Meet Ashley Loper

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashley Loper.

Ashley, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Growing up I was always interested in the arts, I loved how you could express and feel so many emotions whether it be a photograph, a song or poetry. As a teenager I used music and poetry to help express my feelings and understand what and how I felt, my father committed suicide when I was three. Growing up trying to understand the depth of suicide and mental illness played a major role in who I am today, photography became a big part of my life the older I got and the more I understood how precious those memories are, all I had in this world to remind me of who my father was or the things we done together were pictures. I fell in love with taking pictures of anything and everything just to have those memories, but it wasn’t until 3 years ago when I realized this was something I could actually do for a living. I wasn’t active in social media at the time and had never met an independent photographer, until my mom’s friend suggested we use her photographer for my youngest son’s newborn pictures. As naive as this sounds I didn’t even know that was a thing, I thought all portrait photographers worked for big company studios. That year for Christmas my husband bought me a new camera so I could take better pictures of our kids and the adventures we had. It wasn’t long after that a few friends and family members started asking me to take pictures for them, thats when I knew this was something I could do forever. I had to learn more, I spent hours everyday watching tutorials, practicing and learning as much as possible. A year later I started my business, and I love it even more now. I get to be apart of so many peoples memories and capture moments that would otherwise be forgotten over time.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Absolutely not, as with any business, you’ll run into bumps along the way. Trying to start a business is hard, from knowing the proper way to make your business legal, to marketing. It can be confusing. It takes time to build something and anything worth having isn’t easy. So far I think the biggest challenge for myself has been finding the right way to market my business.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Ashley Loper Photography, LLC – what should we know?
I started my business two years ago and I specialize in portrait photography, from families, kids, couples, maternity, fresh 48’s and weddings. I just love working with people and capturing their moments, I like to focus more on connections and getting those true emotions captured versus posed photography. When people look at the art I create for them, I want them to feel something, to be able to look at that image and remember exactly how they felt at that moment in time. From the moment I meet a client my goal is create a connection with them, to get to know them, to see whats important to them, I’ve even made friends along the way and cant wait to watch as my business and friendships grow over the years.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
To me that would be passion and patience. You need passion to keep you going on the days you feel like giving up and patience to know all the best things in the world weren’t build overnight.

Contact Info:

• Website: www,ashleyloperphotography.myportfolio.com
• Email: ashleyloperphotography@gmail.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/ashleyloperphotography
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/creatingmemories04/

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