My Story by Frank J Casella

I've had a camera in my hand since I was nine years old. It all came to be as I was shy as a child, and photography helped me to express my viewpoints and how I saw the world around me. To me they were just simple moments but, over the years, people would tell me that I have the ability to photograph the soul of a person. I guess you might say that an important element of my visual story telling is of body language. When I was shy and not talking I would watch people … their every movement … how they would 'talk' with their body to express feelings and mood.

My pictures not only shared my thoughts from my childhood, but also helped me to develop confidence as people responded in a positive way to what I was saying through my imagery. Back then it was thought of as documentary photography, though I didn't call it that. Today this has become an art form, as people are in need of visual examples of goodness and the hope of God's love in the world.

My first camera was from the Bazooka Bubble Gum wrapper. Do you remember those? I recall waiting for it to come in the mail, it felt like a month of Sunday's. I then graduated to the Polaroid camera .. which was instant like todays digital camera, only you held the picture in your hands. I also had a 110 and a 126 film camera, and then a Kodak Brownie camera. Once I reached Jr. High the principal of the school saw my enthusiasm for pictures and bought an Minolta SRT-201, 35mm SLR camera to use for the school yearbook. I remember how instantly popular I became with my classmates … and how that yearbook was something new and special for the school, as well as personally to me.

I was born in the United States in a suburb of Chicago, and grew up in a family-owned business. My parents are from Chicago and moved to the suburbs when they married in 1952. My mother was a seamstress and created custom made draperies. I remember as a toddler being given swatches of fabric to play with in every color and pattern you could think of. My father was a foreman for an office supply manufacturer, and I remember waking up every morning to watch cartoons on the TV and finding my father praying the rosary before leaving for work. Both of these experiences are key to who I am as a person and the contribution that my photography has made on humanity.

In high school I failed photography class. Because I always went outside the box with class assignments, however, I still made it on the school newspaper and then yearbook staff. I was also a Fire Cadet in high school, and many times used my camera for events and fire investigations. But the thing longing in my heart was my childhood dream to be a photographer for the Catholic Church in Chicago. Every week I would wait for the mail man to deliver the Catholic newspaper and would study the pictures mostly by the great James Kilcoyne, whom I later met and eventually was hired to replace after his retirement - I completed my childhood dream at the age of 23. I was later assigned to photograph the archbishop of Chicago on a daily basis, Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, so its fair to say that I was his personal photographer.

When it came time for me to consider college it was between the fire service and photography. Since I was not interested in the requirements of being a paramedic I chose photography. My hope was to become a portrait or documentary photographer, but that all changed as most of my instructors suggested I consider photojournalism and arranged for me to meet the man who teaches it, John H. White, who is a Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist.



This is part 1, and part 2 is at the link below. Please also come back soon or subscribe below.

https://fineartamerica.com/blogs/my-story-part-2-by-frank-j-casella.html



Photograph: 'Lovers Reading By The Lake' Black and White Art Print by Frank J Casella

Own This Print https://pixels.com/featured/lovers-reading-by-the-lake-frank-j-casella.html




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