Meet Antonia Cassell

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Antonia Cassell. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Antonia below.

Hi Antonia, so excited to have you with us today and we are really interested in hearing your thoughts about how folks can develop their empathy? In our experience, most folks want to be empathic towards others, but in a world where we are often only surrounded by people who are very similar to us, it can sometimes be a challenge to develop empathy for others who might not be as similar to us. Any thoughts or advice?

I have my family and education to thank for the development of my empathy.

Both of my parents hold careers in the social service field. My father works as an alcohol and drug addiction counselor, and has been sober for over 40 years. I spent many holidays at the treatment facility when I was younger and have had many conversations with folks from many diverse perspectives that were impacted by addiction.

My mother works at a middle school, where she supports Spanish speaking students who are learning English in a district with a very large Hispanic and Latine population. A lot of the services that she provides today were not available to my mom when she was navigating school as a native Spanish speaker. I think it is really special to see the relationship she builds with students.

Outside of their professional lives, my mom comes from a large family that immigrated to the United States from Mexico when she was very young. The whole family worked as migrant farm workers and traveled to different locations to follow the array of seasonal jobs. Working conditions for my family (and farm workers at large) were abhorrent. They often lived in overcrowded migrant worker camps that lacked basic necessities like bathrooms and running water. My family were strong activists for the better treatment of farm workers and participated in activism and marches, especially the more famous ones lead by Cesar Chavez and work popularized by Delores Huerta.

Even though my family has gone through difficult times, they would always do everything they could to make a positive difference if family or friends were ever in need. I am very fortunate to have two wonderful role models that modeled what community care and support can look like.

For myself, I have my bachelors degree in Family and Human services from the University of Oregon. This program is for people who care about building more just and equitable communities, and care about advocating for more effective social services while emphasizing social justice principles. This program allowed me to work directly with a wide variety of social service offerings in the community that fundamentally shaped my understanding of the world at large. My education also gave me direct experience with diverse groups of people from many different walks of life.

I am so happy that I have grown into who I am today because of my familial values and formal education. I believe that I am able to approach people and situations with an open heart and mind, and I am always thinking about ways that I can use my own power to improve and advocate for people in my community.

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?

Personally, I never considered a creative career as a possibility for me.

Photography has been part of my life since I was in high school. I received a point and shoot camera for Christmas one year, and I took it everywhere with me. I was the friend that was always making people pose for group photos and documenting our activities in the pre-smartphone era. There was no one in my life that really saw me as a creative or artsy person when I was younger, and I did not know that people could have successful artistic careers.

In college and beyond, I started planning photoshoots with friends and family members just for fun. As I started getting more into photography and planning more elaborate and creative shoots, I remember scrolling through Pinterest and being inspired by images and locations. The longer I was spending time consuming photographs that were considered “good” or “inspiring,” I started to realize there was little representation of people that looked like me and my family.

From this, I was inspired to capture images of people that you wouldn’t typically see while scrolling on Pinterest; people who might be discouraged from booking a photographer because the current industry isn’t “for” them: non-traditional couples, LGBTQ folks, couples choosing to elope, and non-religious couples. I believe in the power of storytelling, and how powerful it can be to see people that look like you represented in a positive way through media and imagery, and I wanted to be a part of making that happen.

I have done a lot of different types of photography: landscape, families, seniors, pets, portraits. Through everything, my favorites have been working with individuals and couples. I absolutely love capturing individual portraits of people that capture what they feel authentically represented. There is no better feeling than someone saying, “Oh my gosh, I had no idea I could look this good,” or “Wow, this really feels like me.” It is my favorite thing when someone has never had professional photos taken of themselves and they receive them and are surprised at how beautiful they look.

I also have a special place in my heart for wedding and couple photography. I encountered wedding photography at a time when I was going through my own divorce, and I am so glad it found me when it did. It would have been easy to develop feelings of disdain or even resentment towards couples and romantic love, and I found quite the opposite to be true. I have been so fortunate to work with some of the most wonderful people, both inside and out. I found myself so moved by the families and communities that my couples have curated, and I feel so lucky to get to witness love in so many different shapes and forms. Planning a wedding can be an incredibly stressful experience for a lot of people, but the clients that seem to gravitate towards me have some of the most amazing and thoughtful friends and family that I have ever seen. Seeing a person’s community there to support them and make sure they have a day that truly represents them is special to me, and a stark difference from the typical group that focuses on the “right” way to get married. The most special thing about my job is getting to witness and document the human condition for truly wonderful people.

There have been many weddings that I have documented where a loved one in attendance passes away a year or so after the event. It is such a great honor and responsibility to capture the precious moments and emotions that happen throughout the day. I know it is cliché to say, but we truly never know when it will be the last time we get to spend quality time with a loved one, and I do not take that responsibility lightly.

I believe my passion for caring for communities and wanting to document folks that are typically under-represented in media has landed me in a wonderful space where I can provide a positive portrait experience and leave people with beautiful, artful memories of these special moments with their loved ones.

I still feel like my career is in a bit of a crossroads as I myself am continuing to balance living a fully creative life while still being able to make enough money to live in our current society without sacrificing the integrity of my art, and ethically price my work so that people from many different walks of life can have access to high quality imagery. I am currently working as an Elementary School Technology Teacher, and fill my weekends and time off with photoshoots and creative projects. In the future, I hope that I can create more sustainable systems in my business that will allow me to work full time.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

1. Caring about other people and their experiences.
2. Learning to not be scared of doing things a little bit differently than everyone else.
3. Seeking out likeminded people – who are better than you! – to share ideas and help each other grow.

Personally, I wish I would have started putting more importance on leaving my house and intentionally building community in real life. Social media can be great for networking and cheering on your fellow photographers, but the most meaningful connections I’ve found have been from attending community events and having intentional conversations with fellow creatives.

And if you don’t have something like that available, I’d say it’s worth taking a risk and making something yourself! I started in small-town Oregon, and was very surprised to find a wonderful group of creatives that I’m still friends with today by just asking around and planning little photoshoots for my community.

What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?

It’s very easy to burn yourself out by sitting in front of a screen for 10 hours a day editing photos, maintaining your social media, or fixing up your website.

It sounds obvious, but I think the only thing that can prevent that stress and anxiety is programming in intentional breaks throughout your week to just do something else – ANYTHING else. I recommend maintaining a planner that has blocked-out time for breaks where you do something fulfilling for yourself that is NOT photography.

Last summer, I joined a intramural volleyball team that played on weeknights so I could still attend all my weekend wedding gigs, and taking that one hour to move around and clear my mind was something that made a busy summer season way, way easier to bear.

Oh, and also – if you find something that you aren’t confident in – ask for help! I love working with computers, but website design isn’t my strongest suit, and I will easily spend hours getting frustrated over it if I’m not careful. As a result, I often ask my community for tips and help – and that’s totally okay!

It’s normal to think you have to wear all the hats and accomplish all aspects of your business flawlessly, but I think the real flex is knowing when to ask for help so you can spend more time refining the parts of your work that you love most.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://antoniarosephoto.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/antoniarosephoto/

Image Credits

The pictures of me were taken by Gracie Ryan https://www.instagram.com/yeticorn_/
All others are by me.