A young woman with long, light brown hair, wearing a beige t-shirt and light-washed jeans, sitting cross-legged on the floor while holding a professional camera over her shoulder. She is smiling and looking at the camera against a dark green background.

I grew up in Sequim, Washington, a small town tucked away in the upper left corner of the Pacific Northwest. Growing up in a place where there was often more rain and fog than sunshine, you either spent your time outside anyway or found yourself holed up somewhere warm with a cup of coffee.

My first job was at a local diner, and looking back, I think that’s where I learned the art of swapping stories. It was the first time I had the chance to interact with strangers so openly, with nothing but a formica bar top and a steaming mug of black coffee between us. I quickly fell in love with these micro interactions with locals and travellers passing through that I most likely would never see again. Long before I ever thought of myself as a storyteller, I was learning how much you can understand and learn from someone simply by sitting across from them and listening. For this reason alone, I remained in the hospitality industry for many years. I was obsessed with the humanness of it. Even outside of my hospitality career, and without the magical Formica bar top and mug, I wanted to find a way to still connect with people and hear their stories.

Ive never believed creativity has to fit neatly into one niche. Life doesn’t. The people, animals, places and brands we connect with all carry their own stories, and that’s what I’m interested in documenting. This is what leads me to chasing a good story.

My dog Boonie is a huge part of the reason I fell so deeply in love with photographing the relationships we have with animals. He’s also my near-constant road-trip companion, creative assistant of questionable usefulness, and completely unbiased critic of my music choices.

Outside of Nostalgic Heart Productions, I also work on larger-scale video productions around the country — experience that continues to shape the way I approach lighting, movement, composition and storytelling in my own work.

When I’m not behind a camera, I’m usually somewhere with a book and a coffee, exploring with Boonie, traveling, or finding an unnecessarily strong reason to try a new restaurant. Animals, travel, hospitality and the outdoors make up a pretty big part of my world — and inevitably find their way into the stories I create.

I truly believe I was put on this earth to tell stories. They help us understand one another, see the world through someone else’s eyes, and feel connected to lives beyond our own. Everyone has a story to tell and I’m here to help you tell yours in a way that feels honest, human, and entirely your own.

Hey! I’m Cassie

A brown dog running on a grassy field in front of a vintage white car with trees and a clear sky in the background.
A woman with long blonde hair sitting in a retro-style diner booth, wearing a black dress and fishnet stockings, holding a paper cup with her face obscured by a carved pumpkin Halloween decoration. The diner has black and white checkered flooring, teal and white walls, checkered curtains, and Halloween decorations including a pumpkin on the floor.

How it all started..

My creative life started long before I called myself a photographer or filmmaker.

I spent years working in hospitality — behind espresso machines, on restaurant floors, and in coffee shops across the U.S., Australia and New Zealand. That world taught me more than how to read a room or anticipate what someone needed before they asked. It taught me how much people remember how a person and place made them feel.

I’ve also always had a soft spot for anything old, nostalgic and a little Americana: diners, motels, roadside signs, old cars, coffee counters — places that feel like they’ve already lived a few lives.

Eventually, I wanted a way to bottle up the funny, strange and deeply human moments I was experiencing in hospitality. That became Hospo Bimbo, a podcast and creative project centered around the people and stories behind the industry.

From there, I started documenting more of that world through short-form video and photography — coffee shops, diners, motels, travel, and all the little details I wanted to remember.

That was the beginning of everything.

Over time, the subjects expanded, but the reason I picked up a camera never really changed:

nostalgia, connection, and creating something you want to return to.

Nostalgic Heart Productions became the home for all of it — portraiture, animals, hospitality, brands, travel and filmmaking — different stories, all coming from the same place.

Seven years later, I’m still chasing that feeling.

And yes, I will forever have a soft spot for an old diner, a roadside motel and a really good cup of coffee.

A woman with headphones sitting at a wooden table with a microphone, a music controller, and two cups, one black and one with chicken noodle soup. She is smiling and looking down.
A young woman with long brown hair and tattoos on her arm, sitting in a relaxed pose, holding a large brown dog with long fur. The woman is wearing a white sleeveless top and light blue jeans. The dog appears happy with a slightly open mouth, and grey eyes, wearing a collar with a tag. The background is plain grey, and the woman is wearing white sneakers with red stripes.
A woman with a backpack and a camera standing next to a wooden fence on a hiking trail, smiling, with another person partially visible in the foreground.
A woman in sunglasses and a baseball cap smiles at the camera while standing with a golden retriever dog on a staircase at a baseball stadium. The stadium is mostly empty with green seats and a view of the field in the background.