Ashley Gurley Photography

Ya’ll. I LOVE love. And because of that, I’m breaking all the rules and having a SALE for the summer. 🎉

Any COUPLES photoshoot (engagement, vow renewal, anniversary, just because, etc.!) booked for the summer (now through August) will only be $400 and include a 25 image gallery. This is a savings of $350. Almost HALF OFF because I just want to capture more love.

Also- these two 😍 Amiright? Scroll to the last image to see the sweet visitor we had during their session.

This is the first year I haven’t had a giant list of new year’s goals (besides reading the first 20 Hercule Poirot books. 😍), or selected a “word” to represent my path for the year. Here’s why 👇🏻

2023 was a year of truly seeking out the masterpiece that God has made in me. Yes. I’m a masterpiece. Beautiful. Valuable. Irreplaceable. It’s taken me 37 years to get to the point where I actually believe those things about myself.

In all of this discovery and deep digging, I realized that I can mostly capture my essence in three words:

PEACE ☮️
LOVE 💕
MAGIC ✨

(If you are interested in digging in and finding out more about yourself than you ever dreamed or knew you needed, my girl is the coach I never knew I needed and you might need her, too.)

So knowing that, and knowing that everything I can ever need is already in me, wrapped up in those three words that represent my deepest ideals, truths, paths, and essence, I can slow roll into this new year with overwhelming (you guessed it) peace. Sure, there are things that I want to see how good they could really get (my connection with my husband, my creativity journey, my physical health), but they all are summed up in knowing that I am peace, love, and magic.

So instead of scrambling to define what I hope 2024 will bring, I can rest (like the whole sum of nature is doing right now) and follow my heart and path laid before me.

Maybe you need a little rest, too. Maybe you aren’t quite on board with this whole new year new me thing? Let me just tell you, my friend. You are enough. Breathe that deep and go with the flow. Rest. Seek Truth.

And, hey. Let me know if you want to talk more about this. This remembering who we are thing is one of my most favorite subjects. I’d love to roll it around with you. ❤️

Beautiful Presley. Class of 2024!

If you have had a session with me in Knoxville, you may recognize my sweet friend Iva Rose, my assistant. We got to take these pictures in celebration of her first baby due in March. I am so excited and would love to invite you to wish her and her husband, Hayden, an awesome congrats! 💙💙💙

Announcing the Wild Tennessee Sessions!

We live in one of the most beautiful places in the world, East Tennessee. This fall I would love to celebrate that with a ONE DAY ONLY special and you are invited! These are shorter sessions, at a lower price point than the full sessions I normally offer. This is the ONLY chance for shorter sessions in 2023. So if you have been wanting a session with me, but nervous about the larger investment, or just need a few images, this is your chance!

Here's the details:

- These sessions are great for families, HS seniors, couples, or children.
- Sessions are ONE DAY ONLY on Saturday, November 4.
- Location is TBD but will be in the Knoxville area.
- A wardrobe consultation is included. So don't stress about outfits, I've got your back.
- Also included: A 25 minute session with Ashley, fine art edits, and 5 included images. Additional images are available for purchase.
- Price is $375 and must be paid in full to reserve your spot.
- Hair and makeup is not included, but my awesome HAMU artist will be available if you want to book with her!

If you have any questions or are ready to book, please give me a call at (870) 314-2402. I can't wait to hang out with you in the gorgeous East TN fall and capture beautiful memories with you!

Beautiful Cynthia - class of 24. We did several sets and I can’t wait to show you the rest. ❤️

It’s such an honor to photograph young women who know who they are and what they stand for.

Hey, parents of 2024 seniors! I only have THREE sessions available for this fall and don't want you to miss this opportunity! Reach out ASAP if you are interested in booking for Sept, Oct, or Nov! December and January is also full so my next availability won't be until February!

The sweetest girl you have ever met, .king , mentioned that she was heartbroken that the movie theater on our side of town was shutting down. It was her place of work, a place she went with her dad when she was little, and a place so full of the best kinds of memories.

