Frank J. Casella, Photographer, US – Chicago

“Today I just call myself a photographer; I make pictures of goodness and hope.”

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Frank J. Casella, Photographer, US – Chicago

Frank J. Casella is a Chicagoland photographer who has spent his lifetime perfecting how to make award-winning photography, to put an audience where his subject is [ Pictures People Listen To ].  Born and raised in a Family-Owned Business, Frank, photographed the Chicago ministry of the late Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, and was mentored by John H. White – Pulitzer Prize photojournalist. While he is known for publication photography, Frank’s main concentration is museum-quality Fine Art Photography. He focuses on the simple moments in life and on “Goodness and Hope”.  Frank believes that Art is not a luxury and says “making the world smile one person at a time in my thing!”

Artist Statement

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Photography for me is mostly about how the click of the shutter records history – a moment in time.  I am not one to concentrate on the technical aspects, or the lighting or equipment, as much as I craft the composition and story.  I just let the picture happen. One thing I’ve noticed looking at my pictures from over the past thirty years is that we all live the same story, just different people in different locations and circumstances.  I think the late photographer Edward Stiechen said it best: “Photography is a major source of explaining man to man “.

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I like to look at my pictures as having a mission. Since I have worked for several non-profits they all have mission statements. A mission statement works like a sign on a bus. It tells a person what direction it’s going and helps a person decide if they want to get on or off the bus.  Many times I’ve been told that I make pictures tha people listen to.  One such instance comes to mind. In the early 1990’s  a man in prison wrote me because he saw my pictures in printed materials for a Catholic Mass. The feature included photos of streets where children had died at the hand of gangs.  He told me in the letter that these pictures are from the streets where he lived and that seeing them transformed his life. Today that man serves the Church making a positive impact with children and educating them about the effects of belonging to gangs.

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 I make pictures of goodness and hope.  No matter the subject you will find an element that tells a story of goodness or makes you smile. We live in a war-torn world and society needs examples through pictures of hope.  It goes back to my childhood, when I found my father every morning praying the rosary. It wasn’t prayers for himself as much as for his family and our world. My pictures to me are a form of my prayers, a gift to the world … to humanity.  Sharing a simple moment of a child in a father’s arms speaks to many about the security a father brings to his family.  All of this is priceless to me.

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https://frankjcasella.wordpress.com/

http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/frank-j-casella.html

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Gallery 3 – A Day in the Life of Frank J. Casella

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Gallery 2 – Unforced Rhythms of Grace

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Gallery 1 – Heart of America

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