We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ashley Rose. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ashley below.
Ashley , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you tell us about a time where you or your team really helped a customer get an amazing result?
My first customer success story came before my business got off the ground and before I had an online presence. In fact, it is the story of how my website came to be: ashleyrosephotos.com, and how I sold my first print! I had taken a beautiful shot of the Tetons with the T.A. Moulton barn in the foreground. I posted it to a Wyoming Photography Facebook page to share with fellow photographers and lovers of the park. In just a few short hours, I had two requests for prints. I received little to no profit from these prints, but it was a way to get my online presence started and the realization that people wanted my work! I made a personal connection with my two buyers, we still keep in touch today. They framed my work and sent me photos and I was amazed by how it all turned out. The customers were beyond pleased and so was I, having known that I successfully completed my first sale!
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
Ashley Rose Photography has been in existence since 2013, when I purchased my first DSLR camera, took a few classes, and never looked back. However, my photography journey dates back to the 90s when I received my very first film camera. That’s when my love of photography was born. I have been the family photographer since 1999 and I haven’t stopped. In fact, every photo on my website has been taken on a vacation or family trip. Therefore, when purchasing one of my prints, you’re also purchasing a fond memory I have made.
Photography is not my career. I have chosen to not make it my career because I desire to keep it my love every day that I’m behind the camera and behind my computer editing. By trade, I am a Youth Services Librarian, I work with children and teens on a daily basis and create fun programs and activities for families and I love my job.
I enjoy landscape photography because it’s naturally beautiful. It’s not posed, or set up. It’s simply natural. My focus that I’m still continuing to work on is atrophotography. It takes a special skill set to capture these photos to their full extent. It’s literally a shot in the dark and the editing is the most fun part. There’s just something extra special about standing out in the darkness of night, usually somewhere in the middle of Arizona, where all you can hear is the wind or coyotes howling in the distance. You open the shutter for 30 seconds and wait with anticipation to see what you captured. It’s truly surreal. I am from North Carolina, and we don’t see the Milky Way the same way (if at all) as you can see it in vast places like Arizona. I love every minute of my time underneath the stars, and will always treasure every image of the Universe that I capture.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is knowing that the sales I make are from people all over the country, who value me as an artist and my work. That’s huge! Knowing that my work is hanging up in someone’s house who isn’t a member of my family is priceless to me. In a sense, it makes my customers a part of my family and makes us more connected.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
My goal as a landscape/nature photographer is to capture the moment. It might be the wild horses on the Outer Banks at sunset, or the grizzly coming off the mountain of snow in Alaska. It could even be my husband standing at the edge of a canyon or the beautiful rainbow colors of the petrified wood at Petrified Forest. From the moment I take in the world around me standing at the top of the Grand Canyon, feeling the moment, the here and now, watching the condors swoop down below, and feeling the breeze as I take in the vastness of our Earth and the smallness of life. I can’t help but think back to my God who created it all. Every photo I take is an act of worship, and it’s special that I can share that with the world.
Contact Info:
- Website: ashleyrosephotos.com
- Instagram: artphotography4
- Youtube: @artphotography4
Image Credits
Ashley Rose Photography