Creative portraits in the studio with Anna!

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Studio Diary-Anna & the Tulips

At the end of February Anna booked in for a set of professional portraits with some creative concepts in mind. She shared some mood boards with me, and safe to say I was excited to comply!

Anna actually works in Banks Mill Studios…she is bloody fantastic, nothing is too much trouble, always so happy to have a chat or help you out. Working part time with us organising events, exhibitions, marketing and a million and ten other things I’m sure we never even know about as well as being a Student at The University of Derby-she is an actual Queen.

On the day of the shoot…my oh my Anna rocked up, arms bursting with bright pink, long stem Tulips with the fun idea of…wearing them!

The studio set up we wanted was minimal and simple, so all of the colour and focus was on my lovely model, the colourful flowers and her gorgeous tattoos! Mostly I used natural window light…with the aid of a single box light, I did use an external flash on a handful of shots when the light just wasn’t enough, the dreamy haze is made using a fractal filter reflecting light onto the lens.

Anna also wanted a few professional headshots for different professional platforms such as Linked in…so we started with those to get comfortable and see how things progressed.

Safe to say it wasn’t long before, we were prancing around the place throwing Tulips and climbing on the furniture! Anna is such a fantastic model, I’m super happy with how these turned out and I’m sure we’ll be working together again…

Studio 4.9 Banks Mill Studios Derby DE1 3LB

Fancy booking a shoot with me? Click on the button to start chatting!

Bringing back the blog!

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This already feels strange. The narrator voice in my head is back. It feels as though i’ve forgotten how to write. Well here goes…my attempt at reviving the ‘blog post’… for me anyways.

So, why Rach? whhhhy a blog?-I hear you beg

Welllll very long story short, I am actually a writer, I am also a photographer, but writing came first. A long time ago, back in…oof, probably 2013(?) back before TikTok, when Facebook was still a social site and everyone was happy snapping and sharing their breakfasts on Instagram.

I started and ran with a blog called ‘Documenting Derby’ it was a quaint little lifestyle blog that I loved, it wasn’t very big or successful but it was pure joy to develop at the time. It was my little corner of the internet where I shared life stories, restaurant reviews, recipes and general musings. Eventually, like everything, the era of the blog came and went, we all moved on to shinier things.

I had such big dreams for my little blog, it was going to be my career. Obviously that did not become my reality and i’m now pursuing my photography dreams…well…let me tell you, I have never quite been able to shake the feeling that I am more than one thing, all of those original ideas I had to expand my blog have always stayed with me. Now, I have a creative space, a camera, a bucket load of gumption and now i’m reviving my blog.

Anyone who knows or follows along with my photography journey, will be accustomed to my need to dart around, chancing unfamiliar projects, ideas and genres. Generally, it makes it very difficult to market myself as any one specific niche, my photography will sometimes vary depending on who or what i’m working with and I have finally come to terms with the fact that’s just who I am. Having full creative control over a shoot is my cuppa tea, yet the thrill of a complete spur-of-the-moment Documentary shoot also satisfies my creative tastebuds.

In this struggle to define my purpose as a creative is when I began to figuratively side-eye my old blog ideas wondering if I could couple the two areas of my styles together. Perhaps I could still explore new ideas, training and techniques but showcase them in a different way.

The intention is fairly different from the original blog, however the premise is the same. To Document the things I see around me.

Ultimately, this blog will be my way of connecting my words with my pictures, but from an entirely documentary perspective. Showcasing; street photography projects, local businesses and other creatives that work all around me. It gives me the absolute freedom I need to just create as an individual without having to shake up my business every time I follow a new path.

Documenting Derby part 1

For my first official blog post via rachaelashley.co I will be featuring some Street portraits I took a few weeks ago in and around Derby city centre…the majority I took whilst sat in a coffee shop simply waiting for unsuspecting passers by. Here is my ongoing collection: