Getting Inside the Mind of Raman Cheema

I believe myself to be one of the very few lucky ones who have had the opportunity to personally witness Raman Cheema grow as an incredibly gifted photographer. I had the pleasure of getting to know Raman as we played roommates during my third year at Thompson Rivers University. Raman to this day is one of the most brilliant, extraordinary and generous people I have ever met in my life. She has an energy about her that is infatuating and you seem to forget about all the negativity that surrounds you and the world when in her presence.

Apart from being a fascinating human being, Raman is an individual who harbours a unique visual eye. While growing up she would spend a lot of her time looking through family photographs/albums and would thoroughly enjoy the good emotions and feelings of reminiscing it offered her. In addition to this, Raman says, “I have always loved being able to look back at photos and that is the same thing even in books and stuff, I have always been a sucker for those national geographic books and just anything that documents life in photos…it never hurts to have things to look back on. Memories fade but your photos are still going to be there.”

Raman’s interest in photography peaked in grade eleven during a film photography class that she took. She fell in love with the whole process of developing photographs. You can feel and sense Raman’s excitement build up when she says, “I loved that…the whole technique and process was so cool to me. You are literally watching these photos come to life in front of you as they are developing, it is so cool to do it yourself.”

After graduating high-school Raman took a year off and continued to develop her interest in photography. Raman took a job at the Walmart Portrait Studio, but unfortunately it was not exactly a positive re-enforcement for her adoration and passion for photography. You could hear the disappointment in her tone when she started talking about her experience, she says, “You don’t have any freedom, you are working in an eight by eight space where you have to pose these people in these specific ways, that’s not any way documenting anything properly, it is so formal, it is not real, it killed me a little bit.”

Even though working at the Portrait Studio was not exactly a dream come true and shook Raman’s love for photography, it was; however, not entirely broken. Raman powered through and bought herself her very first digital camera. This purchase had a huge impact on her photography, she says, “Photos, photos, photos, I’d take a snap of anything and everything.” I can personally vouch to this obsessive behaviour of snapping everything as this was the time while we were in university together and five minute walks would turn into twenty minute walks because Raman would be clicking away.

Raman did not slow down after her first digital purchase, she invested in a DSLR, which helped take her knowledge of photography to the next level. Raman says, “That is when I really started looking into the techniques behind photography; how to use my camera in more than just automatic mode, started looking into lenses, etc.” This in-turn opened up a whole new side of photography for Raman. YouTube videos were a great way for her to satisfy her curiosity about Photography and when she had questions such as, “How do you this? What does that mean?” she says, “I would Google the crap out of Photography.” She used websites such as, Digital Photography School and would spend days on it taking notes and absorbing all the information like a sponge. Raman says, “It is still a learning process.”

Even though Raman has spent ample of her time self-learning the craft of photography, it is a business that is constantly changing. She says, “I have certain photographers I follow, and I always keep up to date with their work and a lot of them will have tutorials which helps me out a lot.”

Three of her favourite people to follow on Instagram are: Jasmine Star, Eric McHvey, Pardeep Singh. Raman also follows Fashion Bloggers as “they are constantly uploading photos and it’s a really good way to kind of have fresh ideas for structure in photos.” Her two favourite are: Margo and Me Personal Style by Jenny Bernheim and A Fashion Love Affair by Cara Mcleay.

Raman’s main interests have always been objects, landscapes, specifically sunrise

and sunsets. Having been born and raised in Mission, British Columbia, she has been lucky to have the vast beauty of British Columbia to photograph. However, a spontaneous photography session where Raman decided to do a fun shoot of one of her sisters resulted in an experience she could not turn away from. She realized how much she enjoyed doing portraits, capturing people in their natural state. The unique and distinct way Raman approaches her portraits now, is explained when she says, “…I don’t care much for posing, I like to catch people in their natural state.”

