Meet Kacee Rigsby

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kacee Rigsby. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Kacee, first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.

I spent a really long time believing that I wasn’t good enough for people to pay me to take their photos. It made me stand still, stop learning, stop growing. The fear that people would see me (as an artist) and then potentially not be satisfied with the product I delivered to them was terrifying. If I heard someone’s dislike then that would just confirm all of the things I knew to be true about myself, right? So, for the majority of 7 or 8 years I stayed very quiet and unseen. I was only creating when absolutely necessary, in school projects, for jobs if required. But for the most part I was doing jobs that weren’t centered around my passion for photography. As the years went on, I became increasingly unhappy in my day to day. Until one day I decided to take stock of where I was in life. Was I happy? How could I reach happiness?
After realizing I was operating out of a lens of fear and safety I redirected and started to create in any way possible. From photographing friends and family to models and complete strangers. I was practicing constantly. I didn’t always hit the mark either. Sometimes my projects wouldn’t go to plan, and I had to deal with the disappointment of that. But from the mistakes, be them big or small, I learned something new every single time. And I went into the next photoshoot with that new piece of information and did better than before. Each new photoshoot was an opportunity to start new, but with each new shoot I knew I wasn’t starting from scratch, I was starting from a long line of failures and successes. I was starting from step 15 and not step 1. So, the fear has become quieter and quieter as time goes on. With each new skill I acquired, I also got what felt like badges of courage. Because I got less scared as I grew. I knew that I was becoming better than before, I knew I could trust myself to deliver an amazing product because I had put in the time and effort to learn more about what I love so that people could love them just as much as I do. As time went on, through my projects I began to find myself, my voice and what I wanted to say. It became more important than making money at what I’m doing, it became imperative to create these visuals because I want to make a mark on the world before I go, and I can do that by leaving things that stand the test of time. Nothing else does that but photographs.
A part of finding my voice was coming out and finding my truest self as a Queer Trans artist. There are many people out there who would tell me that I’m not good enough simply because of either of those labels. But it’s those labels that make me want to be louder with my art. I want to capture pure unadulterated Queer joy for future generations to see that we existed, we mattered. Our voices were not drowned out by the rest of society because we don’t look like what they want us to look like and we don’t love how they want us to love. We know that we were true and authentic to ourselves above all else even if it became unsafe to do so. That is how necessary it is to overcome imposter syndrome because there isn’t enough time in this life to worry about what other people may want for us because they think it’s more “appropriate”. People waste years and years of their lives being miserable because they have allowed people to speak over them and tell them who they should be. Well, I personally think that’s crap. And being your most unapologetic untamed authentic self is how you overcome imposter syndrome, because when you know who you are to your core, it won’t matter what anyone else says about you.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I have recently made a shift from doing only portrait to performance photography as well. I live on a street surrounded by Queer bars, and they have tons of drag queen shows nightly. So, I have been photographing the shows lately as well as working with some of the performers to recreate their acts in studio later. Aside from that I work with models to collaborate on projects that are simply my love for art. That can range from editorial style shoots to free artistic shoots based on songs, books, etc. I feel like my art is so special because I get to work with some really amazing people who are also artists and you can see what they bring to the table, whether that be outfits they’ve made themselves, props, if they did their own makeup, or coming up with their own concept altogether. Seeing other people’s inspiration and process motivates me to then come up with new concepts as well. Bouncing ideas off each other as artists is so crucial and so helpful.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Freedom to fail: If I had never given myself the room to fail, I would have never found the right steps to succeed. As uncomfortable as failing is, it is also so wildly necessary for growth to occur. You are absolutely allowed to feel all of your feelings when you fail but just remember to not set up camp and live there. Take notes, learn from it, move on and do better next time. Honestly. half the fun is in failing. Because then you get to try and retry things over again. And in the end the journey really is everything.

Networking: Not just networking but putting myself into rooms and conversations that I wasn’t in before. I had to find those spaces and wiggle my way in. Then I planted myself and waited/watered while the growth just naturally occurred. If you own your own business one thing you have to be good at is talking with strangers. As a photographer I will honestly go up to people on the street that I think are gorgeous and get their contact information so that we can work together later. So now I have just opened up my network by who knows how many people. Hundreds potentially thousands. And that happens with every single connection you make in business.

Have a definite aim: You don’t have to know exactly when you’ll get somewhere but knowing what goal you are trying to reach will continue to drive you forward. Now that goal may get bigger and change over time but the main goal at its core will be the same. If you know WHAT you want to be doing, it’s not a matter of IF, it’s a matter of WHEN. And from there you really just have to let things fall into place how they will.

The biggest piece of advice I would give is, come up with your definite aim before anything else. Know what you want out of life. Decide what it is that you are shooting for and everything else from there will work out. It may not look like it is all of the time and that’s where allowing yourself the freedom to fail comes in. You have to know that in the beginning, no one is good. We all need to practice, heck even ten years down the road I am still learning things and that will never stop. If you allow yourself the room to fail and pick yourself back up without tearing yourself down, then your growth will be exponential. And maybe the biggest thing above any of the rest of it is, choose something you LOVE. Because when you are doing something you love the passion and drive comes naturally.

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

When a project is overwhelming me the first thing I do is take a step back. Give myself some time away from what it is that I can’t figure out and give my brain a rest. Go out into nature and spend some time among the trees, allow myself to take in all that is the forest and sky. If I am still stressing out over it I will talk to a friend or partner about the project. I am a verbal processor so talking things out helps me immensely. I will be able to see things I wasn’t able to before and shine a whole new light on this project that was becoming a sore spot. If either of those don’t seem to help, I will put that project away for a little while and work on another so that my brain is essentially scrubbed of that one and replaced with a new one for the time being.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://moonflowersphotography.com
• Instagram: @moonflowersphotography
• Facebook: Moonflowers Photography

Image Credits

Moonflowers Photography