Focusing on connection
Anita Barcsa is an artist and photographer fascinated by personal growth, presence, and people.
Anita is truly creative. Her life and career are a mosaic of self-expression—she holds a degree in fashion design, she’s studied art history, and was a personal chef. She has practiced martial arts. She is a painter.
Since moving to the United States from Hungary at 24, Anita has worked on a cruise ship, painting houses, and as a nanny. The common threads: People, and trying new things.
“I admire people who know what they want to do, get on that path, and work for years. But that lacks color to me. There’s so much to learn and you’re not even going to scratch the surface in your lifetime. Doing more, learning more, helps you become a better, more grounded person.”
As a San Francisco-based portrait photographer Anita finally found the medium that facilitates both connecting with people, and fervent personal growth.
In fact, Anita is the heart and soul behind every portrait in Collective’s community spotlight series. She has traveled the country, capturing the spark inside our featured members one person at a time. Speaking for ourselves and everyone she’s photographed so beautifully, we can’t imagine having anyone else behind the lens. Ok, enough about us—back to Anita.
Learning by exposure
Growing up Anita’s family was poor, often struggling to feed Anita and her two siblings. Anita could look back on her upbringing with self-pity, but sees things differently.
“Honestly, struggle was one of the greatest things that ever happened to me. It gives you resilience, grit, and a strong foundation of working for things. Witnessing that struggle gave me the drive to start my first business, working as a personal chef.”
Despite her love for art, Anita’s parents encouraged her to focus on math and economics. Eventually, Anita’s mom supported Anita’s study of fashion design and art history. Then a big change shifted everything.
“Once I moved to the United States, I shook loose the chains of caring what my parents thought. It’s interesting what happens when you stop caring what other people think. Suddenly, everybody’s proud of you. Everybody starts recognizing your work, your talent. Because you start soaring. And of course now my whole family is behind me.”
Travel inspired Anita’s early independence. She cleaned cabins on a cruise ship in order to see the world, and although the work was uninspiring, the adventure was worth it.
“Traveling and exploring and seeing new things makes me feel alive.” Later while working as a personal chef, Anita started craving more. A new creative challenge. So she picked up a camera.
“I would photograph people on the streets. Just track people down in San Francisco or Chinatown, and I got some amazing photographs. Sometimes I find those prints and I’m like, ‘Gah, that was good.’ My mind was not occupied by technique or the analytical part of the work. Everything was just sort of stripped.”
Anita’s photography skills solidified while working in a portrait studio alongside her mentor. She also continued combining her love of travel with her newfound love of photography.
“I visited Thailand and would wake up early in the morning and roam the streets when the monks would take their morning walks and offerings. People are just beautiful. And even when you don’t speak the same language, it’s how you approach people—kindness has no boundaries, it translates.”
Growing through art
Anita’s martial arts practice was a surprising source of inspiration. One parallel between martial arts and starting a business: Competition. Whether facing an opponent or launching in a saturated market, one can view these counterparts as enemies, or opportunities.
“When I started in photography my mindset was very competitive. But once I shifted my mindset to community over competition, my business excelled. We can’t do it alone. We all need help sometimes. We all need each other.” Even competitors need each other.
“Martial Arts is about respect, you’re learning new skills and you’re always learning with someone. Even when we were sparring, it was never like ‘I want to beat you.’ It’s a mental chess game, and when someone is outdoing you, it’s like ‘Oh, that was amazing.’ Competition is never a reason that a business does not succeed. Every industry is saturated, but competition is never the reason—it’s how you treat people and take care of them that matters. ”
Community over competition. View competition with respect, not fear. Take care of people. And, importantly, take care of yourself. The simplest values are often hard won.
“I was once in a very abusive relationship. I needed to create a safe space for myself so I started painting. For a while, all the paintings were dark. I had this evolution of finding my way back to colors, back to myself. I wanted love. And when you don’t have love, you create it.”
After hitting burnout in her photography business (more on that coming up), Anita is rebalancing her work-life to make space for painting again.
“I have one painting that’s orange and teal, which are my business colors, because they’re vibrant, happy—they’re not competing. They want to collaborate with others.”
Developing in business
Anita’s advice to solopreneurs: Embrace failure.
“Failure is essential to any business; you must fail in order to grow. Failing will increase your creative problem-solving abilities and resilience. If something is not working you don’t give up. You change your method, not your goal.”
After redoing her website in 2020 in preparation for the year ahead, throughout 2021, Anita booked 426 photoshoots—all between Tuesdays and Fridays. All a commute away.
“Burnout is real. I’ve hit it three times. It takes so long to recover and your creativity suffers so much.”
To anyone experiencing burnout, Anita offers, “Do what feeds your soul. Rest well. Nurture yourself with whatever you enjoy—massages, good nutritious food, baths, workouts, spend time with people you love.”
Anita continues working on herself. While her love for photography is deep, she knows it’s not everything. Growth is.
“Photography keeps me hooked because there’s so much more to learn. It’s not just something that pays the bills, which is nice too, but you have to be a little obsessed. Again, competition is never why a business fails. Ever. You get out what you put in. Simple.”
With several awards and having been personally recognized by her mentor and peers, we asked Anita what accomplishment(s) she’s most proud of, so far.
“The person I’ve become and am becoming. At the end of the day it’s not about work. It’s about the grace and kindness you extend, the love we offer. Our quality of life, the quality of our relationships. That’s what matters.”
Finally, every portrait photographer has a dream subject. Anita’s?
“The Dalai Lama. Just give me 30 minutes with him. I would love to create some really intimate portraits. Or Obama. There are so many people in this world who know more than us.”