{"id":7827,"date":"2019-01-08T20:07:37","date_gmt":"2019-01-09T01:07:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dia.com\/blog\/?p=7827"},"modified":"2022-06-22T11:35:52","modified_gmt":"2022-06-22T15:35:52","slug":"spotlight-on-chelsea-francis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dia.com\/blog\/know\/spotlight-on-chelsea-francis\/","title":{"rendered":"Spotlight on Chelsea Francis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"chelsea<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Meet Chelsea Francis<\/a>, Austin-based photographer and founder of<\/strong><\/em> Pass\/Fail<\/a><\/strong>. <\/strong>When Chelsea gets to work, her focus is showcasing <\/strong>diversity<\/strong> and celebrating failures just as much as successes. Read on to learn how she views her personal style, what her approach to photography is, and why she decided to <\/i>launch her own online publication<\/em><\/strong>. <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I grew up in North Wilkesboro in North Carolina and stayed on the east coast until three and a half years ago. Then I moved to Austin, TX. We really just wanted a change of scenery, my husband and I. We wanted to visit a couple of places, but never made it anywhere else. We fell head over heels in love. Everyone is really kind and everyone is very inviting. You kind of get this Southern hospitality\u2014but it feels genuine.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fashion & Style<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My first style icon was Ms. Frizzle from \u201cMagic School Bus.\u201d She\u2019s delightful, and everything was the perfect amount of put-together. She was over the top, but she introduced the idea of the outfit to me\u2014the head to toe all working together. I do enjoy basics. I enjoy a pair of jeans, but everything has to tell a story. Growing up watching \u201cAmerica\u2019s Next Top Model,\u201d Tyra Banks\u2019 outfits always told a story. Now, I love Gracie Mercedes, Gabi Gregg, and Nicolette Mason. <\/span>I define my personal style as \u201cOff-Duty Creative Director.\u201d A lot of patterns and non-boring basics. My number one go-to outfit is definitely a skirt and a T-shirt for work. There\u2019s this brand out of LA, Big Bud Press, and I\u2019m just absolutely obsessed with their T-shirts. They are super size inclusive, super body positive, and none of their clothing is gendered at all. It\u2019s just a really, really cool brand\u2014and I think that\u2019s where fashion is going right now. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The industry is definitely moving toward this \u201cYou can wear whatever you want\u201d kind of area. We\u2019re still getting over some hurdles there, like when people still try to enforce beauty standards on the Internet and say that what people are wearing is unflattering, or that they don\u2019t look good in whatever they feel like they look good in. I think, especially with fashion, the plus-size community has always been put in this box. Like, you wear fit-and-flare A-line dresses. If you\u2019re the funny girl with personal style, you wear a cute vintage patterned fit-and-flare dress. All of those boxes are getting broken down. You can wear whatever you want if you feel confident in it. And there\u2019s plenty of room for people who completely reject shapewear and<\/em> love shapewear. It\u2019s all personal preference, what you want to put on your body, and what makes you feel the most confident. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can wear whatever you want if you feel confident in it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\"chelsea<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Road to Photography<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think the reason that I chose a career in photography in the first place is the chance to interact with so many different people. I\u2019m an extrovert, I\u2019m a Sagittarius, I\u2019m an ENFP. All of my personality types point to me being extra social. I love getting to interact and listen to people talk about themselves, so that\u2019s a huge reason that I chose to do it. The other big reason that I love to do it is that I get to empower people to go after their dreams. I get to be a little part of helping people launch businesses. Even if I\u2019m just taking a headshot for someone, or I\u2019m shooting an advertisement for someone to go into a magazine, or I\u2019m shooting a story on someone. I get to be a little benchmark of people\u2019s careers. It\u2019s incredibly rewarding.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started getting in front of the camera more because I didn\u2019t want to be removed from what it felt like to feel that vulnerability. It always used to bother me when photographers would be like, \u201cI\u2019m never on the other side of the camera. I don\u2019t know what to do.\u201d Knowing what a plus-size body looks like in front of a camera can only help me know how everyone\u2019s bodies look in front of a camera. I feel like a lot of plus-size women don\u2019t often enjoy getting their photos taken, but that space is just as important for us. Everyone deserves to feel cute in a photo that\u2019s not a selfie. Having a photo of yourself that you feel excellent in is so empowering. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I feel like a lot of times we look in the mirror and we see someone, but then, when we take pictures, we see a different person because of lighting and angles. When you get a great photo taken, you just need to be reminded that that\u2019s who you are and that\u2019s what you look like. I find it very, very important for cultivating self-love and self-acceptance. If you see yourself in the mirror one day and you think, \u201cI look great,\u201d take some self-timer photos. If they\u2019re terrible, you can delete them. No one will ever see them, right? You can post them online and everyone will tell you that you look beautiful. You can just have them just for yourself. Or you can send them in a group text to your friends. That\u2019s what I do. Just be like, \u201cLook at how good I look today. Just compliment me. I need this.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone deserves to feel cute in a photo that’s not a selfie. Having a photo of yourself that you feel excellent in is so empowering.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\"chelsea<\/figure>\n\n\n\n


Making the World More Inclusive<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I\u2019m casting for clients, I try really hard to cast diverse body types, genders, and ethnicities as often as possible. I try and educate clients on why that\u2019s important and why they don\u2019t need a blonde, athletic model to model their planners or whatever. Everyone uses planners. Even if you have a fit granola company, a size-12 model can model your granola. A size-24 model can model your granola. I definitely try and be super conscious of that. In my own portfolio, I try and be conscious of that as well. It\u2019s definitely a process. I don\u2019t want to come off like I am perfect at it or that I\u2019ve been perfect at it. I definitely sucked at it a couple of years ago. I didn\u2019t realize that everyone in my portfolio looked like me, or like a skinnier version of me. I definitely had a crisis of consciousness about it where I was like, \u201cI am part of the problem.\u201d There was no one to blame but me. No one was curating my portfolio. All the clients that I was getting, they were all white mid-20s. Lately, I\u2019ve been trying to think about that more and figure out how I can make even the smallest impact in more representation.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Launching of Pass\/Fail<\/em><\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been interested in success and failure for a while now. I feel like we\u2019re starting to understand that there\u2019s no real finish line when you\u2019re an entrepreneur, or even when you work for someone else. You accomplish the \u201cbig goal\u201d and then you still feel tired and burnt out. You don\u2019t know how to revel in the success. And in the same fashion, you don\u2019t know how to process failure. You don\u2019t know how to make friends with it and learn from it. I\u2019d been thinking about this concept for a while and I thought it would be a really great idea for a photo project. So, I pitched the project to a huge company, got some great feedback along the way, and ultimately the project got rejected when I was in Los Angeles on a solo business trip\/vacation. I was devastated for about 24 hours, but it was mostly because I knew I\u2019d have to do the project on my own. Eventually, I came to appreciate the fact that it got rejected because it gave me the perfect beginning to my project, Pass\/Fail<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Failure is incredibly important. You can gain so much information by processing failure. You can learn exactly where your limitations are, you can learn where you can grow, and you can discover that there are external factors outside of your control. By learning to process failure without getting upset at yourself in a non-constructive way, you can really learn what you\u2019re made of. And that gears you up for success! When you think you\u2019re failing, take the time to grieve. You wanted something really, really badly and it didn\u2019t happen. That really sucks, and that\u2019s okay. Separate your worth from your failure. You\u2019re still so valuable and so incredible\u2014despite having failed. We\u2019ve all seen that video of Beyonc\u00e9 falling off the stage. Beyonc\u00e9 has failed before. This is your stage and you\u2019ve just fallen off. You\u2019re still Beyonc\u00e9 in this situation. You get back up, you learn where not to step, and you finish your show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking for more profiles of the amazing women in our community?<\/strong> Keep the \u201cKnow\u201d<\/a> category bookmarked!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photos: <\/em><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Paige Newton\/@paigenphoto<\/a><\/em><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Chelsea Francis\/@ohhhchelsea<\/a><\/em><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Meet Chelsea Francis, Austin-based photographer and founder of Pass\/Fail. When Chelsea gets to work, her focus is showcasing diversity and celebrating failures just as much as successes. Read on to learn how she views her personal style, what her approach to photography is, and why she decided to launch her own online publication.  I grew up in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":8606,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"class_list":["post-7827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-know"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSpotlight on Chelsea Francis - Dia & Co<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Photographer Chelsea Francis is a pro behind\u00a0and\u00a0in front of the camera. 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