Today we’d like to introduce you to Raven Trammell.
Raven, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I was born and raised in Holland, Michigan, a small town known for its Dutch heritage. My grandfather got me my first camera when I was a kid. I was off and on with it. But I’d say my love for visual storytelling took off in college. I was on scholarship and played basketball for four years, but during that time I had a severe head injury due to multiple concussions. I lost the ability to verbalize anything and had to go to speech therapy for a while. During that time I was taking a photography class. I absolutely loved it. My professor, Mr. Shibley, enjoyed my work and offered me a job shooting sporting events for the PR department of the school. That incredible opportunity launched my love for photography. Fast forward seven years and now I am living in LA, working as a freelance video editor while I launch my boudoir photography business and bounce around town with any free time to shoot different hip-hop concerts.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I’m pretty convinced that nothing in life is smooth haha. Especially the things you care about most. Every single one of us has our own personal obstacles and barriers to breakthrough. For me, right now, the biggest challenge business-wise has been finding clients and building a network. I can be pretty shy and can let my social anxiety get the best of me. But It’s something I’ve definitely been working on everyday . For example, I’ll compliment a stranger or try and meet someone new if I’m out. Kind of silly, but I figure if I practice things like that enough, eventually I’ll conquer it. In my personal life, the biggest challenge has been being away from my family. They are my whole life man. I love them so much. It can be hard if I sit and think about it too long. They’re all back in Michigan.
Please tell us more about your work. What do you do? What do you specialize in? What sets you apart from competition?
I am a visual artist who specializes in shooting and editing both photos and videos. For awhile I was doing a lot of live music visuals. But concerts are tricky because you have to get the access. So I was spending a lot of time blowing up people’s emails, running and gunning to events, I even snuck my camera into the Nav concert out here haha. And I’ve had fun doing that for sure. But recently a new style of photography has my heart. Boudoir. It’s honestly all I’ve been thinking about for the past few months. I’m currently transitioning into that being my sole focus for a while. Women are so powerful and so elegant. We have this unruly beauty that can captivate even the toughest of eyes and that’s what I feel I need to capture. I have so much appreciation for our beauty as women. I feel a great need to capture that as art. And I think that’s what sets me apart.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
It’s hard to say because I honestly feel like I haven’t even really started yet. But I’d say my proudest moment so far is a toss-up between deciding to make the move to LA and the night I not only photographed Drake…but also mustered up the courage to ask him for a portrait backstage. That was a big moment for me when it comes to my social anxiety for sure. My entire family are Drake stans so they were just as hype haha. It was really dope to be able to share that with them. Shoutout to Drake for pulling up and creating that legendary moment for me.
Pricing:
- Boudoir Experience $395
- Digitals $125
Contact Info:
- Website: trammellboudoir.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @raven50mm
- Twitter: @raven50mm
Image Credit:
Raven Trammell
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