Today we’d like to introduce you to Cassie and Wesley Wright.
Cassie and Wesley, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My story is actually one of two creatives, my husband Wesley and I and it’s a journey that started during the fall of 2000. This was when we had our first date which coincided with the beginning of our career paths. We had no idea then that our careers would be so complimentary and that one day we would merge those talents together into a full-service commercial photography business (portfolio.shotbycassie.com), as well as a photo merchandising business (www.shotbywright.com).
I was just beginning photography school then, and Wes was getting his feet wet in the advertising world doing production work for TMP worldwide, working with art directors and other creatives who inspired him. At that time, I still planned on going to a four-year art school, which was my dream. I did not enter photography school thinking I would be a professional photographer. My plan going into it was that this was a skill that would compliment my painting and drawing. I had been utilizing other peoples photography as the subjects in my art and wanted to be able to use my own copyrighted original work.
Wesley encouraged me to just focus on school, and he worked hard with two jobs allowing me to give my all to my photography education. However by the time I had completed the year and a half photo program at North Georgia Technical College I had a grown to love the medium and wanted to be a professional photographer. It was around this time that Wesley decided to move up in his field by pursuing an education in art direction. I was happy to support him during his time of study and helped him focus on his education full time at the Creative Circus in Atlanta, while he took a break from work.
Before he graduated, he was offered a job in Jacksonville, Florida with the Dalton Agency. We were excited about this new opportunity and adventure to move to a new city and state. The Dalton Agency also gave me photo opportunities — and thus began my direction into the commercial photography world. Wesley was working full time as an art director with the agency, and I was doing a combination of assisting as well as shooting. It was an exciting time for both of us. Wesley got to excel in what he loved doing, art direction and design, which I have always been in awe of his talents for. It was also furthering my real-world education by seeing how art directors, clients, and photographers work together.
After two years in Jacksonville, we craved to be closer to family and felt called to move closer to home. Wesley found a job in Atlanta working with Comgroup, and we jumped on that opportunity and moved back to Georgia. I felt a little lost, starting over from scratch trying to figure out how to get work in photography again. A friend told me they knew a photographer who was looking to hire and I immediately reached out and started doing post-production for Drew Newman, who was specializing in weddings. I was in not a wedding photographer nor had any intention of becoming one.
But Drew was great, and I learned a great deal from him by shooting and processing weddings together for years. He taught me how to capture emotion and tell a story thru photography — as well as some essential business skills. While living in Atlanta, Wes’s agency ended up merging with another agency, we got a puppy, who ultimately led us to our home in Athens, GA. During the home search, we couldn’t find a place with a yard that we could afford in Atlanta. Out of the blue, Wes suggested the possibility of moving to Athens, GA. He already knew he loved the city, and I was all in after our first visit.
We were ready to put down our roots here and purchased our first home — with zero work in the area. Wes commuted to Dunwoody for a year to his job while I worked remotely with Drew. The commute was brutal and ended up taking such a toll that Wes decided to quit his full-time job and started freelancing as an art director/designer. Things started happening for me in Athens. I made friends with someone at the dog park who got me a freelance gig with UGA. I also shared my portfolio with Kirk Smith and his creative advertising team at the Adsmith.
Upon showing them my book, I got a call just a couple of weeks later to shoot the promotional materials for UGA football. This was the most exciting moment I had ever had in my career, it was a huge deal. I didn’t know a lot about sports, but as it turns out I didn’t have to know the game to do a good job photographing it. I was then asked to shoot for UGA Men’s Basketball and UGA Gym Dogs promotions a few weeks later. We were elated. It was around this time the demands for photography were more than I could manage on my own, and I was needing a lot of support. We had a discussion and decided to team up on our photography business.
We’ve been working full time together for over eight years now. We are doing a lot of work with UGA on the educational side as well as with the athletic department in conjunction with countless great shoots teaming up with The Adsmith. We’ve also had opportunities outside of Athens as well, shooting for Saatchi & Saatchi on Wal-Mart and Cover Girl, with Publicis North America on a celebrity Bridgestone golf campaign and teaming up with other Atlanta Agencies like Chemistry, The Dalton Agency and more. We count our blessings for all the opportunities the cool people we’ve been able to team up with.
