Capturing the Unexpected

Roxanne L. Best (Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation) is a portrait photographer, yoga instructor, small business consultant, and trainer.

She has a Bachelor of Science in Sports Management and a minor in Business with a specialty in the SCUBA Diving Industry, an Associate of Science in Culinary Arts, and a 200RYT Yoga Certification. She serves on the board of Confluence Gallery, a nonprofit art gallery and gift shop representing the artists of Okanogan County in Washington state, where she curated her first art show in 2020.

Roxanne is a 2018 First Peoples Fund (FPF) Artist in Business Leadership fellow, certified FPF Native Artist Professional Development (NAPD) Trainer, Jennifer Easton Community Spirit Awards photographer, and 2021 FPF Cultural Capital and Business Leadership fellow. She recently completed work with the Northwest Native Development Fund for an “Our Nations Spaces” project in partnership with First Peoples Fund.

Roxanne operates her business, Roxtography, from where she lives in Okanogan, Washington.

Roxanne was in tears as she listened to a mom on the other end of the phone gushing in excitement over the gallery of images from her son’s senior photoshoot. The young man always disliked having his picture taken, but during the three-hour shoot with Roxanne, he let her capture angles and emotions that will last a lifetime.

Moments like these are what bring Roxanne happiness as a photographer. It is in capturing the unexpected, of finding just the right shaft of light on a face or a flower, a detail people wouldn’t expect. Nothing quite replicates the bubble of emotions she has when capturing images, freezing time in unexpected ways.

“My heart is in creating beauty and capturing things that aren’t mainstream,” Roxanne says.

She took many wrong turns when starting as a photographer, so she wants to concentrate on passing along lessons she’s learned to younger photographers. Guiding youth around pitfalls and developing their mindset and expectation for professional rates are the focuses of her Photography Camp, supported by her 2021 joint Cultural Capital and Artist in Business Leadership fellowship.

“The purpose is to take young, potential artists and teach them the skills that are involved in being an artist in business from the creation of their art to the sale of it,” she says.

Excitement is building for the project in her community and has opened discussions with other artists about expanding the concept into other art mediums and regions.

“Some of the feedback has been that we could build this into something where it isn’t just photography,” Roxanne says. “We could do different options for the youth where we’re bringing local artists in and having it be an annual camp. It could even be a traveling group of artists. It opened my eyes to that vision. There isn’t enough out there that gives a true-to-life experience to learn what being an artist in business means. This camp will be one step in that direction.”