I am excited to kick off a new thing with Luke and Ashley Photography. Every Monday we will be answering your questions and sharing tips regarding photography, business, and who knows what else! We believe in sharing what we know so that others can grow and be successful as well. Too many people want to hold on to their secrets, knowledge…but as I heard from Dave Ramsey….When your hands are open willing to give then you can also receive. Once you close your hands to others then you also close off receiving as well. (I hope that makes sense) 🙂
Many questions came in from friends, family, as well as people we never met but have been following us. I decided to start off with a question about us.
“What sparked your interest in photography and what made you decide to turn it into a business? ” Danielle-Richmond
Thank-You Danielle for asking that question…I think that is a great question to start off our Monday Q&A.
I always enjoyed taking pictures, but never had a desire to really pursue the craft. Luke started taking pictures for our church. He grew up working sound and media, and it was something that he really enjoyed doing. Each year he got better and more creative with his shots. At this time we were both now out of the military and Luke had purchased a water delivery business. The business took up alot of our time and we ended up closing the doors a year later. It was a hard time for both of us. We learned alot of lessons about ourselves, each other, and money. Even after having to close the doors to his first business Luke knew that he wanted to be an Entrepreneur. It is in his blood. His father and grandfather both ran and owned their own businesses.
Luke got a job making very little and I was home now with 2 babies and another one on the way. I had now picked up the camera and began to play with it some and I realized how fun it was to take pictures and edit. We had a friend of our get married and asked us to take their engagement as well as wedding pictures…..And so it began. We arrived not knowing what we were doing. I think every picture was taken in Auto. We had them in the sun squinting. People were out of focus….Not good at all. But in that experience a love and passion were born. I LOVED every minute of it.
Luke instantly said we need to make a business out of this. And so we did. We started out and charged very little. We made alot of mistakes. But we never stopped. My love and appreciation for photography has grown to a whole new level. I have learned so much about organization, time management, as well as all the tech stuff.
I am so glad that we are doing this together. I couldn’t imagine doing it by myself. In fact I know I wouldn’t. We make a great team and compliment our strengths and weaknesses very well. We push each other to get better and better.
So no, we were not one of those people that picked up a camera at the age of 2 and knew that was our calling. It was a gradual thing, and more of a extra source of income that later turned into a passion.
We enjoy what we do and what really keeps us going is the people that we get to meet. We have met some really Amazing and fun couples that we love.
If you have a question for us leave it in the comments below….We would love to answer them!