We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ray Smith II. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ray below.

Ray, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

Helping people find the confidence in themselves is probably my most meaningful project I’ve worked on. It is important to me because I, myself grew up with confidence issues. Sure, I was big and strong, but I was also perceived as the “fat kid”. So, to help people find confidence in themselves is a heartwarming thing for me. I find that the “weird kids” in school become some of the most creative people. I have many stories, but I’d like to share just one now:
I had a person ask to shoot with me. They did the shoot and they were wearing baggy clothes and I thought they had the worst time ever. I didn’t expect to ever hear from them again. But, shortly after, they asked to shoot again. We did and they seemed to have more fun this time. They asked me if I would do a bikini shoot. I had told them I have done many of those and it wouldn’t be a problem. However, she said I don’t understand. “I am a ‘cutter’. I have many marks on my stomach”. I said it wouldn’t be a problem, but that I wanted to do it in the next few days. She agreed and we set a date a few days from then to shoot. The shoot date came and we met up. She told me she almost didn’t come because of an incident the day before. She wore a 2 piece bikini to the beach with her boyfriend. She hadn’t worn one since she was a child. It was a big step. She went up to a vendor on the beach to get an icee. The vendor leaned out the window and said “What happened to you?”. That was all it took. She turned around, went back to her boyfriend and told him she wanted to leave right then.
But, she decided to go through with it and shoot the next day. She asked why I wanted it to be in such a short time frame. I told her because I didn’t want her to back out. I figured if she thought about it, she might overthink it and feel defeated and cancel. I was so glad she didn’t.
We took some amazing shots and she looked great.
I edited out the cuts and sent the image off to her. She loved the images. A day or two later, I get a call from her. She asked if I could leave the cuts in and resend the images. I asked why. “Because that’s my life. That’s what I have gone through. This made me realize I don’t want to hide it. It’s a journey and I made it through.” I was more than happy to re-edit the images and send them off.
After that, we did a shoot focused on “a day in the life of a cutter”. It was the most emotional shoot I have done.
She is now a good friend of mine. She has so much confidence now it makes me proud of what she has accomplished. I was honored to photograph her wedding recently and their child after birth.
This is what I got into it for. To show people what the rest of the world sees. To grow confidence.

Ray, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I grew up with a camera in one hand and musical instrument in the other. I took thousands of bad pictures. I wish I would have kept some of them to look back on.
My parents encouraged me to do whatever I wanted in life, so I will always have them to thank.
I was intrigued with pinup and burlesque. I always found it exciting and the outfits to be so detailed and amazing. I befriended a pinup by the name of Red Ryder. It’s a tight knit community and having someone that trusted me helped immensely. From that I started specializing in retro pinup photography. I branched out into alternative modeling because I really loved how tattooed ladies took pinup and made it their own.
I provide photoshoots for pinup, burlesque, alt models, boudoir, along with weddings and high school seniors.
I think one of the best things I provide is showing people that think they are too big, too small, too anything, how to pose their body and get the best shots of them. Seeing a smile on someone’s face after a shoot is one of the most rewarding things. I have watched people become runway models, traveling models, proud business owners.

I think what sets me apart from a lot of people is that I get to know the person. It’s not a factory line way of shooting. I tailor the shoot to the person and what they love. A lot of clientele have become friends of mine and I have photographed their children now. I am easy going and laid back. I believe both of us should have a say in the shoot, because it takes two to make it work.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I am a self taught photographer. I didn’t go to a school to learn. It was a lot of time taking bad photographs. Or so I was conditioned to believe. I would constantly get critiqued on placement in the photo. “Don’t bullseye the subject!” I had to unlearn what has been accepted practice for decades. I had to learn to just do it my way. If people don’t see it, at least I do. It is my style. So, I had to unlearn some of the old practices.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

A example of the resilience that have overcome in this journey that is my life involves an art show. I had been in various art shows around the area, placed well in some, but there was one that I just couldn’t get into no matter what I tried. It was a personal goal of mine to get accepted for it. I would try various styles and fail everytime. I was about to give up when I was talking to an amazing artist friend one evening at an event. He told me to not try to do everything. To focus on what I was known for. What I was good at. I had thought I was doing that, but reflecting on it, he was right. So, for the next time that event came around, I did what I specialized in at the time, pinup, and I got in. It was an item off my goal list and I will forever be grateful to my friend for pushing me in the right direction. I didn’t give up and it paid off.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.rsiiphotography.net
• Instagram: @rsiiphotography
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/rsiiphotography
• Twitter: @rsiiphotography
• Other: Tik Tok: rsiiphotography

Image Credits
Alfie Jean Minvera Moon Girl Michelle Sara Tessa Jai