So it's about time I introduce myself officially.
I'm Kasandra, I'm the photographer and the brains behind all of this you see here. I'm 29 (30 in April) , married to a grumpy Marine and a mom of three crazy kids. I grew up in a super tiny town on the central coast of California and moved back three years ago with my husband when we bought our first home.
When I was first introduced to photography as a Junior in high school as an elective. But I was a junior, so I was obviously super cool and always late back from lunch. The teacher was a giant hard ass. I was rarely ever on time back from lunch, if I even came back at all. And the times I did make it back the chances that I had been partaking in the devils lettuce with my friends were high (pun kinda intended). The class did not come easy to me. When I did go I struggled with the prompts, I sucked at developing film ( and still do) and eventually the teacher got tired of my shit and dropped me from the roster.
Fast forward a year, I'm a pregnant high school senior taking college courses and one of them just happened to be digital photography. The college let us rent top of the line cameras, a Canon rebel. When I started that class I signed up because it sounded fun but it flipped a switch in me. I was learning things like composition, rule of thirds, lighting and photoshop actions that somehow I still remember eleven years later.
When I say that class flipped a switch for me I mean it. I was a teenager who didn't know what the hell she was doing who was also about to have a baby but photography made sense. I passed the class with an A in the lecture and the Lab portion both times that I took it. Because yeah I had so much fun that I went back for more.
Fast forward five or so years I'm back at Hancock taking a film photography class and loving it but film still was not something that came naturally to me. I struggled with developing the film but I usually always crushed the prompts. But shortly after I figured out that school was not my path.
That same year I got thrown into photography by chance. I had gotten myself my own super fancy top of the line Canon Rebel T3 from Walmart for $300 but that was it, I bought it but didn't know what the fuck to do with it or where to start.
My then fiancee told a family member that I had a camera and that family member tagged me in a facebook marketplace post where someone was looking for a photographer. Tons of people threw the name in the ring and for some reason mine got picked. I showed up the day of nervous as hell, camera in hand and did a mediocre job. But it flipped the switch for me again.
Then I got another gig, and another, and another and it kept going. So then I thought Let make this thing official and make an instagram page, 'cause thats what all the real photographers do right? Right. I came up with a cheesy name and that was it I was finally a real photographer. lol.
The years that followed were hard. I had to figure out how to be a mom, a wife, work full time and then of course I got pregnant and had to figure out if this photography thing was still going to work for me with everything else I already had on my plate. Ultimately I decided that this is the thing that gives me life. Outside of my family shooting absolutely lights my soul ON FIRE. Theres something about being in the middle of a shoot and looking down at my screen and seeing that I absolutely fucking nailed a shot. Perfect light, perfect pose, perfect everything. Theres not a lot that beats that feeling for me and I knew I still wanted to grow.
The desire to keep growing is why I'm still here. I knew a long time ago what I wanted my work to look like and I was able to produce it but not every time. Not that the work I was producing was bad, but it wasn't where I wanted to be.
I deiced when my second child was a baby that if I was going to do this I was going to go all in. Kinda. I told my husband that my current camera body just wasn't cutting it anymore. It was old, getting slow and I just desperately wanted an upgrade more than anything. That black Friday I convinced him that I would crumble if I didn't have this camera. He got it. Three years later and it's still going strong. It weighs about as much as a sack of rocks but IT'S AN ABSOLUTE BEAST It's my third child ( cause Evie was born after I got it) It does everything I ask it to and then some.
So like the absolute genius that I have proven to be so far I told my husband that 2020 was the year that I finally go full time. The year that I finally get all of my ducks in a row and become an actual legitimate business. Lol. Obviously 2020 had other plans for everyone but I still had a hell of a fucking year. I crushed goals I set before the idea of a global pandemic had even crossed my mind. I worked with people I've looked up to since the beginning of my career. I've made insane strides in my work and the way I create and how i make the ideas come to life, and I have a clear vision of what I want to create and with who.
As of right now, its February of 2021 and I feel like I'm finally hitting my stride. I'm doing the work I want to be doing, I'm creating work I'm proud of and kinda sorta making decent money but It feels like its only getting started. I have so many exciting plans for this year and I'm Just excited to keep learning and growing and ultimately see where I'm at in 2022. I cant wait.
I can't wait to work with you.
Xoxo,
Kas.