Life changes. Nothing stays the same. It can be so hard to watch places we love close down, leave homes, witness our children growing up, experience a breakup, or even lose someone we love. Change can be hard. But it can also be beautiful. Photographs (whether done professionally or snapshots from your phone) can capture memories and moments that you want to remember forever.

But you know? I think sometimes it’s less about the actual looking at the photograph later (although that is such a gift and this is a hard thing for me to say as a photographer), but I think it’s the ACT of taking the photograph. Choosing to commit things to memory. Seeking out moments worth saving. Those are the reasons the moments, places, and memories are precious and stay with us. ❤️

A love to outlast the ages. ❤️

I hope that whatever your day brings, you find time to seek joy. Lay in the flowers. Dance in the kitchen. Savor a cup of coffee. Something. Because life can be brutal, wearying, or even mundane. But I want so much better for you. So find some joy.



Document grief journey, women’s photographer, seek joy, find yourself

I love all the facets of being a woman. I love to see women lean into their womanhood. Their strength. Their beauty. Their fierceness. Their gentleness. The nurturing and freedom and wildness and bravery and courage and grace. And it all. Looks. Different. We are women. It ties us together. But we are all made so beautiful different. If you had to describe your womanhood and femininity, what words would you use? I wonder how we could capture it in a portrait session?

16 incredible years married to the love of my life. Here’s to years more of chasing dreams, climbing mountains, avoiding your farts, eating your food, slow mornings with coffee and bird watching, exploring the world, and following Jesus together. I love you so much.

When the people who are meant to most love and protect you, harm you, it can feel like your world is shattering.

I want to talk a little about "church hurt." I've been a member of a church for 20 years, and have actually been in ministry (aka my husband has been paid to work at a church) for over 16 years now. So I know a little bit about churches.

Churches are all made up of people. People just like you and me. Sometimes people are mean. A lot of times, people screw up. And a lot a lot of times, we encounter people who just don't know how to deal with a disagreement or say sorry. It happens. Welcome to humanity.

But when those things happen in a church where people are SUPPOSED TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER, it can be so hurtful.

I have been hurt at several churches over the years. I won't share the story of the people at the church, but I will share a few details of my own hurts:

I have had leadership give me advice as a married woman that was maschoistic and borderline abusive. Thankfully, my husband called it out real quick.

I have had people in leadership gossip about me and say things that were literally not true. Not just a stretch of a truth, but just outright lies.

I have had women in leadership pass over me because they were threatened by my relationships with other people in the church, and never say a word to me.

I have had people say some of the most horrible things about my husband.

I have had people try to hold me, my husband, and my children to standards they wouldn't dream of holding themselves or their own children to.

I have had “friends” repeat things that I told them in confidence to others to ruin friendships, try to get my husband fired, or just ruin my credibility.

Ya'll. I've been through it all. But.

… continued in comments…

“The Cleft of the Rock”

Over the last couple of years I have had several situations threaten to steal my joy. I have been hurt by those meant most to care and love for me (church hurt is real, ya’ll). I have walked through the grief of multiple close friends dying within the span of just a few months (many of us experienced this with Covid). And I have watched the effects of su***de leave my family members in a heaped up mess with their own gaping wounds hemorrhaging in a way that no quick fix band aid or platitude (“it will be alright” or “everything happens for a reason” or my personal favorite “God needed him more than we did” 🤮) will ever heal.

So I find myself over and over, retreating into the cleft of the rock. Here I can be cared for. Here I can see glory, if even just a glimpse. Here I can rest. And here I can remember who I am.

I hope if today finds you weary or jaded or just plain worn down, that you can find a cleft in the rock.

My precious little girl helped me with this image yesterday because where I wanted the image wouldn’t really be conducive to a self portrait.

