RaW photography

Who Runs It

RaW photography is the one-person business of Raphael Wernli, a photographer who lives in Bitsch in the Oberwallis, the upper Valais, and who signs his pages "Ihr Fotograf im Oberwallis" (your photographer in the Oberwallis). His wedding page is headed Hochzeitsfotograf Brig. He is a qualified photographer with the Swiss federal certificate (diplomierter Fotograf EFZ) and did his photography training at the "école supérieur des arts appliqués" in Vevey, which he calls a renowned photo school.

For a couple planning from abroad, the three facts that matter most are on the wedding page in one sentence: he lives in the Oberwallis, works as a wedding photographer throughout Switzerland, and speaks German, French and English. The language question is answered before a couple has to ask it.

The Wedding Offer

The wedding page is short and practical. It opens with the idea that every person and every relationship is unique, so every wedding has its own character, and then lists what he can provide as a supplier to the wedding trade:

• printed photo products: cards, pictures, books and T-shirts
• what he calls original and surprising photo solutions, meaning Polaroid
• a studio setup
• drone photography, which he can organize for the couple
• photo booths (FotoBoxen), which he can also organize

The wording for the last two is that he can organize them, so a couple wanting aerial pictures or a photo booth should ask whether he runs them himself or brings in a partner, and how that is billed. The page does not describe what a Polaroid or studio setup at a wedding involves in practice, so that is worth a question too, for example whether guests use the Polaroid camera themselves and whether the studio setup comes to the venue.

What he says he finds exciting about wedding photography is the variety: of places, people, moods and impressions, which he approaches openly and attentively. The page gives no fixed style statement beyond that, and it does not describe how a wedding day is covered hour by hour.

Prices, Stated as a Range

Wernli does say something about money on the wedding page, which is more than many photographers' sites do. His pricing, he writes, is based on his experience and the couple's wishes, which opens a range "von ein paar Hundert bis mehreren tausende Schweizer Franken" (from a few hundred to several thousand Swiss francs). That is a wide range, and the page ties where a wedding lands in it to what the couple asks for, so the list of services above is also the list of things that move the price. For a couple budgeting from abroad, it at least rules out the fear that a photographer who publishes nothing is out of reach. He asks couples to contact him for a non-binding offer, an "unverbindliches Angebot".

The page does not list packages, hours of coverage, number of images, delivery times or travel costs. Those will come with the offer, and a couple planning from abroad should ask for all of them in writing, along with what happens to the rights to the images and whether printed products are part of the offer or ordered separately.

A Photographer Rooted in His Region

The about page explains more about the person than most wedding sites do. A good friend once told him "Du nimmst die Welt so aufmerksam wahr!" (you perceive the world so attentively), and he took that as a sign that photography suits him as a calling. Through his sole proprietorship he is active in several fields. He works as a nature conservationist with the Förderverein Faunus, an association that uses goats, sheep and pigs for landscape care and to promote biodiversity. He is on the organizing committee helping to run the program of the BergBuchBrig multimedia festival, he is the gallery director of the Galerie Zur Matze in Brig, and he is involved in project planning for the professional artists' association Visarte.Wallis. He exhibits, works as an artist under rawphoto.ch, and can be found on KulturWallis.

He describes himself as a micro-entrepreneur who tries to step a little outside market pressure by being broadly based and working with the means he has, creating synergies and improving the quality of his work through experience and exchange. He writes that he values productive business relationships built on the satisfaction of everyone involved, a healthy pricing policy and a shared will for quality, goal-oriented work, and that supporting local business matters to him both professionally and privately. The site's navigation also includes landscape photography and a shop, so weddings are one part of a broader photographic practice.

Contact

The contact details are printed on every page:

• RaW photography, Raphael Wernli, Bitsch (Oberwallis)
• Phone 079 685 39 38
• Email raphael@rawphoto.ch
• Facebook and Instagram, linked from the site

The site itself is in German. Since he states that he speaks French and English, a couple can write in English and expect to be understood.

What to Ask

The page settles who he is, where he is based, what he can supply and the rough price bracket. It leaves open how many hours a wedding booking covers, how and when the images are delivered, what the printed products cost, whether drone and photo booth services are his own or organized through others, and what travel within Switzerland costs if the wedding is far from the Oberwallis. A short email listing the date, the place and the services wanted is the obvious way to get the non-binding offer he invites.

Who It Suits

RaW photography suits couples marrying in the Valais who want a local photographer, and couples elsewhere in Switzerland who like the idea of one person handling photography plus extras such as prints, a Polaroid corner or a photo booth. The stated languages make him an easy contact for international and bilingual weddings. Because the published range starts at a few hundred francs, he is also worth asking about a small civil ceremony, not only a full-day celebration.

The caveats: the website is brief and in German, so couples used to detailed package pages will need to do their planning by email. There are no sample wedding galleries or testimonials on the pages, so asking to see complete weddings he has photographed is a sensible first step before booking.