Through the Lens: A Quick Pit Stop with Ashley

Who is Ashley? Ashley is a British Columbia-based photographer, rider, and the eye behind Yeah Boy Productions. She got her start with a disposable camera and a grandmother who documented everything, and has grown into a storyteller who shoots motorsports, backcountry sledding, and the moto scene. Founder of the Bionic Babe Lifestyle brand, and rider herself. Ashley chases emotion over polish, capturing the kind of authentic, low-edit images that let people look back and remember a time exactly how they see it.

Last time we pulled into Pit Stop, Ashley was the one behind the camera, shooting Ria the Welder's hand-forged steel. This time, we're turning the lens around. Pit Stop is the corner of American Moto Co. where we pull over to explore the craft, the culture, and the creators who keep the soul of motorcycling alive, and few people see this scene the way a photographer does.

Ashley's origin story doesn't start in a garage. It starts at family gatherings, with a grandmother who photographed absolutely everything.

"I am going to blame my Grandma for this one," she says. "She took photos of EVERYTHING, especially family gatherings and life's milestones."

The first cameras were disposable, and the early results were exactly what you'd expect: cropped heads, missing limbs, the occasional accidental masterpiece. But the ones that worked, she kept. To this day they live in a photo album she's still proud of.

What stuck wasn't the gear or the technique. It was the realization that every one of those frames held something.

"There were so many photos and they all told a story or held a memory, and that always stuck with me."

Although the gear cannot be ignored. Ashley's husband would be the one to buy her the first DSLR and Ashley mentioned it was what drove her to dive deeper.

There is some irony in the fact that the photographer who now lives inside the motorcycle world originally wanted nothing to do with riding. Especially as a passenger.

The door opened sideways. An ambassador gig she had for backcountry sledding led to an opportunity with the Can-Am Ryker. The brand wanted more visibility in her area, so she took the motorcycle course and got her license, and to her own surprise, fell in love with it.

The following season, her husband decided to push the experiment further. "He said, 'Let's get you on two wheels and see how you do,'" she recalls. He bought her a 2012 Forty-Eight Sportster 1200, and from there forward the passenger seat was completely off the table.

"I refused to be a passenger with my husband, because if I was going to die, I wanted to be the one in control. HAHA."

Before she ever rode into the scene, she chased it. Ashley would follow the guys around in her vehicle, shooting and filming them on rides, documenting a world she hadn't fully stepped into yet. Eventually the lens pulled her all the way in.

If you read the last Pit Stop, you already know Ria, the welder bending steel into "Sailor Jerry meets heavy metal" sissy bars. Ashley shot her, twice, and went in expecting chaos.

"First of all, Ria is always a riot, and we are equally as weird, so I assumed it was going to be more of a funny shit-show shoot."

What she got instead was a quieter revelation. Shooting Ria at her home-based shop to document her work, Ashley saw a different version of her subject: the deep thought and detail that goes into every piece.

The second shoot was for Ashley's own Bionic Babe Lifestyle brand, with Ria and her young son as models. Those frames turned into something Ashley didn't plan for, a mother and her boy bonded over motorcycles, and they're now some of her favorite images to date.

"They not only killed it with the photos, but each photo also showcased a mom with her young son who had a strong bond over motorcycles. Honestly those are some of my favorite ones I've shot, because of the story and emotion that comes from them."

For Ashley, a shoot was never about showing up and clicking a shutter.

"Photography isn't just showing up and taking photos. I get that a lot."

She starts by getting a feel for who someone is, whether they want action shots or stills, where they'd feel most like themselves. Then she keeps it casual, relaxed, collaborative, because the comfort shows up in the frame. "If they aren't relaxed, that reflects in the photos." The location is usually left up to her. The flow is always shared.

I asked Ashley about the shot she can't shake, and it isn't a motorcycle at full lean. It's a prom.

She'd been following a local boy's story on Instagram, a kid born with Down syndrome who'd spent the last two and a half years battling leukemia at BC Children's Hospital. His date asked him to prom, even though he doesn't graduate until next year. Ashley felt an overwhelming need to be there with her camera.

"From personal experiences, I know what it feels like going through those traumatic medical events and the toll it takes. So if I could help them on their special day, I was all in."

She brought her motorcycle to the shoot. It became a prop, and then it became the moment, his date climbing on, saying how badass she felt, the families over the moon and celebrating around them.

"I was holding back tears the whole shoot. And of course they were so stoked to sit on the bike. That's a win."

It's one of her favorite images she's ever made. Knowing what it took for that young man to be standing there that day, it's also one of the most inspirational.

This is the part of the moto world that surprised her most, too. The reputation doesn't match the reality.

"People often stereotype bikers or find them intimidating, but from my experience they're no different than anyone else. Whether you need help with a broken bike, a spare part, or just someone to ride with, there's always someone willing to help. It's one of the most supportive and welcoming communities I've ever been a part of."

Ask Ashley what she wants someone to feel in the first few seconds of looking at her work, before a caption, before the backstory, just the image, and her answer is short.

"I just simply want people to feel."

She wants you to catch the emotion, the atmosphere, the small details that make a moment land as real. Which is exactly why she keeps her editing light.

"More than anything, I want my work to show authenticity. This is why I don't heavily edit. We are who we are."

As for what's next, she wants to travel and shoot events. She's an action-shot junkie at heart, and the idea of following a big group on the move sounds, in her words, sick. Motorsports, backcountry sledding, and moto are her favorites to shoot, and the goal never changes: make something you can look back on and remember that part of your life.

That's the whole job, really. Not the perfect frame. The one that still feels like something years later.

You can find Ashley's work and follow her journey over at Yeah Boy Productions on Instagram, where the action shots, the sled days, and the stories from the scene keep rolling in. And if you missed her work the first time around, go back and look at those Ria photos again. Now you know the eye behind them.