Raised in sunny Southern California, Cassidy Flores, a deaf photographer, graduated in May of 2020 with a B.F.A. from Rochester Institute of Technology. Her passions, apart from taking photos, are analyzing movies, longboarding, and playing chess.
It took my parents seven months after my birth to realize that I was profoundly deaf. For almost three years I heard nothing until my cochlear implant surgery. My parents wanted me to be able to communicate with others, so I grew up learning sign language until I was able to speak. Today many of the people I work with don’t even know that I am deaf.
When I was 13, I discovered a book called “1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die” and became passionate about films and analyzing them. As of now, I’ve seen over 400 films from the list. I took a film class in high school and bought my first camera for the class, thinking I was set on a path to become a film editor. The path changed when Rochester Institute of Technology accepted me and placed me in the photojournalism department. After I graduated, I photographed every trip I have taken, whether it may be an hour drive away or a plane trip to the East Coast. I pursued a different job career but my love for photography has retained.
