Murielle Cascone is a Black photographer, a feminist, a mother, and a creative force. She combines those elements of her identity to create images that are truly empowering. With this, she’s not only changing the conversation for her own daughter, but for other young Black girls. And really, for all of us.
As a curator for the Blacktographer Instagram account, Murielle supports and amplifies the voices of Black female creators. Her photos celebrate Black female empowerment, connection, and motherhood. She makes the kinds of photos that make us, as women, feel like we can conquer the world. They are the kinds of photos we want our daughters seeing: photos of strong, bold, and powerful females.
We’re so honored to feature Murielle in our series, “UNLIMITED — Conversations with Changemakers,” made possible through a partnership with Fujifilm. Here’s a peek inside her creative, inspiring mind.
Meet Murielle Cascone
Murielle is a wife, mom to an 8-year-old girl, a finance professional and a natural light photographer based in Long Island, New York and originally from the island of Haiti. Introduced to traveling and documenting at an early age, Murielle’s love for photography grew even more when she had her daughter. “She’s been my muse,” she says.
You can find Murielle on Instagram @muriellecascone or at muriellecascone.com. She’s also a curator for the Instagram account @blacktographer, which celebrates and shares stories captured by Black women.
Q: How did you get started with photography and where are you now?
A: I’ve always loved photography. It’s always been important to me. During my travels, I was always the one staying behind to take one last photo of a cool site. I had an “eye”for sure, but I was shooting everything in auto mode on a Sony point-and-shoot camera.
When my daughter was born eight years ago, I upgraded to a Canon EOS Rebel T3i. Still, I had no idea how to shoot in manual mode. That’s when I started researching “how to take better photos,” and I came across Click Community (Clickin Moms back then) and started taking classes. My start in photography was a combination of it being self-taught and taught through Click Community, also lots of practice on my daughter.
Today I’m a part-time professional photographer taking on some clients and also shooting for me, still documenting my daughter. I’m also still learning. I don’t think I’ll ever be done learning. I still take classes and love learning from others.
Q: Your daughter has a strong presence in your Instagram feed. Can you tell us about what it means to photograph her?
A: Yes, she is my muse! I love photographing her. I love documenting her (milestones, simple portraits or environmental portraiture). I want us to look back at her childhood and remember everything we did and all the fun we had. She loves collaborating with me on most things, especially on social subject matters. Now that she’s eight, she likes our sessions short, so when she says she’s done with photos, she’s done! I respect that.
Q: Are your photo sessions with your daughter planned in advance, or do they occur spur-of-the-moment?
A: They’re mostly spur-of-the-moment sessions. What I plan in advance is our visits to certain places but once we’re there, we go with the flow. When I see a certain light, I call her for a shot. Sometimes, she calls me when she sees beautiful light. She knows me! For social subject matters, I usually plan those sessions.
Q: Your feed also has strong themes of female empowerment, which we love, of course! Can you tell us more about what that means to you?
A: Thank you! It’s important to me to take part in female empowerment posts with other female creators. In this male dominated industry, we want to make our presence known too. Like men, we are amazing creators! We also want to show our little girls that they can, too. Female empowerment is for us women who are fighting to claim our place in this industry, and for our daughters as well.
Q: How does photography help you express your identity?
A: Through my photography work, people get to see who I am as a woman, an artist and a mom. When I document my daughter at home or anywhere we go, you get to see a piece of me and my life.
Q: What messages do you hope to convey with your photography?
A: “You are beautiful!” and “Time flies, freeze it when you can!” Whether I photograph my daughter, my family or my clients, those are the messages I want to convey in my photography. I truly feel that and want my subjects to feel and see how beautiful they are.
Q: You are a curator for @Blacktographer. This is very important work! Can you tell us more?
A: Yes, it is! As I said above, it’s so important to amplify women’s voices, but it’s even more important to me to amplify Black women voices! So many Black women are so talented in this industry, but they are not heard, not seen and not recognized. They are left behind. Black people’s voices in general need to be amplified and as a Black photographer/creator, it’s important to me to elevate and support fellow Black female photographers by showing their work.
As we fight for social change where we all are recognized as equals, the fight should be in all industries. We all deserve a seat at the table.
Q: What life experiences have influenced your photography the most?
A: Motherhood for sure has influenced my photography the most. The way I see the world, people and my reasons why. My work is portraiture, environmental portraiture and a bit of documentary. When I photograph families, I put myself in their shoes to capture what I would want for my own family.
Connections are important and deserve to be captured and preserved. As a mother, I understand the importance of those connections. I also understand the importance of capturing fleeting moments. Also, as a Black woman and mother, female empowerment and self-love means a lot to me.
My daughter often struggles with her curly hair but I work very hard to help her appreciate her hair and love herself just the way she is. I always encourage her to let her hair down for our photos (and even when I’m taking photos of her).
“…it’s so important to amplify women’s voices,
but it’s even more important to me to amplify Black women voices!”
Photos by Murielle Cascone
This post is made possible through a partnership with Fujifilm as part of our “UNLIMITED — Conversations with Changemakers” interview series. Unlimited honors powerful feminist photographers and spotlights the artistic voices of those seeking to change the narrative. We hope to help bring focus to storytellers with purpose who are sharing their diverse perspectives with the world. Through this beautiful tapestry of unique voices, we want to be part of a cohesive message of unity, equity and inclusion.
More inspiring female photographers from the “UNLIMITED” series:
Travel photographer Karthika Gupta shares unifying stories of culture and identity
Photographer Ashley Johnson’s work asks complex questions about Black identity
Photographer Cristal Veronica celebrates real LGBTQ+ and BIPOC stories
How Divya Wolf imbues strength and empowerment with whimsy in her photography
