We were lucky to catch up with Caitlin Walters recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Caitlin thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?
My name is Caitlin Walters, I’m 19 years old, & I am a freelance model located in Midlothian, Virginia. It all started right around my high school graduation time. I did a senior & graduation photoshoot in one session, with a local photographer named “Jayne” (Jdbphotographyanddesign). During the entire shoot she continued to compliment & hype me up. She was surprised I already hadn’t modeled or thought of it. Around that same time, I also have always enjoyed making tiktoks, Posting on my main Instagram all the time & always having friends take my pictures, so I felt comfortable in front of the camera at all times. After that shoot & the results, I was amazed with myself, & realized my possible potential. I then had debated for a bit of time up until the point of August, I then decided why not reach out to a few local photographers, I asked a few models & others who have worked with those few & finally reached out. I did a couple of photoshoots at first with Joe Bolivia (Jb804productions & Jb804pics) & after those few, I immediately knew I wanted to model. Each photoshoot I gained more confidence & self love. Realized that this is something I really wanted to do. Not only for myself, but the creativity throughout each shoot, the definition, the story, & lastly the power it holds. Just with photography & modeling, you can tell many different stories. Pictures hold more than you think. It was also so much fun during the process of the shoots, I genuinely enjoyed it all!
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
You may be wondering how did I really get further into this industry, after the senior & graduation photoshoot & continued to do more work with Joe Bolivia, He began to tell me about the idea of him wanting to start an agencie, & how he wanted to recruit me & have my help with the building process of it. I ended up signing with him. We started to recruit more models & talent, It started to grow a bit more. He then started talking to me about possibly branching out towards other parts in this industry as a model. Runway, commercial, branding, Etc. Runway & Branding immediately caught my eye. I then realized what if I didn’t just do photoshoots, what if I expanded into doing runway, creating content for brands & growing a platform for my modeling to showcase self love, mental health, world matters, & more. What if my modeling career was different & diverse. I don’t have to stick to just one side of it. Or one style. Around this time, I really wanted to push myself. I started working with more photographers & other models, growing my account & spreading my name more, at this point I was also doing a lot of the work for the agencie, promoting constantly, recruiting constantly, & trying to gain more benefits for the agency itself. I realized that wasn’t going to benefit me in the right way. I appreciated everything Joe Bolivia did to help me grow into the person/model I am today. I started to go my own way. Gained more paid bookings for photoshoots, attended more model calls, workshops, & promotional collaborations & commission earned from brandings (beekeepers naturals, foxybae hair, matein bags, and etc). I also expanded into more styles of modeling. Fashion, Fitness, glamour, Boudoir, Implied, fine art, & nude. Overtime, the amount of tips & advice I have recieved & learned has helped me be able to help others locally or that come across my page. Being able to help them lead in the right direction when freelancing, not just modeling as well, social media & content creating. One thing I really am proud of for myself, Is putting in the dedication & time, Making the concepts come to life, inspiring others to love themselves & push for what they want. When people come across my page. Some tend to realize the story & meaning within it & realize their not alone with a feeling they feel & or a situation, they may comment or reach out. & when they do, they appreciate & open up. knowing I helped someone be able to talk about something and let it off their chest. Genuinely makes my heart happy. They now know they have at least someone who understands and can be there for them. Some people feel suffocated & nobody will understand. That’s why talking about certain things going on & showing you care & understand, can save a persons life. Or maybe a dozen over time. You never know. Knowing I inspired someone to thrive for their dreams & goals. The amount of girls who have gained confidence over just viewing my page, that also puts a smile on my face. The thought that i can encourage others to feel happy about themselves, is something i wish the whole world could do for eachother. Some things I DO NOT tolerate when it comes to my page, Yes I do boudoir, implied, & nude. But not EVERY post that meets those lines are to intend sexual content for the definition. For example I did a nude shoot & posted it as a 10 picture post with a song included (skin & bones by David kushner) with the caption relating to backs tell stories no books have the spine to carry, that while finding & creating yourself it’s okay to dissolve & feel the way you do in moments & days but it’s also okay to leave parts of you behind if they no longer serve purpose, you don’t have to be accepted by others, you need to accept yourself, find the confidence & self love for YOU.. and for a reminder your body is not your enemy but your partner on this journey of life. Treat it with kindness. A lot of men oversexualized the pictures without even caring to read the caption. THAT is what I WILL not tolerate. EVER. I want my work to be recognized for the meaning it holds. Always. For all meanings.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
I feel like with social media now a days, it is so hard to not make at least someone mad, you could be just doing a normal photoshoot & some female or male will find some way to hate on it. I feel like social media has taken many turns as expected. It has driven people to be depressed, delete their accounts, change themselves, isolated, & scared. When it should be the complete opposite. I have heard many stories where multiple artists gave up on their dreams & passions because of what they recieved online after sharing their work. It tears them down. They are human just like the rest of us. I feel that the community & world needs to be more uplifting & supportive to everybody. Even people they don’t know. If you don’t like someone’s teeth in a picture, okay. Keep it in your head & keep your day going. If you don’t like the way someone is talking in the video, find another one & keep your thoughts to yourself. If you come across someone’s small business & you genuinely like their items, buy one. Don’t just start hating on it like the rest of the people who are judging. Be different& kind. You may end up liking their product & putting other people on & helping the small business. If you like someone’s pictures online but everybody else is hating, don’t follow the train. If anything be the one to hype them up. You can make a difference when you aren’t following how other people around you are acting, or taking your own insecurities out on others. This industry could have such a different positivity outlook if people just tried. This industry is also filled with a lot of criticism, I know it’s a tough industry. But the more criticism & “hard love” you give is the more it becomes harder to reach the expectations because they continue to rise, out of emotion of not meeting them before. That causes a huge depression dive when the expectations don’t match & meet. That is making you be apart of what’s causing people to be scared to join or be in this industry.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The fact I can possibly hold to uplift & inspire others, in many different ways. I feel like my work is slowly doing that, & that’s exactly what I wanted it to do, be yourself & love you for who you are. Do WHAT YOU WANT TO DO!! You are what matters! Never give up on what you want to do. If anything THRIVE for it.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prettyycait?igsh=b2p1bXZuYjhqYXhq&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/caitlin.walters.75098364?mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Other: Kavyar : https://kavyar.com/bbspj9gjbj8q
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@prettyycait?_t=8n5eeh4649m&_r=1
Image Credits
Photographers:
Caroline Frye
Charles Long
Joe Bolivia
Shotbyfig
Collin fenner
Sean Judge
Makeup artist:
Olivia karalee