We were lucky to catch up with RaShaun Belcher recently and have shared our conversation below.

RaShaun, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

I’ve always been some form of creative. I’ve gone from drawing to dancing to rapping to poetry and finally to photography. In high school I had a photography class in which my teacher encouraged us to take our cameras with us everywhere we went and to capture whatever moved us. Since that point, I always carried a camera with me. Capturing candid moments here and there and fell in love with the idea of capturing moments. But the biggest catalyst was the passing of my father and realizing that there were no pictures of myself with him because I was always the one taking the picture. At that point, candid photos became even more important to me and the entire mission behind what I do became, “Allow me to capture your precious moments so you can focus on living them,”

RaShaun, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I do a lot. I provide portrait work for those in need and “fine art” portraits for myself but the “lifeblood” of my business so-to-speak is event photography. As mentioned before, I focus on capturing candid moments for my clients. Moments that my clients may not even know I’m taking. Because that’s what candid really means. Capturing the truth of that moment. Every smile, every hug, every laugh. Anyone can make people stand next to one another and pose for a shot but the real truth is capturing that candid moment when 2 people who may not have seen one another in a while reunite.

As far as the artistic side of my photography is concerned, I try to convey self love. The one thing that most of us as a society struggle with. Accepting ourselves as we are. Rejecting Eurocentric beauty standards and the notion that dressing in ways that represent who we are or wearing our natural hair isn’t professional or beautiful. Or the idea that you’re not beautiful if you don’t have the looks of a supermodel. Its all about loving yourself as you are.

How did you build your audience on social media?

The interesting thing, in my opinion, about building your social media presence is that I believe you’re going to drive yourself crazy trying to do it intentionally. The popular belief, as it pertains to growing your audience is that you have to follow the latest trends and marketing “hacks” to grow your audience. I believe that when you focus on that, you’re no longer sharing the art you want to make. You’re sharing whatever you think people are going to like and there is no sustainability in that. As for myself, i try to focus on my art and what speaks to me. What can I look at and be happy with? Do i look at my social media feed and feel as though it represents me without me having to say much? If so, then my audience will build itself because there is going to be someone that enjoys what I do and desire to stick around for more.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is to leave something in this world that will outlive me. With every piece of art someone buys from me, every book of poetry, every natural hair calendar, etc. people are getting a piece of me that will live on once i inevitably pass. A piece of my heart, a piece of my mind, a memory that I was able to capture for them. The fruit of my love for my art and my love for them. As long as these things live on, I will never truly “die”.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: instagram.com/belcherdigital
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BelcherDigital

Image Credits
All photos were taken by RaShaun Letif Belcher for Belcher Digital