She likes to call herself a private photographer, since she likes taking pictures of families and women, without having the prejudice of the term “portrait photography”. Born in Russia, Anastasia Casey has been residing in Jordan for more than 13 years, with her family.
Photography was her passion since she was a kid; the school photo club was the place where she was creating her first photographs. Later, she got 2 bachelor's degrees in different fields and photography remained her passion and hobby. Right until 2012, when she decided to sell her business and switch to full time photography.
She graduated from a photo school in Russia, then continued learning and practicing. She runs her private VIP studio in Amman and cooperates with a local magazine.
90% of her time is photographing women and families, she loves creating family portrait galleries.
Follow these 2 core beliefs which are fundamentals to photography:
1. The photographs are the basis of a personal or family legacy.
2. A photoshoot is a therapy, which gives confidence and helps to reconnect with the inner self; it is an exciting journey.
WHY is passion the most important element in photography.
The main thing to her that changed her career and her attitude to photography was when she decided to become a portrait photographer, and decided to photograph mostly women.
It is connected with women empowerment and development.
That’s why she feels more confident in this field, where she can tackle an important subject and change women’s attitude towards themselves, through the photoshoots.
Find Locals and not paid models
She rarely works with models, unless they are commercial shoots. So most of her times, she shoots local women, in their everyday ambience, giving them the experience of feeling like a model; being treated, feeling, and looking like a star. For many of them, this is a life changing experience and it’s really important to have that chance to look at yourself from a different angle and “try yourself in different shoes”.
Here are some of the advice she shared with us:
Find one stream that you are more passionate in and seek to it and go deeper in that field
Perfect your craft. Learn new techniques. Fail and try again. Get inspiration from other artists. You have to master your craft.
Anastasia likes creating beautiful pictures and she likes the feeling she gets when she sees how the woman in front of her changes; from her ordinary look to the magical transformation of shining eyes and happy soul.
As a private photographer, she feels emotional and full of energy when creating these images.
You should make the clients feel comfortable and the pictures should portray them
Having water and coffee and snacks in the studio gives a familiar environment; as well as having a space for changing clothes, and preparing for hair and make-up. In that way, the people would get used to the space before being photographed. They will get familiar and get a cozy feeling…
The pics should be about them, it should bring out their personality, their emotions, their connection with others, if for example you’re shooting family portraits.
As Andrea lost her sister a few years back, she now encourages her clients to bring their sisters with them to get their pictures taken together, since unfortunately she didn’t have that chance due to geographical distance with her sister.
Taking behind the scenes pictures of the family is a very interesting method; how they talk, how they laugh, and all these intimate meaningful moments. It’s a different approach which is liked by the clients, to snap those candid expressive moments.
You can also go to the family’s houses, and shoot in their comfortable locations, where they feel most at ease and in their zone.
Use the right words and right values to attract your clients
You can say the proper words, if you speak from your values. In that way they will understand your approach, and feel more comfortable with their pictures being taken.
You can also convey to them the importance of photographs, including their monetary and sentimental values.
She once convinced her client in taking a family portrait gallery, just by comparing the price of that photography session, to the price of an Iphone he buys every year. Then, he directly saw how close they are in price, but so different in meaning. So he understood the significance of photographs, and especially family portraits.
Enjoy what you are doing
It’ not only about photography, it’s about anything you do in life.
Andrea worked in many fields before becoming a photographer, but she didn’t feel the joy and passion that should drive her in improving at those jobs.
So she decided to switch to photography because she LOVES IT! It’s a passion!
“If you follow your passion, if you are doing what you love, this is great to begin building it up successfully. This is how your voice, your inner voice, and your values, rise; only when you really love it. If you don’t love it, don’t do that, find something else; because if you don’t love it, you will never sell it. If you don’t love it, you will not have good bookings, or returning clients, because they will feel the absence of passion and joy.
If you can find your passion in a specific photography subject, then that’s even better. In that way you’ll focus all your energy, time, and research perfecting that type of photography, and becoming better at your craft, and making it work for you.
Leave a comment