I don’t have a particularly romantic story, my grandfather didn’t give me a camera when I was 5, my parents weren’t artists, and I didn’t work a corporate job until I found my true calling in photography, but I do have my story, and here’s a little about me, and how I ended up as a wedding photographer.
I used to be into sports, like really into sports, powerlifting specifically. And no that’s not the tiny swimsuit, oil parade some people imagine. I mean the ability to squat you, your fiancé and maybe a cat or two, depending on your weights. The details of that are for another time, but I tease you with that snippet of information because it led me to art school. By the end of high school I was burnt out on athletics, making weight and stomaching protein bars (I don’t care what anyone says, they’re terrible) so when it came to selecting a college I chose a school without a single team or mascot, the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. I didn’t have much of a portfolio, and my dad wasn’t thrilled about art school, but once I decide to do something (even if it’s on a whim) it’s on!
Fast forward 6 years, I’ve graduated with a BFA in Photography, I’ve worked as an assistant for a few years, and I decide my (now) husband and I should move to Boston. We didn’t know a single person, we didn’t have jobs, and I had only been here for 3 days the previous summer, but as you’re beginning to see, I thrive on change. So on January 1, 2007 Eric and I pulled up to our overpriced studio apartment in Allston MA, and that day I became a wedding photographer.
Having begun my career in fine art and commercial photography I never, ever, ever, intended on becoming a wedding photographer, but after an assisting gig fell in my lap in Milwaukee, I quickly realized weddings combine my seemingly opposite photography interests, architecture and portraiture. So after Eric and I’s 16-hour drive east, I established myself as a sole proprietor, and set up shop. (Although it would be a few more years before “shop” would become a literal sense of the word.)
That brings us to 2011, a year of many changes. After 8.5 years together Eric and I got married in the spring of 2011, I opened my first “shop” on Newbury Street (although I call it the studio) and we finally moved out of Allston! For those of you who live, or have lived in the Boston area, I’m sure you understand what that means. Now in my 7th year of business, I have shot over 100 weddings (check out just some of the many highlights HERE and what past clients have said HERE.) I have been featured in several magazines and online blogs (seen HERE) and in 2011 I was named “Boston’s Best” by the Improper Bostonian, a complete surprise and honor.
So what’s next for me? I do entertain the idea of going back to school for something completely unrelated, but for the first time in my life I am content, so I’m sticking with what I know and love, for once!
Now you know my story, and I’d love to know yours! Feel free to reach out via my contact form, or shoot me an email at: ashley@aodell.com to share your story with me.