Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashlyn Burns
Hi Ashlyn, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I started my photography journey by taking photos of my animals in my backyard with my mom’s old iphone at around age 10. I created an instagram for my 4 dogs and 2 cats and started posting the photos on there. As I started to gain more followers, I saved up enough to buy my first Sony DSLR at 12. I was AWFUL at editing back then and posted stretched out photos of my pets, but as I improved with editing and shooting in general, I amassed around 4,000 followers. I was really getting the hand of photographing pets, so I moved on to people and began shooting with my best friend. We would go out on walks and I would take her pictures until I bought a Canon Rebel T7i that I adored. This spurred me into stretching my boundaries even more by taking photos of my other friends and becoming the editor of my middle school yearbook. As I became more and more skilled at photography, I amassed a group of friends that I affectionately called my “Ashlyn Burns Photography Ambassadors”. We would plan out editorial style photoshoots with different themes and props. I even set up a “studio” in my basement with a backdrop stand. We did everything from a shoot with half a dozen different types of reptiles to a shoot with feeder goldfish in a bunch of vases to a shoot where I had my boyfriend at the time dump honey all over my models. My photography business actually spiked in popularity in 2020 when I hit 9 million views on a tik tok I posted with me and the same best friend shooting in my basement studio. I gained 80 thousand followers on tik tok and actually started booking many more paid shoots. I still did a lot of creative stuff, but I started cultivating my brand and building my clientbase, mostly with my friends needing senior photos. Two years ago, I moved to Salt Lake City from Idaho Falls, where I grew up, so I kind of had to start all over. But now I sport a beautiful Canon 5D Mark IV with a 35mm and an 85mm lens, and it’s a source of income that helps me explore the beautiful scenery of Utah and make a little money on the side while creating works of art.
Alright, 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?
Building a business from the ground up is never a smooth journey. I struggled a LOT with finding people who were willing to pay for my services. I had started calling myself “Ashlyn Burns Photography” in 2018, but it wasn’t until late 2020 that I actually started booking paid shoots at all, and it was still at a pitiful amount. Not to mention the fact that photography gear is anything but cheap. I ended up purchasing backdrops, lights, cameras, lenses, etc. all with the $9 an hour I made at Jimmy John’s. But it also made me extremely crafty with my props. If you take me into a dollar tree, I guarantee I can find at least 10 different concepts for editorial shoots that will cost me less than $20 to set up now that I have all of my backdrops and lights already. That $20 can easily turn into a beautiful, unique, and professional looking concept and I am so grateful for that. I also have to say that my parents being so supportive of me could’ve absolutely ended up as more of a challenge than it did. They allowed me to hijack their basement for hours at a time with my group of friends and spill honey, glitter, and flowers everywhere with hardly any complaint (as long as I cleaned up afterward, of course).
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I specialize in editorial style portraits with anybody under the sun, whether you have spent years modeling or you’ve never even stepped in front of the camera. My true passions lie in using artistry and creativity to cultivate a unique concept and theme for my creative shoots that all comes together to form an almost otherworldly gallery of photos. For example, one of my most popular creative shoots involved two “models” (one was my childhood best friend and the other was a girl who had driven 2 and a half hours to shoot with me for free, even though she’d never modeled before) posing in front of a black background with warm, golden lighting and honey being poured either on them or on a clear, fiberglass (I think??) sheet that we used as a barrier between the camera and the model to incorporate the foreground. I used an 85mm with a very shallow depth of field to create a soft, dimensional look, and the end result was a gallery of golden closeups of eyes, lips, hands, etc. drenched in vibrant honey. This is where my skills truly shine.
However, since I moved from Idaho Falls to Salt Lake and I no longer have a home studio at the tips of my fingers, I now love to find ways to add that magical touch to more everyday and applicable concepts like senior photos, couples, etc. I utilize my extensive knowledge of camera settings, photography techniques (like rule of thirds, leading lines, etc.), and just plain hands-on experience to create a literal work of art inside of each photograph. I like to say that I want every shot to look like it could be hung up in a photo gallery without having to know who the people depicted in it are. It’s not JUST a picture of a person looking pretty, but instead it’s a pretty picture of a person looking pretty. While I think my careful, detail oriented photo style is important when I’m actually in the field, I also take immense pride in my editing and I will spend hours sitting at my computer, laboring away on each photo until every little detail is how I want it. I utilize a high-speed shooting style so I never miss a moment and often end up with over 2,000 photos to cull through by the time I end a one hour shoot. This helps me identify the perfect moment with the perfect focus and then jump off from there with editing in both Photoshop and Lightroom.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
I have always been someone who doesn’t know how to “half-ass” anything, per say. I am all in, all the time. So when it comes to my photography, I don’t just phone it in at ANY of my shoots. I don’t care if it is 6 am on a freezing mountain top. If the lighting is good and my clients are happy, I’m ready to kick it into gear. This is something that has proven to be invaluable in my photography career, time and time again. Every time I pick up my camera, I improve in one way or another. In the hours that I stare at my work during my editing process, I am picking apart every detail, identifying ways that I could improve next time. This is how I got so good at shooting in direct sunlight, for example. Or focusing on the entire photo instead of just how the subject looks. Because I am able to identify what I wish I did differently and apply it at my next shoot.
Pricing:
- Flat rate of $200/hour regardless of type of shoot! (1 hour minimum)
- Travel fee of 64 cents/mile for locations further than 50 miles away from SLC
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ashlynburnsphotography.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashlynburnsphotography
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ashlynburnsphotography
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@ashlynburnsphotography
