of taking it has revolutionized the entire photography business. Wendy prides herself in always striving to take the best picture every time. Quality of the photograph is very important and always making the animal look as good as possible is the goal. Photographs are always fully guaranteed for quality and full retouching services are available.

In 1992, Wendy married long-time friend Mike Hall, Professor and Beef Cattle Specialist at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. She then began working as a part-time lecturer at Cal Poly in 1994 teaching the Livestock Show Management courses, Beef Cattle Fitting and Showing Class, organized many events for the Animal Science Department and was the Faculty Advisor for Cal Poly’s Western Bonanza Junior Livestock Show.

In 2012, both Mike and Wendy retired from teaching at Cal Poly.  Mike taught 39 years and Wendy taught 18 years. Both have continued to be involved in agriculture through the photography business and consulting.