Casey Wood of Casey’s Photography

Casey Wood remembers the first time she held her very own professional camera. She was a freshman in high school when her Nana gave her the gift of a DSLR camera (Digital Single Lens Reflex Camera). This gift represented the turning of a dream into a reality. Not only did she now own a professional camera, but she was also regularly being asked to shoot portraits and birthday parties. In her junior year, she was hired to photograph her first wedding.

Casey began taking photographs in middle school. She was playing on her Nintendo DS one day and decided to try its camera function to shoot portraits of her friends. She was excited by its ability to create images, but she was also frustrated by its limitations – the user had little control over the images it captured. She upgraded to a point and shoot camera and enrolled in a local photography summer camp at The Wallingford Arts Center, which is near her hometown of Media, Pennsylvania. At summer camp, she learned how to use PhotoShop to manipulate her photographs in the editing stage and she was hooked.

Her interest in photography continued into high school but unfortunately, the once popular photography program at Penncrest High School had been cancelled before she arrived. Casey is highly motivated and she didn’t let Penncrest’s defunct photography program stop her – she formed a photography club. She asked her Visual Design teacher, Stephan Mescanti, to be their Staff Sponsor and he enthusiastically agreed to let the club use his classroom computers after school. Casey became its leader; she proposed photography challenges for her club mates to complete every week to keep them motivated and engaged.

When it was time to choose a program of study for college, she decided her best bet, in advancing her goal to become a professional photographer, was to study entrepreneurship and learn how to successfully start, operate, and sustain a business. She enrolled in Drexel University’s Close School of Entrepreneurship and is currently entering her fourth year at Drexel.

Casey’s two Co Op experiences at Drexel have had a great impact on the growth of her business, Casey’s Photography, which she founded her freshman year. Her first Co Op was with JPG Photo, a photography studio. It was there that she gained experience shooting weddings and other special events. Her current Co Op is at the Philadelphia-based marketing firm, En Route Marketing, where she is learning skills that she is already utilizing in the marketing of Casey’s Photography. In reaction to COVID-19, she put her newly learned marketing skills to work by offering to take free portraits of first responders, graduating students and prom pictures for students who had their proms canceled. These free portrait sessions served to expand her network and have led to paid jobs. She also recently started producing another great marketing tool: notecard sets featuring local landmarks. She has Media, Swarthmore and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, sets available for purchase at a local gift store, Home and Gifts, located at 15 East state Street in Media, and directly from her.

Casey’s Photography specializes in portraiture and special events. Check out her website to see the versatility of her portfolio: caseys.photography. She is also active on social media – Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CaseysPhotog/ and Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caseys_photography_/. To purchase work or to contract her photography services, email her at cphotographypersonal@gmail.com.