While the cover is covering the action on the UGA Football sidelines for seven seasons, we have put a lot of time and energy into these photos and needed to find a way to use these assets to expand our business. That’s when we decided to go through to process of applying to be officially licensed, so we could sell the images that we had captured throughout the years. That was the beginning of the process that created our new brand, Wright Photo. It has been a challenge diving into the world of merchandising: creating new logos, websites, and promotional materials, buying the product and working with printers and other vendors.
And while it is still a fairly new venture for us, we are excited to see where shotbywright.com will take us.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Yes and no. Some things have felt pre-destined and smoother than I could have dreamed, like my meeting with the groovy people at the Adsmith and working with UGA athletics and the University of Georgia. I had no idea I’d love working in athletics like I do — I did not grow up watching sports — but it was so smooth, felt so right and spoke to my soul.
My first season shooting football games between the hedges felt like destiny, I remember tearing up this one time during pre-game warm-ups, all of Sanford Stadium resonated with me, feeling the intensity of the stadium vibrating under my feet. I felt like I was meant to be there. It reminded me of the first date with my husband. I had a knowing, and instant rightness and a strong feeling of destiny and love.
There are definitely challenges along the way — all of the paperwork and non-creative hats that we have to wear. Being a freelancer is like having a 24-7 job, and never knowing exactly when and in what form the work will come brings a level of stress that can be overwhelming at times. Maintaining a work-life balance is a challenge. Even when we plan vacations, we bring cameras to document the experience.
When I’m with friends and family, I feel compelled to capture those moments as well. I also adore getting to photograph the rescued animals at Sweet Olive Farm animal sanctuary in my time off. It can be a struggle to stop working, but I don’t know if I ever want to stop shooting all the fun things in my life. Luckily we love what we do and are passionate about it. It makes any struggles worth it.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Wright Photo – what should we know?
Our commercial photo business, Cassie Wright – Photographer (portfolio.shotbycassie.com) is a full-service photo company, offering the creative and production services needed to produce world-class photo campaigns for brands that range from small local businesses to the largest global brands. I’d say we are most known for our athletic work.
What sets us apart is the emotional story we are capturing. We don’t just shoot people & places, we want our photos to capture a story with feeling and emotion with a lot of attention to detail. I think this is part of why our work shooting athletes resonate so much because their energy is awesome. These are talented, driven, largely positive thinking people who can do incredible physical things.
I love figuring out how to tap into what they feel on the field, court or wherever and pulling that out of them in our shoots. It’s exhilarating. Being an empath, I can feel if emotions are off for the way we need to capture people and have learned ways to ease tensions and to bring about the energy clients need for their campaigns. We also know how to make things easy on art directors and what they need the most from their photographers when teaming up.
Our photo merchandising company, Wright Photo (shotbywright.com) focuses on selling officially licensed products that compliment the UGA photos that we have curated over the years — but will include even more of our work in the coming years. From prints of exotic locations like Bali and Jamaica to landscapes across the US to all of the personal work we have done in the past — we plan to make Wright Photo a representation of all of the things that we are passionate about.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
So many to list… And have already touched on many of them — our families for supporting us and believing in our talents. Kirk Smith, with the Adsmith, has believed in us since we walked in and showed him our book. He’s given us countless opportunities to team up and shine together. He is also a mentor, we can call him up and ask for advice and guidance. We look up to Kirk’s positivity and energy.
In 2013, he was diagnosed with stage 3b lung cancer. Together, Kirk and his wife Jayne, have been raising awareness and money to help progress lung cancer research and groundbreaking new treatments, Kirk has still been competing in triathlons while simultaneously running his ad agency.
We are proud to know him, so blessed for him believing in us and for being a great friend and mentor. We have had many other vital people believing in us, like all the wonderful people at University of Georgia, Dalton agency, Chemistry, Ryan Ketterman, Drew Newman among countless others we’ve teamed up with.
Contact Info:
- Website: portfolio.shotbycassie.com shotbywright.com
- Email: info@shotbycassie.com info@shotbywright.com
- Instagram: shotbywright
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wrightphotollc/
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