Kootenay Wedding and Family Photographer

I’m Bobbi Barbarich

(she/her)

INTERNATIONAL AWARD WINNING PHOTOGRAPHER

OF REAL LIFE STORIES.

Kootenay wedding photographer Bobbi Barbarich doing a high kick

Let's. Get. Real.

When we let people just be themselves and we listen to their story, we get to see who they really are, without shame or judgement. When I can show them how much they are loved, or how beautifully imperfect they are, it's one step toward eradicating self-loathing.

Observing and documenting human connection through photography has taught me to be vulnerable, to be empathetic, to relish authentic, real life, and to experience the power in feeling all the feels.

If you want to grab onto these seconds before they're lost forever, if you want to ditch self-loathing by appreciating your real life, if you're ready to get real, then I'm your photographer-friend forever.

My family is Croatian, and they added an 'H' on the end of our name, Barbaric, when my grandpa came to Canada. I was bullied as a kid for being too big, too loud, too strong. I loathed my name. It literally said I was primitive, unsophisticated. As in, not pretty, not skinny, not graceful.

But now, I love it. These things that other people said I shouldn't accept, are the things I most love about myself. My edges are rough. I don't do my hair. But I can carry heavy shit. Literally, and metaphorically.

I owe a lot of that acceptance to photography. For a long time I didn't feel stuff. But when I looked at documentary photos of people, it created cracks. And that's where the light came through.

Kootenay wedding photographer Bobbi Barbarich

Photographs that make you FEEL what you FELT.

Let me share with you an example of what photography means to me.

This photo is of me, doing what I love most. Running in the mountains with my magical muppet, Harlan. He's getting older now, and he doesn't love really long days running in the hills anymore. But every second I spend with him, I smile like this. I know he won't be around forever. And so, this is one of my favourite photos of all time.

This photo will forever let me feel what I felt on our adventures together.

call it candid. call it natural. call it unposed.

photos about what you feel,

rather than just what you look like.

This is me with my husband, Jay.

We've been together for almost 15 years. How the hell did that happen?!

I think the only time in my life I wore a "nice" dress was to my wedding, and it was a cocktail dress from the mall.

We got married in Edmonton where we met, but I dragged him to Nelson BC because I couldn't live without mountains. And that sums us up: I'm in the mountains, actually or metaphorically, 90% of the time. Jay is on the ground, waiting for me to come back with stories and an empty belly he can fill with sauces he created from the fruit in our backyard, or something he knew in his guts I would need.

The Irony

My husband is better at stories than me, and he has no idea.

What is it about our partners that fill in the spaces we have? Jay is the last person to leave the house, the last person to eat, the last person to go to bed. He's so damn thoughtful it breaks my heart. But watching him, observing how he interacts with people and how they light up and feel seen, how innately he cares about other people's well being... that's what I've come to strive for. I want people to know their story matters, just as they are, and I do it through photos.

My photographs are the stories you tell people like Jay.

Dogs playing on a mountain top.

Mountains and Mutts

Meet Spicy Chicken Linda Loo and Harlan the Darlin'

We haven't had kids, and it's indelibly affected how I photograph humans. Having kids is an experience I will never have, and so I deeply desire to feel it. I don't see the typical stuff parents might worry about in a photo session--is there food on their face, are their clothes dirty, are they listening to the nice photographer lady?

I will tell you this from my clients: NONE OF THAT MATTERS. What matters is how much you love your kids, how you support them, how you foster their growth. Who you are is what matters. And we won't see that if we're worried about what we look like.

So I want you to know, I FEEL YOU. I SEE WHAT MATTERS. What matters is how you feel. And that's what I shoot.