Hello Hello Friends,

Welcome back if you have been here before, Thank you for stopping in if you are new here!

My Name is Ashley. I am a 33 year old photographer based in Green Bay Wisconsin, with some hometown roots in Upper Michigan. I strive to help people capture memory making moments in their lives.

I developed my love of photography at a very young age always liking to be in front of the camera until my parents purchased me my very own polaroid. When I received this polaroid I got right into photographing my friends, lining up my stuffed animals for portraits, and even annoying my cat at the time with the camera to show her at all stages.

I grew up knowing the love that a camera can bring and the joy that capturing memories around it could hold. I loved making memories with people, animals, and landscapes of all different sorts. Weddings, children, families, landscapes, animals, music, and so much more. There is a vast amount that I have aimed to cover over the years. My roots always going back to concert photography.

My passion for photography grew when I was lucky enough to photograph some local musicians along side some national acts. I developed an urge to continue to push to continue to grow as an artist. I am very thankful for every opportunity that I have had along the way in this industry. I hope to continue to grow and move forward.

What is your passion? What makes you, you?

Ashley

Hey Everyone! Welcome back and hello. It has been almost a month since I’ve posted but I’m back and on track! There will be a lot of incoming photo blogs since it’s been so long!

Today is going to be short, sweet, and to the point! I was lucky enough to go on an adventure to Europe in June! While I was there I did take a lot of photos on my camera, but I also snapped a lot of cell phone shots! Today I’m going to show off those photos with the camera photos coming very soon! We got to see London, Paris, and Germany in one short week!

~Ashley

      Hey Everyone! Welcome back or welcome if you’re new! I just had my second wedding of the year on Friday and it was absolutely wonderful! But that blog will come later! Today I wanna talk about how I prepare the morning of a wedding to get into the right mindset.

     The morning of a wedding I will make sure first and foremost my batteries are fully charged. Even if I spent the night before putting them on the charger, I like to double check to be completely sure. This is just erring on the side of caution for myself. I’ll even through some of my rechargeable batteries on their charger to recheck them. This might seem useless but it’s just another check on my checklist. 

      I like to go back down my list to make I have everything on it. As you can guess I’m a double checker for everything! And odds are, I’m still going to misplace or forget something minor. Chances are I will leave my camera straps behind. At this point if I’ve gone over the list, I will then load everything into the car to have it all ready to go.

     After I’ve double checked everything more than once, I will print the form that I have the couples fill out before that day. I do print mine in three copies, one for myself as the main shooter, one for the second shooter, and a third clean copy in case something happens to one of the others. After this I will go through and highlight everything in three different shades. One shade is what my second shooter should be focusing on. I like them to keep busy while helping out to make sure we cover every single possible shot. The second color is what the main shooter is focusing on. And finally the third shade is what both shooters can capture different versions of it at different times. The final step in this is to hole punch these and put them into binders for each shooter. The third copy goes in it’s own binder in the car.

      Sometimes the morning of a wedding I’ll jump on Pinterest and look at different styles of wedding photos and new creative ideas that I could turn into my own. This way I get inspired for the day and see where this leads me. Sometimes I’ll even look back at old wedding photos I’ve taken to see if I really liked any one certain type of photos to try again.

      Mostly I really think about how everything is going to be covered and getting into the mind set of where I’d like to be and staying positive throughout the day. Weddings are stressful for everyone involved but they are also an absolutely wonderful thing to capture. 

      If you’re married, let me know what your favorite photograph you received from your wedding. If you’re not married, let me know what photograph you hope is covered from your wedding day.

      Hopefully you all have a wonderful weekend! 

~Ashley  

    Hello there fellow readers. Thank you for stopping in if you’ve been here before and welcome here if you’re new. I hope you all having a wonderful day! Today I want to talk about the reason I love editing. Some people don’t find any joy in any editing. I find that it can work miracles in situations with unpredictable weather. From adding in beautiful sunsets, to editing out power lines or trees that just look strange.

    You can change the entire scene behind someone with a few clicks if you’re using a green screen. The possibilities are absolutely endless. With photoshop these days you can achieve even the craziest sky swap if you play with it. Creativity is a wonderful thing to play with when you have the chance to!

      Being able to create different things or achievements. I love being able to add unseen things to an image or change what’s already there to a different spot in the image or remove something that shouldn’t be there.  Even just adding the simple touch of a filter or vignette.  

     I’ve always took my time editing images so they can live up to the highest potential and vision in my head. I have really high expectations for myself while I’m creating the photos. I want to create beautiful images that can come across as a piece of art.  

       What’s your favorite thing to photograph? Let me know down below!

~Ashley

    Hey Everyone! Welcome back if you’ve been here before and thank you for stopping in if you’re new!

