We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ashley Kaplan a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Ashley , appreciate you joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I have been taking pictures and have been interested in documenting the world around me from as early as I can remember. I think I got my first little point and shoot camera when I was 7 years old and I would take it on family vacations or bring it around on my family adventures, always taking pictures. I took my first digital photography class my junior year of high school (2013) and although my teacher was an ass and only wanted to see art that he enjoyed – mine wasn’t it – I was able to learn the basics of photography and how to shoot on a dslr camera. My mom already had a nice camera at home that she had purchased to photograph my sister’s sports yet never actually used that often, so once I knew how to use it (not on auto) I kind of adopted her camera and that is what I began bringing with me everywhere. Flash forward to the next year and it was time for me to go away to college. I had gotten an academic scholarship and also made the running team at my chosen school and was trying to be so excited to go. I wasn’t ready though. My first semester away from home was tough, and an event that occurred away at school was the catalyst to sending me home after my first semester and finally getting diagnosed with the mental health issues I had been facing my whole life undetected until now. My whole world felt like it was ending and Intruly had no will to live anymore. It was my camera and the sunset that kept me going though. Getting to take a photo of the sunset everyday in the midst of this horrible depression that had finally gotten so bad that someone noticed was my gift for making it through each day. As I began my journey through therapy and programs and with medication, I slowly started coming out of this dark hole. I began to bring ny camera elsewhere to hikes and camping and then eventually with my friends hanging out again. I knew this was something I needed in my life. Photography gave me the will to live, the will to keep going, the will to step out of my comfort zone. After I was finally feeling a bit more stable, I realized this was all I ever wanted to do – so I had to find a way to make good money off of it. That is when I started taking portraits. I posted on ny Facebook during the summer of 2015 asking for anyone and everyone who wanted some portraits to hit me up for free. I took family photos, couoles portraits, dance photos, artistic and creative shots, and more, and I found I fell in love with documenting people and watching them just shine through my lens. I felt addicted to this feeling of getting to empower people and addicted to the transformation I would see from beginning to the end of the shoot. I have been taking portraits ever since then and my mind hasn’t stopped thinking of wild ideas to bring to life.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I started Kaplan Photography as an official business at the end of 2020. It wasn’t the best time to start a business, but I have only been going up from there! It has taken me a while to hone in on exactly what my niche is in photography, but after this year I believe I can confidently say that I am a love and empowerment photographer booking creative shoots to tell your story. By this I mean that I want to attract clients that are trying to get something other than just nice photos of themselves. I want to attract the client that maybe doesn’t feel the best about themselves/body image all of the time and wants to book and style a shoot with me to feel empowered and to feel the most themselves. I want everyone to feel confident in the bodies they were given so I work really hard with my poses and styling to highlight eve ri one’s natural beauty. I am a sucker for love and romance and I love setting up shoots to tell a couple’s story. I also absolutely love to style branding shoots to tell a story and to help sell product. I find a lot of joy in helping others out and that is really my biggest goal and value in life. I have been through a lot in both life and in this world of photography and I have learned and grown through a lot and the best way for me to accept my past and what I have been through is to just try and use it to help others. When a client sees a photo I took and can’t believe its them, or when they leave telling me they had the time of their lives and have never felt so good it just drives me to keep trying to bring that to more people. I have struggled immensely with my own body image and through various eating disorders, so this is a big part of what I do. If I can help someone heal just a tiny bit, I have done my job well.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I doubt myself and the product I put out on a regular basis. Impostor syndrome is a real thing and rough to work with! I practice peace of mind and self love and thought stopping everyday to combat these things that my mental health friends tell me – “you’re work sucks” or “you’re not good enough why do people pay you for this?” – and it is for sure exhausting but I have gotten pretty good at managing it. Last year I did a branding shoot for a client and styled the whole thing, brought my own models, planned it all. They were a repeat client and so I also tried to give them a deal and didn’t charge nearly as much as I would have and should have for a shoot like this. I was under the impression we were building a partnership. Anyway, this was one of those few times where I left the shoot and went through the photos and worked so hard on them, and the entire time I thought they were next level. There wasn’t a single point where I doubted the work which was honestly new for me. I was so excited to deliver the album because I KNEW i had nailed it and brought the vision to life. I had also been checking in with the client the whole time, showing photos to make sure I was capturing what they wanted. I was golden… I thought. I sent the album back to the client (rush order by the way so I scrambled to get them back in a day or two and didn’t even ask for more money) and they don’t say anything back and start using the photos without tagging me in them. I continue to ask for tags and credit over the course of a few days both via text and Instagram DM and comments, none of which are aggressive just confused and asking for a tag and why it’s not happening. The client finally messages back and without warning states that I delivered low quality work, that I was unprofessional, and that they would never recommended me to anyone again. It was devastating to me to recieve this yet I still replied apologizing and asking for feedback on how I screwed up so I could learn from it and also offered to edit the photos differently if it wasn’t what they wanted. I was told they were too busy to talk to me and it wasn’t their job to tell me how to run my business and then I was ghosted. Meanwhile, they are still using all of my photos for everything. I wanted to quit photography right in this moment. Here I had the full confidence in myself for this shoot which rarely happens, and then I was met with extremely non constructive feedback and rudeness. Everything I feared was actually spewed in my face and it was devastating. It took me about a month or two to even want to shoot photos again, but eventually I did and I am back to it, and screw that person for taking their stress and problems out on me. I am still mad at it and it hurts that someone could treat me like that when all I want is the best for others and to give them everything I can, but I am confident in myself as a person and as a photographer these days. I know my worth and I doubt anyone can knock me down like she did ever again.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

This business is full of pivots. When Infinalky graduated college I thought I was going to be a middle school math teacher. I started my credential program and everything! Photography has been my dream for a few years at this point though and was just taking the back burner because in my mind it “wasn’t a real job” so I had been pushing myself to finish school and land a solid job before I actually pursued photo. Well Instarted getting really angry because I wasn’t following my heart and eventually dropped out of the program and started figuring out this photo business thing. I held a part time job for a long time while just shooting on the side and then eventually I had to pivot from this again as I felt the anger coming back in. I was tired from my job and then half assing my shoots and felt like I was just going through the motions. I didn’t like it. I quit my job and found a photography contract gig so supplement my own clients and I did that for a couple of years. It was great because I was doing full time photo, but then last year I pivoted again and dropped them because it was making me hate the art form. They treated us like robots and there wasn’t a lot of creative freedom for anything and I realized I hated it and that it was making me hate taking portraits altogether. Starting this year I have been full time all on my own and have really been focusing on manifesting bookings for shoots I actually enjoy rather than saying yes to anything and everything. It is nice to get money and pay the bills but I also don’t want to sacrifice my love for the craft. I have been doing pretty well this year focusing on the love between families, love between couples, and self love, and I am so happy to be at this point!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @kaplan.photographyy
• Facebook: kaplan photography

Image Credits
Kaplan Photography