Why High School Senior Photographer?

Hey, y’all, welcome to my FIRST-EVER BLOG. My name is Ashley Kay Smith. I am a High School Senior Photographer serving the Everett, Lake Stevens, Snohomish, Lynnwood, and Greater Seattle areas. My business is Last Forever Images, and we focus on building the confidence of High School seniors via our camera lens.

I have been in business for 3.5 years and love it. I never imagined I would be an entrepreneur, or use a camera to inspire the teens in my community.

I should probably get into how I got into photography and what has led me to being a High School Senior Photographer. Let’s take it back to my preteen days when I always felt like I needed to take photos whenever I saw a camera. When I visited my friend’s and family’s houses, I always loved looking at the pictures on their walls and the beautiful photos in the albums on their coffee tables. By the time I was a freshman in high school, I had taken a photography class and decided to be a photographer when I grew up.

Sadly, I was quickly told that “I wouldn’t make enough money to be a photographer and needed to find a new career interest.” So I decided to pursue teaching (because we all know they make a lot of money), and no one told me that wasn’t a wrong career choice, so I proceeded forward. I love working with children and adolescents, empowering them to dream big and love themselves entirely, so going to school to teach was ok with me.

Fast forward to 2019, I asked my friend if I could borrow one of his cameras because I want to pursue photography again. He actually never responded, and if you know me, then you know I am impatient when it comes to some things. So I went to Best Buy and bought my first interchangeable lens camera, the Mirrorless Sony a6000, a crop sensor with a kit lens. (A newish camera, but still primary and not the top-of-a-line camera.)

I then sought to take photos of everything and everyone (my friends were so kind). Those photos were absolutely HORRENDOUS. I took photos for free for a while until my friend Deaunte believed in me and gave me $20. I soon made AshleyKay Photography and started taking on clients (I should’ve never done this, but that’s another blog). I spent most of my first year of photography learning about the basics of photography, watching every Youtube video, and asking all the questions in the Facebook groups.
Let’s fast forward to 2021, where I was like, wait a minute, this could be something. I thought my name was AMAZING. However, I wanted something that really connected with my why. Which was to use photography as a way of healing.

I have lost way too many loved ones, and I used the photos I have of them to experience joy and have them close to me, and that’s what I wanted for my clients. So I quickly changed my business name to Last Forever Images and rebranded myself by hiring MrsJDesigns, StylebyFitted, and Emazing Photography to bring a more professional experience to my current and future clients. At this time, I was doing Family and HS Seniors, but still, I wanted to niche down and focus my efforts on my passion. Which was empowering young people to dream big and love themselves.

Here we are present day; I now focus solely on High School Seniors, where I empower them to love themselves. In addition, I get the opportunity to inspire them throughout the 2-hour session with each of my clients.

Thank you for reading my first-ever BLOG. Comment below if you have any questions or want to learn more about something mentioned above.