    Currently I have been prepping for my second wedding of the year. Making sure that I have my checklist created and everything set up and ready to load into the car. I try to have everything prepped a few days before the wedding in case I am missing anything that could be needed. This way I have enough time to find it and add it to the items. One thing I’ve learned is always learned is always bring 2-3 of everything. So if one fails there will be a back up. Always have back ups.

    I am a list person. I have a checklist for every single type of photo shoot because it’s easier to make sure you have everything and can gather it into one place. This way it is quite fast and simple to gather everything needed for a shoot on short notice if need be.. For weddings, it seems my list is even longer just to make sure that I have everything for any unforeseen circumstances.

    I decided to share my list today since I’ve been getting ready for a few days. The first thing I like to gather is everything that has to do with the cameras.

• Camera(s)

• Camera Batteries

• Camera Battery Chargers

• Camera Lenses

• Go Pro

• Go Pro Batteries

• Go Pro Battery Chargers

• SD Cards

    The next things that I gather are anything that has to do with the off camera flashes.

• Off Camera Flashes

• Receivers

• Transmitters

• Flash Brackets

• Light Stands

• Double A Batteries

• Triple A Batteries

    Then after this I will gather any props that may be needed during photos.

• Chalkboard

• Chalkboard Arrows

• Liquid Chalk

• Tiara

• Photo Frame

Next I will put together every that could potentially be needed for a backdrop if there is no possible way to take photos outside.

• Backdrop Stands

• Backdrops

     The last step of gathering things for me is just odds and ends that I will need or may need throughout the day. 

• Binder with shot list and info

• Pens

• Highlighters

• Clipboard

• Extension cord

• Power Strip

• Laptop

• Laptop Charging Cord

The night before the wedding I will gather all my batteries together and throw them on chargers to make sure everything is ready to go. I will check all of the SD cards to see if they are clean and ready to be used. I will run through my whole checklist again to make sure everything on the list is ready to be loaded in the car the next day.

What is your favorite part of a wedding? Let me know in the comments below!

~Ashley

Hello Everyone! Thank you for stopping in if you are new and welcome back if you’ve been here before!

Senior sessions are some of my favorite sessions to do. Having your senior portraits taken are almost like a right of passage for a graduating class. Some of the students go all out during there sessions. Creative sessions of all sorts. I’ve seen powder paint shoots, glitter blowing shoots, sport photos in dress close shoots, special fx makeup shoots, etc. I absolutely love when I come across a senior who wants to do something crazy and fun. There are so many things out there that can be done to make them stand out in one last effort of being your own person in high school and wowing the crowd.

I’ve accumulated a lot of senior Session props so I can customize every single session to the person that’s in the photos. Each person is different and has different taste. So I like to have seniors fill out a form talking about themselves so I can get a small glimpse into who they are and what they might like to do. This way I can customize props to every individual.

Thank you all for stopping in and being here I hope you all have a wonderful day! 

~Ashley

Hey Everyone! Thank you for being here if you’re new and welcome back if you’ve been here before!

Today I want to tell you a little about why I love photographing. I’ve always had somewhat of a fascination with cameras. From Polaroid to one time use when I was younger. I would line up my dolls and stuffed animals to take photos of them. I wanted to make them look the best that they could.

I love capturing moments and letting them last forever in a photo. This way people can look back on the moments they lived through to be able to re-live the joy they felt in those moments. They didn’t have to lose any of those moments and got to live them. Nothing lost and all gained.

Some of my favorite memories to capture are in live music. The crowd and the emotion behind them is some of the rarest emotion you can feel. I love catching crowd interaction and the moments where the bands may jump into the crowd or pull up unsuspecting fan from the crowd to sing with them. The moments where bands bring kiddos up and make their nights.

All in all I guess the reason that I love photographing is to be able to tell a story through photos. To be able to show off the happiness in someone’s face in a single moment. I love to freeze moments in time, showing off that there are always happy times even when it doesn’t feel like there can be. Freezing time to be able to look back on them is the reason I love photographing.

Hopefully you all have a wonderful day! Comment below and let me know what your favorite thing to do is and why you love it!

~Ashley

Hello everyone!

Welcome back and thank you if you’ve been here before. Welcome to my writings if you’re new and thank you for being here!

I am going to keep this post short and simple and putting out a huge thank you to the clients I’ve had over the past month. And another huge thank you to The Q & Z Expo Center for putting on the amazing shows that I get to capture there! These photos are some of my favorites from the month of May. I’m so grateful for being able to do something I love to do as frequently as I get to do it! 

Please take a moment to comment below and let me know what your favorite photo in this group is!

Hope you all have a great evening and stay safe! 

Ashley

Hello to everyone out there! I’m already trying to move mountains in 2019 with photos and I feel like it’s going to be a great year! Today I want to tell you about what editing programs I use. I will do another blog about my editing process that hopefully will be put out tomorrow!

            The very first program that I use is Adobe Bridge. The reason that I use Bridge is to go through my raw files to delete any photos that are blurry or unfixable. All wrong angles, multiples that look too similar, or even just photos that I feel missed the composition that I was going for. Also, while I’m in this program I will pick a few photos that I consider simple edits to use as a sneak preview for either Facebook or just the person(s) in the photos.

            The next program I use for my first round of editing is Adobe Lightroom Classic CC. What I mean by first edits is simple fixes or simple color corrections. I will usually add presets, do some simple lighting corrections, and some simple color corrections. I’ll also After doing these things, I consider some of the photos done at this point. The ones I consider done at this point will be watermarked in Lightroom.

            The final program I use to edit is Adobe Photoshop CC. In photoshop I tend to do more extreme edits. Overlays, background fixes, and skin fixes. Sometimes I will do head swaps if the photo calls for it. At the point that the photos are opened in Photoshop I will also do more in depth color corrections.

            Thank you for stopping in and checking out my writings! Stay wonderful!

            ~Ashley

Hello to everyone new, and welcome back to everyone else!

            Today I’m going to talk a little bit about how I organize my photos. I won’t go too much into depth because everyone does this step differently. I try to stay as organized at possible, but there are times that I fall behind. I break all of my photo sessions by type, date, and sometimes month. So, without further ado, here is how I organize my photos.

            The first thing I do at the beginning of the year when I start getting folders ready is to make a folder called ‘2019’. Inside this folder I create two new folders named ‘Editing’ and ‘Website’. This just helps me see what I’m still working on and what has been fully edited and ready to be uploaded onto my website. I try to keep up to date as much as possible.

            Inside the ‘Editing’ folder I will normally create folders named ‘Wedding’, Engagement’, ‘Senior’, ‘Concert’. ‘Family’, ‘Sights’, and ‘Model’. This way I know where everything is easily, and what I have to work on. I love keeping everything separated by the type of session, therefore I can quickly find photos to share if need be for any new potential clients or even to show off for posts to hopefully find new clients.

            Inside my ‘Website’ folder I don’t normally create too many folders to break them up inside. Since I am just posting them to my website. I don’t need to find these photos as quickly as those in my editing folder. The photos that are inside of the ‘Website’ folder is usually lower resolution.

            This is basically how I organize my photos throughout the year. Sometimes I will label them by month taken to make them a bit easier. Other than that, I just try to keep them in their correct folders and keep as up to date as possible. Just a little insight into the chaos of keeping everything in order in my world. I hope you all have a wonderful day.

 ~Ashley

Hello and welcome to all of my followers!

I hope everyone out there is having a wonderful day and if you’re not I hope it gets better for you! Today I’m writing about an embarrassing moment I’ve had while in the world of photography. But today’s edition is all about those embarrassing moments while shooting concerts. I’m pretty sure I’ve done some embarrassing things that even I don’t remember. But here are the few I do fully remember.

  One of my favorite that has happened this far into photographing concerts has been one of my first ever concerts in the photo pit. I was trying to stay under crowd viewing level, so I wasn’t blocking anyone’s view. When I went to move forward I tripped over my own feet and fell onto my butt. One of the band members caught this happen and got a good kick out of it also. This has since happened quite a bit in photo pits over the last 4 years. This is also one of my most memorable embarrassing moments. It has since been brought up in a lot of conversations and brought joy to a lot of people.

At one point a couple years ago I was photographing a show that didn’t have a specific photo pit area. At these shows you just kind of make the crowed your own. In doing this, you’re making your way around people who are just trying to enjoy the show without blocking their view. This is where my embarrassing moment comes in. I got super close to the front speakers and was trying to inch my way just inside this are to crouch down and snap a few photos closer up that the back of the crowed. When I finally got down in front, the singer of the band had just decided to move his mic stand to the side. It happened to fall right on top of me. While this isn’t the most embarrassing thing, it still makes the list being the butt of the jokes the rest of the night for being ‘in the way’.

While being in the photo pit, there are many moments where the band might jump down into the photo pit and you must move out of their way quickly. One of those moments I was standing off to the side of the stage and the singer was jumping down to go into the crowd, I had to move backwards quickly and try to not trip. In concentrating on moving, I tripped over my own feet once again and fell back into the wall. I sat and laughed on the side for a few moments before I started taking photos again.

I wouldn’t trade any of these moments for the world. I’ve met amazing people over the last few years doing this, and I have some amazing memories from doing this. Thank you all for reading this.

Have a wonderful day!

~Ashley