We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Rafael Barker. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Rafael below.
Hi Rafael, thank you so much for joining us today. There are so many topics we could discuss, but perhaps one of the most relevant is empathy because it’s at the core of great leadership and so we’d love to hear about how you developed your empathy?
My mind’s eye suggests empathy as an ability to understand and share the feelings of another; however, I also consider empathy to be a three-pronged thing: 1. Cognitive Empathy, 2. Compassionate Empathy, and 3. Emotional Empathy.
It’s not enough to be able to have an awareness of the emotional state of another person (Cognitive Empathy), we must also be capable of sharing and engaging with those emotions (Emotional Empathy). Additionally, acknowledging someone’s emotions and sharing those emotions is just one part of the empathy triad, we must also be capable of taking action to support someone in moments where they are vulnerable.
This personal understanding of empathy are hard-earned and could be traced back to my familial roots.
I was born in Bogota, Colombia to unwed parents who were unwilling or unable to raise me, resulting in my being raised between an orphanage and foster care. There is a vulnerability most orphans I’ve met possess, as adoptees later in life, that could intrinsically derive from the type of people who work in an orphanage. There is a level of compassionate empathy in those spaces, whether through deed and action or by simply being a person employed in such an occupation. The same way we understand most nurses to be “doing the lord’s work,” those in an orphanage are there with the goal of raising the unwanted to be loved and loveable.
For me, those formative first four and a half years of my life were spent between the care of orphanage workers and foster families.
Additionally, the family who adopted me (more specifically, my mother, father, brother and, also locally, maternal grandmother) had a wholly significant impact on the development of my empathy. Their unceasing, boundless love for me (exhibited through much needed words of affirmation, and unfailing acts of supportive kindness), established within my heart a desire to be ever-available as a source of love and light for those around me.
More specifically relating to my work as a portrait and event photographer, this boundless love has braided itself into my workflow through my desire to present my subjects as they are “in that moment,” not, perhaps, as they see themselves, but as I wish they could see themselves.
In my adolescent years, an organic exposure to people of all economic stations and physical or intellectual abilities similarly afforded me the condition to develop empathy. I was the sort of youth who was overwhelmed by the need to people-please and to befriend everyone I met. As I sit writing this, I wonder if that overwhelming need to people please was rooted in the abandonment I feared from having been orphaned. Regardless, I have always been very aware how someone felt, whether in relation to myself or in response to their own lived experiences.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I am a portrait & event photographer based in Charleston, WV. I got my start in photography during a particularly harsh WV winter in 2013. I purchased a Nikon D5200 DSLR camera and began using it to make images at weekly musical performances at a local coffee shop. I wanted to learn the camera settings and figured making imagery of musicians would serve as an opportunity to test my settings without having much in the way antagonized questioning from those I would photograph.
What I hadn’t anticipated was how the musicians I photographed were not only agreeable to being photographed, but intrigued as to where they could find those images and whether I worked for anyone in particular. Looking back 10 years, I gained so much from those first months of learning how to exist in a public space as a photographer, both how to navigate the camera settings to achieve a goal and also how to navigate the social contract of being a photographer for someone else.
As I’ve developed my creative eye and identified my area of interest, my work improved dramatically. Over the years, I’ve upgraded from a Nikon, to a Canon and now to a Sony A7RV. I would eventually turn my focus to studio portraiture enhanced by off camera flash. While still interested in making imagery of people, I grew fascinated by the dynamism present in studio portraiture using Off Camera Flash. I believe Light and Shadow are tools to tell a story and utilizing those tools effectively can help to bring out the emotion or personality of your client.
My focus, therefore, is on capturing imagery of people, whether in studio or on location. I aspire to do work that tells a story simply and effectively. I suppose a way I’d like to describe my work would be as “a living portrait,” an image that has a life of its own.
More commercially, I do work for non-profits and other businesses and community members to showcase the events occurring throughout the community (whether the local community or beyond). This part of my work stems from a desire to immerse myself as a participatory member of my community. I was raised to believe if you are able to give time and effort in your community, it’s just something you should do. This has held true throughout my entire adult life. I am a member of a non-profit board, I’ve volunteered for several other organizations and I’m consistently working to show up and support my friends, colleagues, clients and community.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I’m going to structure this response in a list format:
Three Qualities, Skills or areas of knowledge most impactful in my (creative) journey:
1. Cultivating a boundless curiosity — Never stop learning, or seeking new knowledge (in your area of interest or beyond).
2. Being Consistent — Show Up to Work; Show Up for your Community; Show up for your Family and your personal health.
3. Recognizing the importance of collaborative creativity: The saying “No Man is an Island” holds true. You will not succeed “alone”. Be Open. Be honest. Be willing to work with others.
Three Pieces of Advice for folks early in their journey:
1. Develop a 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year plan. Revisit it. Include attainable and ‘unattainable’ goals. Sometimes, attainable ones won’t be and unattainable ones will be.
2. Seek out mentors — People whose work you admire, People you consider successful in your community. These people may not be simply those in your area of interest. We learn from most everyone.
3. “And when you open to it, vulnerability is power” – Saul Williams… Therefore, don’t be afraid to make a mistake. Don’t be afraid “to jump”. Don’t be afraid to fail. But fail upward. Fail intentionally. Learn from your mistakes. Mastery doesn’t come in a day. Perfection is unattainable. Perfection is your Ego getting in the way.
What’s been one of your main areas of growth this year?
I came up with an idea in November (after watching an HBO documentary on the life of Elsa Dorfman) and that idea has been the genesis for my most financially successful year. It was a pivot away from where I had intended my third year in business to go. That willingness to allow things to shift, in the middle of my five-year plan, has opened up doors I never thought possible. I am seeing even more heart in the work I’m producing and I have gained a much more vocal support system within my community. None of this would have been possible if I had doubted my idea, or had been rigid in my five-year plan.
I’d say, then, my biggest area of growth has been in stripping away those feelings of imposter syndrome we all seem to carry; learning how to trust my creativity as ‘good enough.’
Contact Info:
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/rafaelbarker
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/rafaelbarkerphotography
- Other: www.instagram.com/rafaelbarkerBW
Image Credits
All photo credits are ownership of Rafael Barker Photography
