Ashley Rosemeyer

Words by Peter Harvieux

Photos shot on Canon 5D Mk IV

It seems like cosmic destiny that Pennsylvania born Thrashley, aka, Ashley Rosemeyer, found herself in the world of snow and skateboard photography. Her mother’s passion for photography was certainly the reason she’s had a camera at her side from as young as she can remember. Beyond that, it wasn’t as though she grew up in a family with a past time of weekend skiing at the local mountain, nor did she have a sibling that uncovered this snow and skate world for her at a young age. It turns out it was that mind-numbing, brainwashing, television that we were all warned about specifically the Fuel TV network, that would be the catalyst for Thrashley’s deviation off the “normal path” in life. Magazines were another lure, and where she found herself trying to understand how angles were captured and lighting was used. Her formative years found her shooting skateboarding first, but not in a skatepark as you might imagine, instead it was at street spots, soaking up the gritty beauty that has become synonymous with east coast skateboarding. It’s in this setting, as she was spending countless hours searching for those angles that the ‘Thrashley’ moniker was bestowed upon her.

From street spots to the mountains; living in a state where seasons still exist, winter activities were a must for kids looking to burn energy during the cold months. It was only a matter of time before Thrashley would tempt her fate with snowboarding. At the age of 16 while on a school trip to 7 Springs, she would strap into a board for her first time and inevitably fall in love with the thing she had admired from the other side of the television screen for so long.

With little interest in the academics that high school had presented, it was her desire for a career combining her love of photography with skateboarding and snowboarding that motivated her to pursue a post-secondary degree in photography. This of course didn’t guarantee her a job, so once she graduated college, it was a random email to Sugarbush that in her words, “was a miracle in hindsight that it somehow made it to the right person” and resulted in her first “industry” job. That also hinged on being a part-time dig crew member as well, which taught her a crucial skill set that no schooling could have. This was the beginning of Sugarbush’s big push with their park program and presented the opportunity for Thrashley’s photos to be seen weekly on Snowboarder Magazine’s ‘Feature Presentation’ online column. Which then led to an invite to shoot Ms. Superpark, then Snowboy’s Down Town Throw Down in Boston, and with the Jet Pack / Too Hard crews during their east coast trips.

The following seasons were quickly filled with Sugarbush photoshoots, Snowboy events spanning from coast to coast, and shooting with The Uninvited crew for their projects. During all of this, word had gotten out about her skills and she was approached by Driven Studios to fill a staff photography position shooting commercial products in-house. This ended up being a perfect balance because the crew at Driven consists of avid snowboarders and skateboarders, including past east coast pro, Seth Neary. Their mutual understanding for the source that drives Thrashley’s passion to shoot snow and skate helps when she’s scheduling trips for her freelance work.

In 2020, Thrashley and her family were faced with the horror of her Dad contracting COVID-19, his then hospitalization and untimely his passing in October of the same year. This new reality that stole her Dad left her grieving and struggling to find a reason to pick up her camera. Although this void can never be filled, she’s been able to find some solace in recent months while spending time outdoors in the side-country and shooting street riding more than ever. She’s driven to do what would make her Dad proud and push forward on the path in which her nose to the grindstone effort has paved her destiny.