Meet Alison & Ashlee | Photography and Planning

We had the good fortune of connecting with Alison & Ashlee and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Alison & Ashlee, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
We were both already operating our own businesses but were teaming up so much for collaborations and joint ventures, we thought it was actually simpler to launch as a joint entity! We both run our own businesses as solo ventures (Ashlee is an amazing photographer as Ashlee Crowden Photography and Alison runs a boutique wedding planning business A Bride’s Best Mate and also does portrait and branding photography as Alison Amy Photography & Styling). And together we get to style shoots, plan and shoot proposals and elopements around the world and clients can just email one address and have all their planning and prep in one place, and pay one invoice!

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
AWA Experience is all about not caring what the tradition is or what convention is – it’s about giving our clients an experience they wont forget and having the photographs to display their memories for generations to come! We will experiment and are constantly thinking up new ways to photograph and style and encourage clients to think outside the box! We love it when clients say ‘this might be too much but…’ and are often saying to each other ‘this might be insane, but what if we…’
We are two very different humans, from different countries, with different perspectives, gifts and talents and we have worked hard to seamlessly work together to create something that we couldn’t have done individually. In an artistic field, where images are subjective, this is difficult because we don’t always agree with what is ‘good’, but we trust each other and aim to have enough space where both voices are heard and we think that is where the magic happens.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Well luckily Alison has a lot of experience with this! Being Australian, she has had family and friends come to visit for a while, so here are her go too for entertaining non-Americans in Colorado..
We have got to eat burgers – Steak and Shake, Chick-fil-a and of course In and Out if they have heard of it. Stoic and Genuine was a regular spot but it sadly closed this month so I’ll need a new place! But after we had our fill we would walk around Union Station and go in for ice cream if it was open, or for a drink at the Cooper Lounge. I LOVE the Nuggets and demand that all guests attend a game, cheer loudly and dress in Nuggets gear – supplied by me if needed. I also like to do a day trip to Estes – looking for the bison at the intersection that also happens to be my favorite view from a road. We walk along the creek at Golden and get a coffee from Pangea while we talk about how weird it is that coffee here is so different to Australia! We also go for alley walks around RINO to look at street art and I point out my favorites, and places that Ash and I like to do portraits and wedding photos if the wedding is downtown! – Alison

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
We would like to thank all of the clients we have had that have booked us together so we got to build up such a good working relationship and respect for each other so now we can work smoothly and with synergy as we tackle unconventional shoots and situations around the world!

Website: www,awaexperience.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/awaexperience

Image Credits
All Photography Credits to AWA Experience