Ashley Armitage
Director & Photographer, Prettybird
Ashley Armitage, Director & Photographer, Prettybird
They say you never forget your first (ad, of course!), but for Prettybird signed director and photographer Ashley Armitage, her first foray into motion marked something even bigger than that. The year was 2018. The brand, Billie razors. They were about to set out and do the then unthinkable; shoot a hair removal ad that actually featured body hair, paving the way for other brands to do the same.
“I was baffled that hadn’t been done already,” Ashley laughs. It was “a ground-breaking move at the time,” or at least “a really good marketing strategy.” But either way, it felt right. With projects like this, there’s always a risk that they can feel contrived, but the work “came from a real authentic place” – a perfect pairing of brand and director both aligned in a cause they believed in.
This symbiosis is partly down to the absolute faith that they had in her, having been so sold on her stills style and aesthetic, that they hired her to shoot their launch, despite her not being a motion director. Although initially apprehensive, “it felt really intuitive and natural for me to go from photography to motion. Effortless, but at the same time I had no idea what I was doing.”
This initial imposter syndrome gave way to the realisation that “every single time I’m on set I learn something new and that’s amazing. I’ve also learned that it’s ok to not know everything and it’s ok to ask questions.”
Having initially been put off by the male-dominated world of the film industry, the project marked a turning point for her career. “The crew was a good mix of everybody – all genders, all races and all ages and I was like oh, this exists.”
After that, she started taking on more motion projects; absolving parental hang-ups for All Good diapers, and marketing the only women-only private island owned by a drink’s brand, (no, really) for SuperShe. But that hasn’t meant photography has taken a backseat, with both mediums informing each other creatively.
“In my films there’s something cinematic and in my motion, you could take it apart and it feels like stills,” she explains. In fact, as the industry ground to a halt last year, Ashley found herself reverting to the photography themes and ideas of her early career, but armed with much better equipment and lighting. “The last time I had free time and energy to experiment was 2015. I’ve made some of my favourite personal work so far in the past year.”
A true product of the Tumblr generation, Ashley owes some of her style cues to endless scrolling through carefully curated “vintage family snapshots and stills from 1980s films I’d never seen before, which feels a little like cheating.” It’s not hard to see the effect this has on her work, which seems to be wrapped in the gauzy film of nostalgia. It has a warmth to it that Ashley hopes feels “relatable and familiar to anyone, like a memory, or someone’s childhood Super8 film. But at the same time, I want it to feel timeless – that the era is a little ambiguous,” she adds. It’s this contrast of a displaced vintage aesthetic with her portrayal of fresh, progressive subjects that makes her work such a joy to watch.
When asked about her dream project, there’s not a moment’s hesitation: “I think about it all the time and it’s been my dream for a while. Fashion is so fun, colourful and extravagant, but Gucci specifically, because they create amazing content – it’s honestly like art.” There was one series that they made focusing on different music movements in the cities that they took place in. One short is about Italo Disco which is something of a niche obsession of hers. “I saw it and thought, damn, I wanted to make that!”
Time off rarely stays that way as her work bleeds into everything she does – in a good way. “I do turn my brain off, but 90 per cent of the time, I’m somehow thinking what film or photo might be next. I’m in the bath, but I’m also scrolling real estate websites for locations – right now it’s a good vintage ballet studio. It honestly energises me. I feel so lucky that I’m able to take my passion, my hobby, and turn it into a job – that’s pretty cool.”
Interview by: Katy Pryer