While Raman was on a high from all the talk about photography, I decided to sneak

in a sensitive topic, photography school. Raman has not gotten formal photography training, so I was curious to know how she overcomes people perceiving her as an amateur because she has not received any. Raman says, “I just let the photos speak for themselves, honestly. If you like my style of photos you are going to like it

regardless of whether I went to school for it formally or not. It’s either you like the way somebody captures something or you don’t.” She continues to tell me, “I don’t do this to try and mould myself to what other people want me to do. This is the one thing in my life that I have complete creative freedom over. These photos, I take them the way I want, I do the sessions the way I want. What you see when I upload photos is basically what you can expect to get from photo sessions. I don’t care for a lot of posing, so, if you are looking for someone who is going to pose you, then you are probably looking at the wrong photographer. Some people like to have all that posing, some people like their photos to show freedom.”

Since Raman’s photography business has kicked off she has never had to face any negativity, never lost any jobs due to not having any formal training. People are often surprised when they find out she has no formal training because of the high quality of her work.

Raman’s extended family have played a huge role in kick-starting her photography

business, so, I wanted to know if she is just as comfortable during photo sessions with non-related clients. Raman says, “I am a talkative person, I talk throughout the whole session regardless to if I know the person or a complete stranger,

because I think the more comfortable somebody is with you the more it is going to show in the photos, because if I can get somebody laughing they are going to loosen up and everything is just going to fall together that much better. So it doesn’t

matter If I am doing photos with family or strangers, my goal is to get these people laughing and make sure they enjoyed themselves, not only does that show in the photos, there are going to remember after that like whether they had a good time or not right? And I want people to walk away from the session saying that they enjoyed it and they didn’t feel like it was work ‘cause it shouldn’t be like it is work.”

January of 2013 fed Raman’s second passion, travelling. It started off with her cousin asking to shoot her wedding in India, all expenses paid. The opportunity literally brought out the best and worst possible reactions from Raman. She remembers thinking, “This is insane this is all I ever wanted.” Then continues on with the absolute opposite, “Could I really do this? Is this something I can handle?” The second-guessing did not last long as she received an encouraging message from her cousin, “I know you

mostly do photography for fun, but believe me I have seen your stuff from other extended family’s weddings and I love it. I am fully confident you can

pull this off. You do a much better job capturing a moment compared to all of the professional photographers I have researched.” Raman decided to say yes and embarked on this life-changing journey.

Raman’s trip to India lead to a trip to London and Paris, as a kid it was always Raman’s dream to go to Paris. Which I am so thankful for because she returned with breathtaking pictures.

India, London, Paris was just the beginning of her travelling

journey. Raman says, “2013 was a really cool year. I did India, then I did London, then I did Paris and I came back home for a couple of months, then went to Mexico for my cousin’s wedding. I was back home for the summer and I did

a lot of local travelling and

in the fall went to Las Vegas for a week which was an entirely different experience. I experienced so many places.”

2014 has been a year where Raman has needed to focus more at home, but she has continued to keep her wanderlust alive by exploring places close by; Seattle, Whistler, Kamloops, Banff and Calgary.

Raman is currently working in Administration in Abbotsford, British Columbia. She is busy with invoicing, data entry, lots of paper work, communicating with clients and even though Raman is more visual and creative, she does not fail to mention how much she loves everything about her job.

When Raman and my Skype session was coming to an end, Raman says, “My insides are buzzing” just from talking about photography and travelling. That is how fervent she is.

Raman has quite a few photography sessions booked and she tells me that her and a friend have been working on a secret project that is in its early stages. That’s all that she tells me, so, to know what it is and to book sessions follow Raman Cheema on twitter!

1. My Nickname is: Cheemer
2. The one thing I laugh harder than anything else on earth is: Reminiscing over fun times with friends and family
3. I would want my legacy to be: To be remembered for making people laugh/making a difference in people’s lives
4. If I had a weekend to escape: Greece
5. Everything tastes better with a little: Coffee, Wine, Siracha, and Chocolate

If you want to treat your eyes to more delightful pictures taken by Raman Cheema visit her WordPress Blog, Facebook Page OR follow her on Instagram to stay up to date on her everyday captures!

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