Meet Lauren Ashby

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lauren Ashby.

Every artist has a unique story Lauren. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I was that annoying kid who brought a camera everywhere and made her friends do mock photoshoots against their bedroom wall (or in a tree… so artsy!) Except back then it was all about disposable cameras and having to wait a week to find out your photos sucked. Then came the purple Nikon CoolPix which enabled me to take my friends’ obligatory smiles to the digital level. Get ready Myspace, Lauren has arrived.

Fast-forward to 2013, I finally get my first DSLR… a Canon Rebel. I felt so legit. I started practicing on my four year old son, editing with free online software. Photography is not just pushing a button, I would realize. There were ISO and shutter speed… and what the hell is aperture? It was overwhelming, but I loved the way I got to freeze time and manipulate lighting and angles to create totally different perspectives.

A friend on Facebook noticed I had stepped up my photo game and asked if I would take his engagement pictures with my new camera. Totally intimidated and terrified, I told him “Oh, no. You’re going to want a professional to capture those!” Then I thought “Wait, why AREN’T I doing this professionally?” So I messaged him back and told him I would take their photos as long as I could do them for free. By not letting them pay me, it alleviated a ton of pressure.

They turned out pretty great and more friends started to inquire. I came up with a pretty smart business plan that would prove to provide me steady, loyal clientele for years to come; I announced on Facebook that I was embarking on this photography journey and that I would be starting family sessions at $50 for the first month, increasing exponentially by $50 each month until I was at my ideal pricing. What this did was create haste because people wanted to book me before the next increase and the affordable rates made them feel comfortable taking a chance. This also enabled me to be busy every weekend, which not only garnered me tons of experience but also produced a lot of sharable content, thus creating demand and giving potential clients examples of my work.

But I had one rule: Whether they were paying $0, $50, $100 etc, everyone would be treated as full-price clients. To this day I still photograph many of those first-month families every year. And though my gear has been upgraded, my skills improved and they’re investing more now, they repeat and referring clients because I treated them with the same care even when they weren’t. That has always been the backbone of my business; great customer service. And it’s proven to be the most effective tool to have.

Please tell us about your work.
I’m a photographer who specializes in dreamy, sun-kissed portraits for fierce females, free-spirited families and foreva-eva couples, right here in sunny Arizona! That means I forgo studio backdrops in favor of shooting on-location and use natural sunlight instead of flash. My sessions usually take me to open desert with the sunset pouring behind you or to downtown Phoenix surrounded by concrete and culture. I love it all!

While I’m so lucky to be able to photograph Arizona’s coolest families and cutest couples, what I really love most is capturing portraits of women, which I call Goddess Shoots. Whether it’s photographing a maternity mama-to-be or a female CEO, gimme all the #GirlPower vibes.

Do you have any advice for other artists? Any lessons you wished you learned earlier?
My advice to anyone starting out in photography is to utilize your social circles before you spend any money on marketing. Don’t underestimate the power of referrals! Remember when I said I got started with a steady stream of clientele by just reaching out to my personal Facebook page? To this day, six years later, I’ still don’t pay for advertising. Client referrals remain my top lead source.

I want whoever is reading this to know they don’t need a lot of money to get their name out there. And the best part is customer service is free. Manners are free. Common courtesy, warm email responses and smiles are free. Those are your moneymakers because people pay for EXPERIENCE over product. You can be the best damn photographer in the biz, but if you’re hard to hang out with for an hour, no one will book you.

And to be clear, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with paying for advertisements. But please don’t feel discouraged if you can’t invest that in your business right away. I promise you don’t need it.

Lastly, don’t take life too seriously. Laugh at yourself, learn from mistakes, always pay it forward, be open to constructive criticism, and for the love of God never write your website bio in the third person 😉 In the words of Kendrick Lamar: “Sit down, be humble.”

How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
You can see my portfolios and information on my website: www.laurenashbyphotography.com, a curation of pretty little squares on my Instagram feed @laurenashbyphotography, and read client reviews on my Facebook page Facebook.com/laurenashbyphotography. Or you can just pop in to say hello on the contact form of my website!

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.laurenashbyphotography.com
• Email: laurenashbyphoto@gmail.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/laurenashbyphotography
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/laurenashbyphotography

Image Credit:
Lauren Ashby Photography

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