Rangefinder Magazine
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January 2000

Profile: Kimarie Richardson by Jane Taylor
Artist with a Camera

The camera is my medium. Some artists use a canvas, paints, and brushes; I use film and cameras," Kimarie Richardson says. "I'm a right-brain thinker, so I shoot from an intuitive perspective. I will not shoot a picture if I don't like it through the viewfinder. Technical details are not so important to me."

Kimarie Richardson, owner of Fantasy Stills Photography in Ukiah, California, specializes in "Angel Babies" children's portraits and black-and-white Hollywood 40s portraiture, but she also photographs weddings and family groups. Although Richardson has never taken a formal photography class, her appointment book is always full.
A decade ago, Richardson never dreamed she'd be making her living as a professional photographer. For most of her life, she was never interested in photography. But then a twist of fate changed her life and career choice. Nowadays, she cannot imagine herself having any other career.

In 1989, with the goal of working for the motion picture industry, Richardson enrolled in a theatrical make-up school in Los Angeles, where she learned everything from cuts, scars, bruises, bullet holes, old age and monster make-up to glamour make-up. However, she soon discovered that breaking into the movie industry was no simple task. Because she had to earn an income, and wanted to use her newly acquired education, Richardson took a $6 per hour job doing make-up for Headshots, a studio specializing in assembly line glamour photography. Although she was proficient at making women look beautiful for the camera; at that time, she had no desire to shoot pictures herself.

In 1991, she applied for a job selling cosmetics at Nordstrom, an upscale department store in Los Angeles, and was turned down. Not being hired turned out to be a blessing. Richardson decided to relocate to Ukiah in Northern California, where her parents lived, but she needed some means of income. Friends suggested she open a glamour studio.

"Before the move, I went to L.A.'s garment district and bought a gazillion yards of glitsey fabric and hundreds of dollars of gaudy earrings, wiped the dust off a Nikon I really knew nothing about, set the camera at 11ž4125 at F8, moved to Ukiah, and opened up Fantasy Stills By Kimarie doing the only thing I knew-Glamour Photography," Kimarie says. "Making women look their most beautiful, but unrecognizable, was easy. The studio was an instant success. However, I was constantly approached to photograph other subjects, like babies, family groups, and weddings. My answer was always the same: No! Call somebody else. After a while, I knew I had to expand or close my business because Glamour Photos are not for everyone, and eventually, my phone would stop ringing. So, I bought a used light meter, flash meter, a reflector, and a Mamiya medium format camera, wasted lots of film practicing, read books, asked lots of questions, and finally mastered the basics. The word 'No' was then removed from my vocabulary. I would try anything now."

That was five years ago. Now, this once rank amateur photographer is an award winning imagemaker. At the 1999, WPPI Convention in Las Vegas, Richardson won the Grand Award in the Premier category as well as First Place for her beautiful image titled "Angelica's Light." This striking portrait was the final exposure on the roll, so Richardson decided to experiment. She turned off the studio lights, so the flickering candle was the only source illuminating the girl's face.

" 'Angelica's Light' was more of a fluke, than a mistake," Richardson explains. "My proofing lab didn't even print that last neg because it was underexposed. That neg by all rights should have been thrown in the trash but on my light table there was an almost non-existent ghost in the background. I then sent the negative to my regular lab in Utah and told them to pull it out as much as possible. They pulled out the background, but the burning candle didn't become overexposed. When people see the actual negative they are pretty surprised. The other reason you can see into the background is because when I hand-tinted it, I highlighted the area with oils, to further bring her to life. Because I don't know any better, I have no anxiety about the technical side. I style my lights according to what looks good to me. The visual, creative artist in me overlooks the technical side. I use a light meter outside and a flash meter inside. Then I set my camera at what my meter tells me. Of course, I study and read a lot. But I also experiment a lot, which is how I came to create Angelica's Light in the first place. You can't afford not to take a risk and try something new. It's not in my nature anyway. It's all in a day's learning."

