We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kim Raaf. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kim below.
Kim, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.
This is the story of my risk and why people hated me for taking it at first.
Growing up, nobody in my family – probably no adult that I knew personally – had a creative profession. Everybody had very safe and easy-to-describe jobs: a pilot, a nurse, a teacher. I had been enjoying creative photography a lot since my early teen years, but it just never crossed my mind that this thing that I loved so much could even remotely be a profession. Besides photography, I’ve always been interested in humans and understanding problems, and helping so after finishing school I studied medicine to become a doctor.
I continued doing photography on the side during my university years, just for fun. Halfway through med school, I actually photographed my first wedding, when a friend got married and only had a photographer for half her day. I offered to cover the other half – and I loved it SO much! I felt like I wanted to do this every day from now. But there was no way I’d drop out of med school.
So I finished university and already applied for my first job as a doctor, but left a one year gap. In that year, I photographed wedding after wedding. I loved it so much! Still, I didn’t see how this could be my profession and my livelihood.
Starting to work as a doctor in anaesthesiology and intensive care medicine of course left no time for creative or photographic projects. I really loved my job in the hospital, but I really missed photography and being creative. I kept thinking “maybe in a few years” and “now is not the time”.
Being confronted with death was not rare, and you try to not let it get to you too much. But I had this one patient, who had my exact date of birth – day, month, and year – who I had a conversation with in the ICU. At this point, it was already likely he would die soon. He told me his regret. That he postponed his dreams. I thought there was always “later”. A punch to the gut.
I loved my work, I loved my team, my patients. Quitting my job in the hospital was hard. Another reason for this was the fact that I knew: people are going to have a really strong opinion on this. From financial security concerns from within my family to blaming me for being the problem in our health sector and abandoning society, I was confronted with many opinions. And still am.
To me, there was no doubt in this decision. What was really the worst thing to happen? Financial ruin? I still had a Medical Degree and two years of experience as a MD to fall back on. Basically, my “worst” case scenario was the previous status quo, and I had loved that job too. There was absolutely no reason for me, not to risk it and try to become a full time wedding photographer. I didn’t know how it would work out – but I knew, I was going to love every second of it. And I absolutely do. I am beyond grateful for what my career has grown into and the people I get to meet. The lives I get to dive into on a couple’s wedding day. I can’t imagine loving anything more. Thank you past me, for taking the risk.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am a visual storyteller and a destination wedding photographer. Photography has been my language for more than half my life, but mastering photography is only one aspect of this profession. To tell a story authentically and beautifully real, you first have to LISTEN. And understand. Wedding photography is not only about understanding light, perspective and cameras – it’s about understanding people. Their values, their love, their joy and excitement, their longings. Luckily, I am an attentive observer and I have a genuine interest in the people around me. Getting emotionally invested helps me understand their feelings and bring them to life in my photography.
I firmly believe that spending time with your loved ones is what matters most, and we all know how memories can fade. Some couples will only understand the inestimable value to its full extent once some of their loved ones have passed – but I know that once they get to see their wedding photographs, they will now be able to FEEL those moments again, forever. Some of those moments, they might not even have noticed on the day.
With my background, you can imagine it takes a lot to ruffle me. So as excited as I am about and during a wedding, I am a very calm presence to my couples. I always remind my couples: it’s not about the timeline, it’s not about somebody’s expectations – it’s about being here with your friends and family. I actually encourage my couples to leave a lot of free time in their timeline for interaction with their friends and family. This also gives me so much more opportunity for storytelling and documenting authentic interaction! I prefer “chaotic” family photographs that just happen – nothing disrupts the natural flow of a beautiful wedding day more than lining up 20 different groups up for stiff shots nobody will love as much as the real ones. The close ones. The laughing and crying ones. In order to be let in and get close, I prefer to work alone or with only one partner and I make sure to look as harmless as possible – no unnecessarily big gear, no commanding guests to look at me, being non-intrusive and kind.
In the past 3 years, I have documented weddings in over 20 different countries for the most amazing couples. I am incredibly thankful for the experiences this profession has brought me, and even more thankful for the people I met along the way. It is such a privilege to be allowed into a couple’s lives on this important day. Weddings are a grand story, but they also hold so many little storylines and relationships, it’s incessantly fascinating to observe and document. Another element to this is special with destination weddings: I always make sure to include the particularities of the venue and the destination the couple chose so intentionally. From plants and animals to epic landscapes, historic architecture and beautiful light – capturing the vibe is so important! And how amazing is it, to craft a masterpiece the couple while cherish their whole life?
Besides my incredible couples, I have also been able to meet many inspiring photographers at congresses or my own workshops. It’s so rewarding to see other people grow with your help and to encourage them to chase their dreams and live their passion!
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
When I started doing photography, I was still a teen and I was doing it just for fun. I didn’t have any intention and I didn’t see this as a future career. Even the first weddings I did were just out of curiosity and fun, when I was already an adult. I had a naive approach to this and I did not really question what I was doing – I was just loving it. When I started taking wedding photography more seriously I looked at other photographers and leaders in the industry at that time, and I became influenced by what they were doing.
On the one hand, this strong interest allowed me to learn many things from my idols, especially in terms of camera techniques and business matters. However, it also influenced what I thought wedding photography SHOULD look like and what should be the type of couple I am after. I started chasing things because I had the impression that they were the ultimate goal.
I got incredibly lucky shooting for Ana and Pablo Laguia, one of the best wedding photographer duo in the world, who many photographers admire and look up to. Through this, I shortcutted my way to that goal and photographed the kind of wedding that left my photography friends either cheerfully jaw dropped or green with envy. I was incredibly lucky to have this opportunity – not only because I got to work with Pablo and Ana, who I love to bits and am eternally thankful to, but also because it made me realize: I don’t think this is what I want or what I am made for.
It took some time, and a very intense conversation with some spectacular photography friends (shoutout to The Richters!) to understand: What I was seeing on the outside and what I thought I wanted was diluting my essence. The influences I was getting from social media and magazines were distracting me from the reason I am here: my love for people and their lives. For making emotions visible and telling stories. I had to go through my portfolio and force myself discard some “perfect” photos and let go of the vision I was chasing, that was not serving my heart and my soul.
I wish every wedding photographer or every creative would celebrate their anniversary (founding their LLC, going public with their website or some other date) and take the opportunity to circle back to the reasons that made them do this in the first place. I think this would make us all happier, and more uniquely us!
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
It’s such an immense privilege to be allowed to take a deep dive into people’s lives on such an eventful day. I don’t only get to observe the couple’s love and relationship, I also get to see all those sidestories, other relationships between adult children and their parents or grand-parents, I see how people deal with emotions or challenges. It is just such an enrichment.
At the same time, I know that while observing and documenting, I am crafting an invaluable product for my couples. I know they will cherish these photographs forever and feel the moments again. It’s extremely rewarding to hear my clients emotions after looking at their gallery for the first time.
While editing, I often catch myself smiling at my screen, seeing all those happy faces. I really could not love creating anything more than this!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.kimraaf.com
- Instagram: @kimraafphoto
- Youtube: @kimraaf
- Other: www.dare-to-roam.com