“There are many ways to go home; many are mundane, some are divine.”- Clarissa Pinkola Estés
Lacey Rogers and I created these images back in 2019 when Seen was beginning, bringing me into a deeper way of seeing and creating portraits with clients. These images were made on the first day we met. Lacey was one of the first people this idea of Seen brought in. She trusted me and I trusted her.
For one reason or another you feel drawn to be seen. You may not know what it means but you feel it in your guts.
Seen isn’t about me, the photographer, and you the subject- it’s about us. A collaboration, a co-creating of like attracting like, opposites attracting. It’s about both of us being seen. The photographed sees the photographer. Seeing what I see in the particular way I see it and sharing that with collaborator clients and the wider audience is my part of being seen.
I offer Seen as a new portrayal. A somatic-focused way of showing up and showing, a body-lead, feels>looks witnessing experience resulting in photographs as reflections, as oracles, and symbols of what is and will never be again.
I ask, “Why do you want to be document this time in your life?”
Here’s Lacey’s answered that question,
“A photo is a moment captured. I’m having a moment…A moment of immense vulnerability coupled with strength.
A moment of stepping outside of my role as being the supporter and allowing myself to be supported.
A moment of no more hiding or making myself small.
A moment of resounding trust in my own intuition.
A moment of grounding and standing firmly in my integrity.
A moment of letting all of the colorful parts of my heart to be seen.
A moment of healed pain turning into wisdom.
A moment of hearing the call, securely tucking my children under my arms and taking the steps to return back to myself.
A moment of complete clarity.
A moment of fear being challenged by unconditional love.
A moment of an old life being put to rest as I begin to sleep next to acceptance.
A moment of rising and rebirth. A moment of becoming expansive in every way, taking up space in the world.
A moment of doing the hardest thing I have ever had to do... to let my loved ones witness all of me and support me.
I can’t think of a more important moment in time to capture... a woman standing in her power and vulnerability.
This is strength. This is growth. This is love. It’s beautiful and scary as hell but I am learning as I move forward that there is so much unconditional love ready to greet me the more I allow myself to be seen.”
“Women begin to sing again after years of finding reason not to. They commit themselves to learn something they’ve been heartfelt about for a long time They seek out the lost people and things in their lives. They take back their voices and write. They rest. They make some corner of the world their own. They execute immense or intense decisions. They do something that leaves footprints.”- Clarissa Pinkola Estés
Seen is for the crossroads, the in between leaps forward that scare the shit out of you where you are eye-in-the-storm and ready to make art with it.
So grateful to Lacey for trusting me clear back then, and now in the sharing.
Here’s a few of her words on her experience…
“When the session ended, I felt like my heart had been cracked wide open, witnessed, and captured. The experience could best be described as an act of self-love. It felt like a dance between similar souls as I opened up about my pain and joy, and all along the way, Ashley snapped and captured an unfolding of pure connection. I felt seen.
I had told Ashley about a story that is very near and dear to my heart and journey called Soulskin/Sealskin. It’s a story of a mystical sea creature who must find her soulskin and return to the water and to herself. When I arrived at the studio, Ashley was showing me backdrops, fabrics, colors, and textures she was drawn to for the shoot. She handed me yards of big, beautiful, soft, and silky gray fabric and expressed that her intention was for it to represent the soulskin. I immediately burst into tears as I smoothed my hands over the fabric. This was a woman not afraid to see me in my skin.”
Created with Hand-painted canvas backdrops by Ultraviolet Backdrops