Meet Erika Céspedes

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Erika Céspedes a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Erika, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

My resilience stems from a variety of experiences throughout my life. I see resilience like a recipe passed down from a grandmother, there’s never a precise measurement. You simply know you need a pinch of this and a dash of that to make it come together just right. In the arts, resilience has no fixed formula. One day, you may be working with a high-end client under a tight deadline; the next, you’re creating fine art that helps process and heal personal trauma.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

Photography has always been my passion. Being able to truly follow my dreams and build a successful career in the arts fulfills my professional ikigai, my sense of purpose and joy in life, while getting paid. I’ve had a rewarding career in commercial photography and I’ve also explored the fine art world, using imagery as a vessel to communicate with viewers on a deeper, and more conceptual level.
As the years passed, I learned to balance both commercial and fine art photography, yet I felt a growing desire to give back. Shortly after becoming a mother, I began my teaching career, fulfilling an area of my life that had remained untouched until then. Providing guidance and real-world skills to young, passionate artists who share my love for photography brought a new sense of purpose. In that moment, I realized I had truly reached my ikigai in full circle.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Never give up.
It may sound cliché, but it’s true. If I had listened to those who spoke negatively about photography as a career, I would be doing something entirely different and likely not happy.

Stay humble and teachable.
No matter how accomplished you become, there is always more to learn. Be open to feedback and allow others to share their knowledge with you.

Give yourself grace when creativity fades.
Don’t force inspiration during creative lulls or between projects. Focus on the areas of photography that truly resonate with you, choose two or three specialties and commit to developing them deeply. We do not need to be masters of all.

How would you spend the next decade if you somehow knew that it was your last?

If I had only a decade left to live, I would release all material ties, set sail across the world in a pirate ship with my son and our dogs, and let life become our classroom. Together, we would wander from shore to shore, teaching photography beneath changing skies and capturing the beauty of every fleeting horizon.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.erikacespedes.com
• Instagram: @erikacespedesphotography

Image Credits

All work is photographed and edited by Erika Cespedes, if you need information on locations:

Commissioned work restaurant Images: Salute and BiCE Located in Palm Beach, FL

Two images of land and buildings – from the series The Road less traveled, scenes from Poland

The last two images of the Lotus blue / green and the three snapper fish is a collaboration between Dr. W Paul Brown, professor at Stanford University and myself. We process Ct Scans with photo post-production techniques.