We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Becca Raffo a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Becca, thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?
In 1943, Ansel Adams wrote, in an essay titled “A Personal Credo,”
“A great photograph is one that fully expresses what one feels, in the deepest sense, about what is being photographed, and is, thereby, a true manifestation of what one feels about life in its entirety.”
I don’t know if I could find better words to describe what photography means to me. I started Becca Raffo Photography in 2021 with the mission to capture and share moments that people can relate to, not just in subject matter but in feeling.
My artistic journey is deeply intertwined with my mental health journey. As an adult, I was diagnosed with PTSD, ADHD, and anxiety, all of which I had struggled with as a child and teenager. Being a teenager dealing with trauma and mental illness is really hard. There are large chunks of my childhood and young adulthood that are murky. Like, I know that there is a true series of events that make up my life, but I can only understand them and my life through what they feel like.
Photography is uniquely objective and subjective in that way. I think there is an engrained notion in Western society that mental health is clinical, which is valid in a lot of ways – I love my therapist. But, there is so much I’ve learned through the creative process, sharing my photographs, and seeing other photographers’ work, that has influenced and been influenced by my perception of the world.
Being behind the camera has taught me how to be present. It has challenged me to change my perspective and embrace what I can’t control. When someone buys a print from me, I want them to know that a real, true piece of me is in that photo, but it’s also what they want it to be. Even though we have different experiences, we are now connected. And, we are part of this greater community of personal and emotional discovery through art.
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?
When I first picked up my mom’s old Nikon D40x my freshman year of high school, I actually had no idea intention of becoming a “photographer.” At the time, I was becoming aware that something felt “wrong” with me (which I would learn much later in life was undiagnosed PTSD, ADHD, and anxiety) but living in a rural town with nothing to do, where every day was exactly the same, meant there was quite literally no way to get away.
As a teenager, I had really low self-esteem in social situations and avoided social hobbies, which drove me to spend a lot of time outside in nature. I began using my mom’s camera to document the leaves, flowers, and bugs that I found interesting, but my relationship with photography quickly became much more than that.
Photography became my language to share the stories of people and places. And, it has helped me to better understand myself.
I participated in a few shows throughout high school and college, but began selling prints as Becca Raffo Photography in 2021 with the mission to build a community of shared emotions, experiences, and understanding through images.
It is important to me to embrace the subjectiveness of photography, which was something I was always taught took away from the story. But, the story is naturally influenced by the experiences and memories of the photographer, the environment, the subject, and everyone who sees it. And, those interpretations are how we connect to each other. They can be simple or complex. It doesn’t matter. I print and ship all my work, myself, to maintain that personalness as much as possible throughout the process.
My work has evolved a lot and will continue to evolve. I don’t stick to one genre for very long, so I’ve never been able to define my photography style into a neat, discernable category. But, I think this is actually a strength. I want people to know it’s okay to change. My goal is not to be the best at a certain type of photography but to create work that people can relate to because of how it makes them feel, and to know that, despite our individual experiences, we are all deeply connected to each other and our environments through the shared emotions that make us human.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
In the creative world, there is a tendency to create an identity around a style and a medium, such as a street photographer or oil painter. I always thought that to be “successful,” I would have to define myself this way. But, for someone with ADHD, this is a terrifying concept, and one that kept me from starting my business for a long time.
My mother went to school for fine arts and owned an advertising agency before I was born, and she encouraged me from a very young age to explore my creative side. Throughout my life, I’ve made, shown, and sold drawings, paintings, graphic illustrations, and photographs. I’ve been a baker, a sewer, a knitter. I’ve tried water color, oil, acrylic, charcoal, and so many other mediums. Photography has been my favorite medium and the one my ADHD couldn’t ruin for me.
Before I started selling my prints, I didn’t care so much about curating a specific style. I call myself a “photographer” because of our human need to categorize though it has never felt like it fully describes who I am as an artist and a creative. But, with the growth of social media and the need to have a cohesive aesthetic to stand out, I’d find myself paralyzed over what I wanted my style and visual brand to be. I spent so much time obsessing about things being perfect that I actually ended up being less consistent.
I’m still trying to figure it out, to be honest, but I’m also trying to be okay with an imperfect journey. What I’ve learned over the years is that I’m most successful when I’m myself. My brand is me, in all my authentic being. I think part of me was afraid for a while that once I commit to being a “photographer,” I can never change. But, really my photography is part of my larger mission to create a community of feeling and healing, and I will get there in my own way.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
I think the most rewarding part about being an artist and a creative is being able to connect with people in different ways throughout the entire process.
I don’t have a studio, so most of my work is from my adventures and experiences out in the world. It’s important to me when I go somewhere to soak up the knowledge and culture of people who live there, and I found that even just having my camera on me opens up these conversations. Strangers who I otherwise would never have talked to want to tell me about their favorite spots or tell me about the history of something I am taking a photo of. Sometimes, they just smile and compliment my camera. These brief conversations are the stories and the moments that shape what an environment feels like, and it’s a great responsibility and privilege to capture that in my photos.
In a completely different way, I’m grateful for the way that sharing my prints has helped me create community. After experiencing trauma as a child, parts of my youth felt like they were lived by different person. As an adult, I often feel really disconnected from that person and like they were invisible to everybody else, too.
When I launched my website, I really wasn’t expecting much of a reaction, but my first customer was a girl who I went to middle and high school with and hadn’t talked to in years. She bought two prints almost immediately when my site live and reached out to me on social media telling me she loved my work and was excited to be able to buy my prints. This act of outreach and support may have felt small to her, but to me, it was a realization that I’m not invisible. I created something that matters to somebody else. It’s so rewarding to be able to create these moments with individual people who are forever connected through my photos.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.beccaraffo.com
- Instagram: beccaraffophoto
- Linkedin: Rebecca Raffo