“Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us, or we find it not.” Emerson
Ashley E. Smith, founder of Farrunner Photography, is a Philadelphia based photographer with a background in anthropology and photojournalism. She grew up in Windsor, Connecticut but her passion for people and a taste for travel and adventure quickly took her far from there.
She studied visual anthropology and gender studies at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster Pennsylvania, concluding her studies by living with and photographing the Hopi tribe in Arizona. She continued her education at Boston University, where she received a masters in photojournalism. Her travels have also taken her to New Zealand to study the Maori, and more recently, she has traversed the east coast documenting the underground carnival sideshow revival.
Her photographic voice is often observational and candid rather than posed, and tends towards bright lights and deep shadows, contrasting or vivid colors. Rather than photograph in a studio, she prefers photographing in compelling locations with naturally interesting ambiance and lighting.
“I’ve always had to run I don’t know just why Desire slowly smoking
Under the midwest sky There’s something waiting out there That says I’ve got to try
But I can feel the thunder Underneath my feet I sold my soul for freedom
It’s lonely but it’s sweet."
