We were lucky to catch up with Ashley Rock recently and have shared our conversation below.

Ashley, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

I don’t usually go this deep in to this. But our mission is to show every woman the beauty of herself. We go through life and things happen. People make comments that hurt, the media shows women who we look nothing like, we get scars, stretch marks, weight gain, weight loss and all of sudden these add up to a lot of insecurities. Or even if we’ve learned to love our bodies we forget to show it off in our busy day to day lives! Rockstar Boudoir is here to embrace your body for what it is and who you are! Rockstar boudoir is here to be a reminder of the inner babe within. We look in the same mirror everyday and sometimes we need a different light to show us our shine. Loving ourselves is one of the hardest things in life and I want to help my clients get there.

The story behind this is the fact that I hated my own body. I have had weight change up and down the last 5 (almost ten) years. I was going to the gym out of hate. I cried before going out when I needed to dress cute. My friend convinced me to try boudoir. She would photograph me and I would photograph her. This was so far out of my comfort zone. Even the day of the session I almost bailed because I hated how much I looked. I was shaking driving to the studio we rented. She was too. We both were in a bad headspace. Then, she showed me a photo. I couldn’t believe it was me. I felt beautiful. I couldn’t believe I’d never seen myself look like this. It made me realize I don’t look so bad. That I actually could even look, beautiful. I turned around and showed her photos of herself as well. She teared up. She was having the same experience. After that day, I realized every person deserves to feel that at least once. Life is too hard to go through it hating your own body. My life has only gone up since I’ve stopped worrying so much about my scale, my weight, etc. I wear clothes I never would’ve, feel confident and I pass that on to other women.

Ashley, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am your typical midwest photographer who had big dreams. I started off with a camera in highschool and gawked over Tumblr photography online. If I’m being transparent I got into film and photography because of Myspace. Yeah, I know. I wanted to have the best photos and I was tired of my mom getting my awkward angles. So I deemed that I would become incredible at it and never have another awkward family photo.

Support from my peers in highschool grew into wanting to make this a career. People started hiring me for family photos, weddings, etc.
Then as I grew and got an adult job I wanted to do creative sessions in my free time that I missed so much. Suddenly, people started wanting to hire me for creative shoots! They wanted to dress as mermaids, witches and so much more. This was insane to me. People wanted my weird creative brain to run wild and create art with them. Then my friend convinced me to try boudoir and I realized I could combine my creative with boudoir. It has been an incredible journey.

I could list a thousands obstacles I’ve overcome but I’m most proud of staying authentic through it all. I had so many people tell me I would never make it. I had so many people try to get in on my business and not have genuine intentions and have to battle how to handle it. I’ve gone through some rough patches and always stayed transparent with my clients. I have not bent my morals or views to appease and continue thriving in my business. I have always stayed true to myself and what I want for my business.

If there is anything I want my potential clients to know it’s that I accept you for YOU. I want that to show through in your session. Whether it’s creative, portrait or boudoir I want you to look at them and feel your best and true self.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I had quit my full time job and moved to Atlanta with no job. I DO NOT recommend it. My husband also had no job. We flew by the seat of our pants with very little money in our pockets.

I was determined to live only off of gigs and photoshoots.
I had one connection in Atlanta and basically my stubbornness.

I would spend my days joining Facebook groups, posting content, connecting with people and hosting way too cheap of sales for photo sessions.

In the meantime to keep up with bills I would walk multiple dogs a day, I would do Postmates (like DoorDash) during the evenings and I edited for other photographers. I was doing anything to not have a real job so I could be free for any gig or photoshoot at anytime.

Every-time I almost caved, something popped up to remind me why I was working so hard. We lived very poorly for awhile, I worked myself to the bone and did a lot of free sessions to get my name out there. I would say 2019 was the hardest year of my life from moving away from my family, knowing next to noone in Atlanta except my one connection and striving to achieve a dream I was determined. We couldn’t afford anything and everything was a stresser.

There were definitely better ways to go about this, but we got there and it has made the success so much sweeter.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I wish I knew that there were other photographers in the industry that are supportive.

I ran into a lot of gate-keeping photographers that scared me to interact with more. But once I pushed passed that anxiety, it truly is one of the things that helped me flourish.

Community not competition. We should all be here to help each other out. Other photographers helped me find locations in a new state, I second shot weddings for them, they taught me tricks I never knew and so much more. I now own my own studio and am helping photographers who used to be where I’m at. It’s an intimidating industry.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ashleypatty.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/AshleyRockstarBoudoir
• Facebook: www.fb.com/ashleyrockstarboudoir
• Other: Tiktok: @ashleyrockstar34