Richardson is very serious about her work because her portraits, especially of children and the Angel Babies, will be part of other people's lives passed down through generations to come. "In my work with children, I want to give something timeless and irreplaceable for that child to cherish when she herself is a grandmother."
About three years ago, Richardson devised a different approach to photographing children, which she calls "Angel Babies." This profitable concept is also the result of Richardson's experimentation.

"I experimented with a little girl who came in to have her portrait done in black and white," Richardson recalls. "I curled her hair, attached plastic angel wings to her back and sat her on a pedestal. I tested her against a white background and then a black one. Against the black one she just glowed. But I hated the plastic wings. So I ordered a Marshall Oil Starter Kit, and began painting on the photograph, although I had never picked up a paint brush in my life and learned to paint feathers over the wings. Parents saw my display in the studio and began requesting them. I've never taken a painting class but hand painting those images just comes naturally to me, like my photography."

Hollywood 40s is another of Richardson's unique approaches to portraiture that clients have wholeheartedly embraced. If the client wants that look, she is sent to a local hairstylist who knows how to create those special up-do hairstyles of that era. Richardson provides the long cigarette holder and rhinestone earrings, heavy make-up and false eyelashes, completing the fantasy. Hollywood 40s sessions are shot in black and white. For dramatic effect, Richardson hand-paints just the lips, cheeks, or flowers in the portrait, leaving the rest black and white.

The Hollywood 40s portraits also began with an experimental session, and is another idea that has paid off big. One day a 17-year old girl came in to have her senior portraits taken, after being disappointed by another studio in the city. She expressed that the other studio made her look like a little girl. Not a senior in high school. When I saw this girl with such striking features, I had a vision. And ended up with a wonderful shot of her laying on a rug with a long cigarette holder in a 40s up-do hairstyle. She didn't look like a little girl in that image, and it ended up being a 30x40 display print for the studio!" Richardson says, smiling.

Between March and October, Richardson photographs about 30 weddings. From October until the end of the year, she concentrates on family groups and holiday portraits, and stops shooting weddings. Her wedding coverage begins a couple of hours before the ceremony. As part of some packages, Richardson also applies make-up for the bride. Anyone else requesting this service, pays extra.

"I'm not a candid wedding photographer," Richardson says, "I'm a romantic wedding photographer." I pose and create shots the way the bride has always dreamed of looking on her wedding day. My emphasis is on the bride and groom so if the couple isn't passionate about their wedding portraits then I'm not the photographer for them. I do whatever necessary to create more than just the traditional shots."

Richardson feels her key to success is in the posing and being attuned to details. She says, turning the nose a quarter of an inch can make all the difference in the final image. Richardson added, "The majority of women who come to the studio tell me they're not photogenic. Well, another photographer said it best. 'If your not photogenic, It's the fault of the photographer.' I thank whoever said it because I live by that everyday. I'm not successful because of my technical ability, I'm successful because I see and I feel."

This busy California imagemaker operates her studio alone. Consequently, every task is left up to her to perform. From booking the sittings, consultations, make-up application and hairstyling for every session, moving the lights to ringing up the sales and masking the negatives. During the holiday season she does hire temporary help and her boyfriend Roley makes props for the studio. "He is extremely creative in his own right and very supportive. (We all know this career isn't exactly a 9 to 5 job.) I mentioned I wanted a fishing dock for posing little boys on a Friday and the completed set was in my living room when I got home from work on Saturday," Richardson says.

Recently, Richardson was informed that her beautiful portraits will be featured in Bill Hurter's latest book, Classic Portrait Techniques, along with 20 or so other well known professionals, published by Amherst Media, and hitting the market in early 2001. She feels very honored and flattered to be included with so many outstanding photographers.
Richardson uses Mamiya medium format and Nikon 35mm SLRs. She uses Norman and White Lightning studio lights.

As for the future, it looks as colorful and rich as her photographs. Richardson plans to continue learning more about the technical side of photography, improving her skills, and experimenting with innovative approaches so her work never becomes dull or boring. "When an idea pops up in my head, I go to work on that vision and work it until it's ready to pick up the camera. It's easy to find subjects for the ideas I come up with because around here, they know what to expect from me and at the same time they have no idea what to expect."

Jane Taylor is a freelance writer based in the Midwest.