The Healing Sessions have been my greatest joy and heart work since I started this business 5 1/2 years ago. My sweet new friend Maria has had her share of heartache. Between an unfaithful husband and words spoken over her by more than one person that were harmful and untrue, Maria, like so very many of us, got to a point where she questioned her own worth. But slowly she has begun to realize her strength and beauty and is passing those things to her two beautiful daughters. At one point in the session she looked at me with a smile the size of Texas and said “I feel so pretty!” You could tell that her daughters that she was the most beautiful thing in the world.

Thanks for trusting me to document your beauty, truth, and healing journey, It was an honor I will not soon forget. ❤️

Can you relate to this flower? This sweet little thing trying it’s very hardest to actually bloom? ❤️ I can.

It’s so easy to feel like we should be further than we are. Like we should have already accomplished that goal, lost that weight, made that amount in our business, finished grieving, read that book, etc.

But we all bloom in our own time, friends. You are not behind. You are not late. Just keep blooming at your own pace. One day you will look back and have a whole field of wildflowers.

Drop a 🌸🌺🌹🌷🌻🌼🪻if you are blooming today.

Truthfully, I specialize in making “normal” events more like fairytales. It’s my magical gift. ❤️

Loneliness does not necessarily occur when we are alone. In fact, being alone can be quite refreshing. But loneliness most often occurs when you are with someone and have a desire to be seen by them and are not. When you dressed up for your man and he didn’t notice. When you made the best birthday cake for your kiddo and they complained. When you are in conversation and the other person doesn’t is missing what you are saying. When your heart is bleeding and the person you go to for help hands you a bandaid.

Often, when we face heartache in our lives, we feel alone. The people want to see us simply do not. This loneliness can persist for years. I created the Healing Sessions just for those moments. I am not a therapist and I am not a magician. I cannot heal you. But as you heal I can document that and SEE YOU THERE. In the moment of being seen, it is my hope that in that instant you will not feel lonely. I would love the opportunity to see and hold you long enough to capture an image that you can then take and see yourself for the rest of your life.

Do you have questions about the Healing Sessions? Reach out. I would love to chat. Or click on the link in my bio for more info.

Have you ever been heartbroken? Wait. Before you answer. I know what you are doing. You’re gut instinct is going to say yes. But then you feel like you need to qualify. Just a little. Let’s not do that friends. Yes. I know. There are babies starving in Africa. There are men and women trapped in slavery. People are undermined and mistreated and dying and losing everything that is precious to them. I feel all of that. Trust me, I’m an empath. I feel it.

And.

Your heartbreak should not be diminished. With every tiny or gigantic hurt, our hearts realize that there is something wrong with this world. Your heart is correct. Friend, hear me as I come close, cup your face between my hands, and acknowledge that this world is not what it was supposed to be.

You and I were created to live in a perfect place. And ya’ll. This ain’t it.

As humans, we must be able to have a way to express that. We MUST be able to share our heartache and our pain. To find validation there. Because if we just keep plodding on like everything is just fine, thank you very much, then we. will. crash.

The Artfully Designed self portrait challenge starting April 17 was created from a desire to give women a way to hold that space for themselves. I can look back over these self portraits from the last five years and immediately go back to what I was doing and what was hard and what felt beautiful and what I thought I was failing and how I felt loved in each of those moments. A self portrait is a chance to hold our own mirror. To create space and validation for all the ways that we feel deep inside.

Here’s the thing, my friend. If you don’t take the time to do this in whatever way you do it, you will not have the capacity to properly love and care for the hurts of those around you. We must take the time to honor our story and heal to be able to effectively do that for others. So will you join us? Will you take just a bit of time every day for only four days and hold space for yourself to see you as you truly are? The link to sign up is in my bio. Please let me know if you have any questions. I cannot wait to walk this journey with you.

