We had the good fortune of connecting with Cassandra Caldwell and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Cassandra, let’s talk legacy – what do you want yours to be?
In my lifetime, I want my legacy to be reflection of hope and limitless creativity. I spend most of my days trying to be a resource of insight or to be useful to those around me. I want to be remembered for the ways in which I helped and inspired people to try new concepts and techniques in photography. With every workshop, class presentation, or seminar that I work, I want people to leave with confidence in using their cameras as a powerful tool in photographing the subjects that are important to them.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My art comes from a place of connection, I started making paintings and drawings to communicate to people about the way that I felt or the things that I dreamed of but didn’t have to words to put it all together. I started photography in high school as a way to document the things that I experienced and to change the way people saw me and the world we experience at the same time. Starting at a young age, I always felt overlooked and unseen by everyone around me, it started at home, then at school, and in almost every aspect of my social life. Once I started sharing my images with others, it created opportunities for people to look deeper into me as a person, I had a way to communicate and find a common place where others could understand me and it gave me the confidence to open up.

What sets my work apart from others, is my distinct perspective, I tend to explore every option until I feel I have almost reached redundancy. I also edit my work with a fine comb, and I don’t mean just editing in the traditional sense like altering the photo but editing my selection of which images I take and the ones I share, I curate what is the most important thing i’m trying to communicate and if it doesn’t do that effectively then it is cut and gets reworked or scrapped for a new idea.

Where I have gotten today hasn’t been an easy road, but I continuously work hard to progress in the work that I do professionally and personally, My job is very technical and can become all about the gear and equipment but thats why I make the time as best as I can to continue to have personal work projects so that I can still have work to share with the people that enjoy my work.

The lessons I have learned in this journey is that sticking to perseverance and by staying true to what you are interested in, others will gravitate towards what you are doing. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t put yourself out there to find opportunities, because you definitely should be out there and exploring the options, but you gotta stop trying to imitate what you see out there to gain traction or interest, your passion and your drive will resonate more with people than the business aspect of being an entrepreneur or business owner like being artist can feel like sometimes.

What I want the world to know about my work is that it is going to continuously evolve, I want to explore more into mixed media and maybe incorporate more of my drawing background or explore more ways to make my work more three-dimensional by layering prints on transparencies. Right now I have plans of making my first self-published zine at the end of this year.

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.
If I had a week long trip to show one of my best friends all the places that I love in Southern California. On the first day of the trip, I would want to start off in the Desert, I would want to start at one of my favorite places to camp and to do some night time photography which is at the Trona Pinnacles going north on the California Highway 395. I would camp there for one night and then start heading south east towards Joshua tree, go have dinner in Palm Springs and then do some more star or night photography inside the national park and camp for an additional night.

On the third day we would head west with Los Angeles in mind as the final destination over the last few days but make a one day stop in Claremont, CA to stop and eat some amazing Mexican food at one of my favorite restaurant called Espiau’s on N Yale Ave. and then head to the California Botanical Garden afterwards to walk and take photos of the beautiful plants. On the fourth day keep heading west towards the Pasadena/Altadena and Eagle Rock Area, I would stop and show them the Gamble House which was the house they used to film Doc Brown 1950’s house in the original Back to the Future Film and then go a couple blocks over to the under part of the Colorado Street Bridge and also maybe check out the Norton Simon Museum afterwards along with stopping by one of my favorite analog and vintage camera store “Eagle Rock Camera” to end out the day.

On the fifth day I would show my friend all of my favorite places near downtown but necessarily the heart of downtown but I have loved exploring more of the Silverlake area of Los Angeles, eating lunch at the “Silver Lake House” Thai restaurant. Places I loved exploring when I first started working in LA was the Bradbury Building, LACMA, MOMA, and the Broad. I also liked watching all the action at the Grand Central Market. I have many times after exploring the downtown parts of LA go towards the Griffith Park Observatory or go the Hollywood Reservoir to watch the sunset or stare at the city from a high elevation.

On the Sixth day, I would like to start heading south towards Torrance, CA. I would show my friend one of my favorite camera stores Paul’s Photo and get any film photos we had taken on this elaborate trip developed by the Film Lab inside Paul’s Photo and check out all their camera lenses and accessories and talk to the lovely staff and owners. After that I would drive around the Palos Verdes estates near Malaga Cove and grab some food at the café and then head north towards Manhattan beach and go to the aquarium and stay at the beach until sunset. thus would probably conclude the trip that I would take my best friend on.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
The people that deserve all the recognition in my success is my Fiancé, Stephen and his loving family. Another person who stands out in my creative career is my photography professor at community college, who not only became a mentor to me but also became an important mother-figure in my life, Nancy Gall. I would also like to thank my closest friends Coco Ito and Alexa Galindo for helping me keep up my work when I have low-self confidence and encouraging me to go for it with all of my crazy ideas that I want to create. Finally, I would like to thank all of the many people I have had the pleasure of working with over the past six years at my job. I love working with the staff and managers of the photography stores that I have built relationships with and I love advocating for customers to support local camera stores throughout Southern California instead of online to keep the local photography community alive and thriving.

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

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cassandra-caldwell/

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