Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ashley Lyons. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Ashley, thanks for joining us today. One of our favorite things to brainstorm about with friends who’ve built something entrepreneurial is what they would do differently if they were to start over today. Surely, there are things you’ve learned that would allow you to do it over faster, more efficiently. We’d love to hear how you would go about setting things up if you were starting over today, knowing everything that you already know.
The last five years spent in the photography industry has taught me so much about myself and who I want to be as a business owner. As a self-taught photographer, my introduction into photography was much like any others. I worked at a high school at the time and saw a need for affordable senior photography for students who may not be able to pay for expensive senior photos. At the time, I only had my iPhone, but I wanted to be able to help my students still have access to affordable photography. After a few months of taking senior photos with my iPhone, I was able to purchase a small crop sensor camera and a “nifty fifty” 50mm lens. Once I got my camera, I spent hours and hours watching YouTube videos and practicing how to use my camera. All the photographers I watched said “only shoot in manual- never use auto settings” but to me the manual settings felt like a foreign language.
I knew that I needed to learn these settings but I had no idea how to use them in real time at a photoshoot. To learn, I shot for free. Yes I know that is a big “no no” in the photography world but that is what I did. I wanted to learn my camera and all the things it could do before charging people for photos. Once I was confident in my camera settings and posing clients, I officially launched my photography business on Facebook. Did I think this would eventually be my full time job? Not at all. But I continued to invest time and money into my education and my business to try and become the best photographer I could become.
Until doubt set in. I started following other photographers in my area on social media and fell victim to the comparison game. I would sit for hours editing photos and be so happy with them, then open instagram and immediately feel disappointed in my work compared to those around me. Because of this, I stopped having the passion for my business anymore. I started to think this wasn’t for me. But I decided to take one last chance on myself and paid for a photographer workshop with a photographer I looked up to. And when I tell you this workshop not only changed my photography but my life, I came out of this workshop a different person.
Within a year of me attending the workshop I was a full time wedding photographer. I had quit my job in education and was now fully supporting myself and my family on my photography income. All because I took a chance on myself and invested in me.
I wish I would have done that sooner. I wish I would have believed in myself and instead of falling victim to imposter syndrome, believing that my art is unique and important in the world and I deserve to be a photographer. If I could tell a new photographer anything I would say to just keep going. It will get hard, you will feel like you don’t deserve to be in the industry, but those are all lies made to keep you from your art and who are meant to be. Invest in yourself and your craft, take the time to meet other photographers and build a community, and most importantly, believe in yourself. Your art is beautiful and deserves to be celebrated.
Ashley, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Ashley and I am a wedding and portrait photographer based in the Pacific Northwest. I specialize in true to color, candid photography that focuses on celebrating people in whatever life brings their way. I became a photographer because I believe that everyone deserves access to beautiful photos regardless of their financial situation. Since the beginning, I have always offered scholarships for my photography services so that no matter what, someone can feel celebrated in their most exciting life events. From senior sessions, to couple sessions to weddings, my goal as a photographer is to capture the emotion and feeling for each photoshoot.
I believe as a photographer, I have the unique opportunity to capture people in their happiest moments. But I also believe that the small details surrounding those big events also deserve to be captured as well. At each session I will always take a moment to capture the details. At weddings, I will spend the first 30 minutes capturing the small details such as the way the dress hangs off the hanger, the rings sitting in a beautiful floral bouquet, the jewelry and the invitations perfectly aligned with one another. Even if these are small moments of a much larger wedding day, they were still hand picked by my couples and are important to them, so they deserved to be celebrated.
When I am given the opportunity to capture a clients special moment, I always make sure to treat it as such. Throughout the session I am making sure to encourage and uplift my clients so they feel comfortable and confident in front of my camera. During the in between moments of photos, I like to chat with my clients about their life and their story, so they feel valued and important. And most of all, when I edit and deliver the galleries, I like to take my time to ensure they love their photos. My core belief is that everyone deserves to feel celebrated and as a photographer I have the honor to do that with my camera.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
In 2023, my husband and I welcomed our daughter into this world. She was the most beautiful, tiny thing I had ever seen and I knew that I wanted to make sure to give her the world. Unfortunately, our situation was less than ideal in welcoming a baby into the world and my daughter’s first year was filled with its handful of challenges. During this time, I had to figure out what it looked like to be a full time mom and a full time business owner. And I can say, I failed at first. Up until this point, I could stay up to 3am editing photos and schedule shoots whenever I wanted because I only had to worry about myself. But becoming a mom quickly showed me the need for a work-life balance. I had to discover a way to still remain involved in my business and continue pursing my career while also being a full time caregiver for my little girl.
One of the first changes I instilled was notifications. I turned off all notifications for all apps and began scheduling time for messaging clients. This way, if I was taking care of my daughter, I wasn’t spending time distracted giving half my energy to her and half to my clients. I felt they both deserved my full attention, which meant scheduling time for work and scheduling time for family. I also found that editing with an infant around was not ideal because I couldn’t give my undivided attention to the galleries. Because of this, I shifted my delivery time to more accurately represent the time I was able to invest in editing so I was not leaving clients feeling disappointed and I was delivering the excellent work I strive for in my business.
As my daughter gets older, the need for a work-life routine is becoming even more important and I am learning every day how I can be the best mom and business owner I can be with the time and skills that I have.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
As a photographer, social media is your number one way to book clients. Word of mouth is great but only goes so far. It is crucial to have a good social media presence that attracts clients to follow you not only for the work you create but for who you are as a person. My biggest tip is to find your why. Why are you in business? Then, once you find your why, use that as your reasoning behind your social media. For me, I wanted to celebrate others. My business motto being “you deserve to be celebrated” I wanted to make sure that my presence on social media was doing just that. So each session that I do, with permission from clients, I share on my social media to celebrate them, And in the captions I am taking that extra time to say how wonderful they are or how beautiful their wedding day was or whatever it may be. Because my photography does not just stop once the session is over. I want to make sure I am building lasting connections with clients and showing them just how much I appreciate their support.
On the more SEO, instagram growth aspect, I would encourage a new photographer to spend time learning the value of trends. Currently, short form videos for reels are very popular. So taking the time to make video reels regarding your industry can help get your account pushed into the instagram algorithm more, ultimately leading to your account growing. I like to mix between still photo posting with hashtags and instagram reels. The reels are usually more about me as a photographer or about the photography industry as a whole and the still photos are to celebrate my clients. Mixing these two has helped me gain followers and raise my engagement on social media.
Ultimately, it is important to see social media as a tool. Your follower count, your feed grid, it is not the end all be all. Yes social media is a highly effective tool to growing your business and Instagram is my #1 lead generator for new clients, but it is a social media platform at the end of the day. If you are following into the mindset of “ugh I have to post but I don’t want to” take a break, find a new passion for posting on social media and come back when your ready. The internet will always be there and it should be a tool that is fueling your creativity not diminishing it.
Contact Info:
- Website: ashleybportraits.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/ashleybportraits
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ashleybportraits
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/ashley-b-portraits-albany
Image Credits
All photo credit belongs to Ashley B Portraits