When I say I’m a photographer, the follow up question is “Oh! Do you do, like, headshots or events or what?” Ah. No. I do portraits of women and their loved ones. But my focus is always on the women. Why? Because I know. I know what it feels like to feel less than. I know the way your heart skips a beat when you feel forgotten or looked over. I know the gravity of sorrow. But I also know the truth of hope and joy. I know the wide spectrum of love that women are. But I also know how sometimes the ugly things speak louder than the good ones. I take portraits because I want to help turn that dial up on all that is good and lovely about each of you. I want to raise your understanding of how deeply cherished you are. I want you to not only feel seen, but to learn how to see so you can give that gift to yourself and others around you. Seriously, portraits are just my favorite.

I love this image of I captured that honors both her coming into her own as a woman and remembering her sweet mamaw that inspired her and passed from this life to the next just a few short weeks ago.

To all the slightly weary and worn souls and everyone else who probably is tired but just doesn't want to admit it:

I'd love for you to join me in Artfully Designed. It's a FREE four day self portrait challenge. It starts April 17 will be taking place in a private Facebook group where I will give you an EASY way to do a self portrait for the day. One day will be using a camera, one will be using the written word, one will be using colorful marks, and one will be with a collage. These will all be super easy and should be done using only what you already have in your house. No need to buy anything.

Self portraiture can be a powerful way to remember who you are. To remember the Truth that you are worthy, loved, cherished, and lovely. It's easy to forget all of those things in the distracted hustle culture world we live in today.

So if you need a breath of fresh air, come join me. It would be sure an honor to walk with you in this way. Click on the link to sign up and expect an email from me next week!

www.ashleygurley.com/artfully-designed-challenge

Here’s a newsflash, loves. Life doesn’t always work out the way you hope. You don’t get the sale. Or the job. The deal falls through. You get disappointed or sick. Or they get sick. They die.

Life is full of disappointments. It’s true. And it’s good to grieve those things that are not the way they should be or the way you hoped they would be. We need to honor our hurt. The idea of just ignoring it and smiling anyway is detrimental to our hearts. BUT.

After a while (and only you get to decide how long that while js….) then it’s time. Continuing to dwell on the hurt and the pain will get to a point where it does not serve the life you desire. Staying stuck and angry and hurt only allows us the ability to say “See!? I tried and it failed! So nothing will ever happen!” And if that’s where you want to live, you totally have that choice. Life is all about choices. But my hope for you is that you would wash your face. Trust that everything happens for a reason. And walk forward with great purpose into the life you desire to live. Don’t know how? Send me a dm. Seriously. Let’s chat about it.

What are your thoughts? Let’s have a conversation about this in the comments.

True story. Most entrepreneurs need headshots. I want to meet you there in the most impactful and meaningful way to capture you in such a way that puts your best food forward on getting your message out to the world. And….

I wonder if there is room for bravery there? Is there room for you to step out into vulnerability with me? Maybe that looks like putting on a crown to remind you of the queen you are. Maybe it looks like leaning into yourself fully in a white T-shirt and jeans. Maybe it’s twirling like a little girl in a beautiful dress to remind you of play and wonder. I wonder what it would look like to step a little out of your comfort zone and just be with me.

Happy Women’s Month! I know. It’s supposed to be Women’s HISTORY Month. But the history of tomorrow is happening today. And if we want our children’s children to have women to celebrate, we must leave a legacy worth celebrating today. So here’s three ways (with a bonus) I think we can celebrate Women’s Month!

✨Let’s share ideas below on other ways we can celebrate and inspire one another. Big or small, list your idea! And check out the link in my bio for a blog post to see more!

Many of my clients find me for branding images. I am thrilled to offer you branding images! But my clients also leave with more than just a great image to put on their Linked In or Insta profile or website. When you book a branding session with me, I look for a deeper connection. This helps me to walk you through the photoshoot with confidence (yes, even you who thinks she never looks good in pictures). Then my clients stay for beautiful images that show the deepest parts of themselves. So I’m starting a new genre. You can call me your “branding AND” photographer. So let’s get you in the studio for a branding AND bo***ir or a branding AND dress/crown glam, or a branding AND mother/daughter, or branding AND whatever we can dream up. Truly, the sky is the limit. ❤️