Today we’d like to introduce you to Sharayah & Ryan Kurowski.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Sharayah: Home video was always a huge part of my upbringing. My dad was always breaking out the video camera at family functions and my own parent’s wedding video is one of my most prized possessions. Movie nights were my parent’s idea of quality time. I remember being enamored with movies from a very young age, always going to watch the behind the scenes to try to learn what I could about the filmmaking process, but mostly just being captivated by films ability to convey feeling through composition, color, music, acting, lighting, etc. I began to learn about and use cameras when I was 14, operating live cameras at my church and after high school being on staff as the video director. There were a lot of individuals around me who saw something in me, and brought me along on shoots, taught me what software to use, and overall just allowed me creative freedom to learn and grow. I don’t know where I would be today had I not had that kind of community around me. In 2014, I was living with my sister-in-law (shout out to Marisa Vasquez Photography – our number one supporter) talking about how I wanted another creative outlet, and she suggested filming a wedding alongside her. So I did a few free ones, fell in love with it and the opportunities just kept coming, thanks to the encouragement of Marisa.
When Ryan and I got married, I decided to leave my full-time job and asked if he wanted to learn to film with me. He naturally had a creative eye and caught onto the technical basics quickly. That’s when we came up with the brand Hereafter. I struggled for years to come up with a name, but one night Ryan and I were brushing our teeth and looking in the mirror, I was wearing a Vans shirt that said “Here After You’re Gone” and said, hey, what about Hereafter? And it stuck, despite it already being a movie starring Matt Damon.
Hereafter Films is about time and the moments that pass us by. Left to our own ability to retain life’s moments, our memories are fleeting and fading. But we have the ability now to capture time, to encapsulate it and hold it forever, turning it over again and again like an hourglass and relive the memories. That is the magic of film, of what we get to do at every wedding we capture. We give something that remains, that’s hereafter the moment is gone. Hereafter you’re gone. It’s an heirloom that makes you the keeper of time, moments and memories. How sick is that?
Ryan: I hated my job. And cameras were a foreign object to me. I didn’t go to film school, I had never taken photos, and my family had a shitty Canon body and kit lens that I never touched. But I’ve always been creative. So Sharayah taught me the basics, and the rest is history. We’ve loved the fact that we get to pursue this thing and grow something together, learning each other’s strengths and pushing one another to experiment in those areas.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Honestly, in a lot of ways, we feel like this thing kinda fell into our laps. We weren’t necessarily actively trying to build a business, we saw a way to work together, have freedom in our schedules and provide for ourselves and just kept taking it one step at a time. There are always the “real life” struggles of being self-employed like navigating taxes, not having benefits through an employer like health insurance and retirement savings, all the weight and responsibility of those expenses falling on us. But the freedom of choice that we have in our everyday lives with our time and energy is irreplaceable, and all those other things can be figured out.
One of the biggest challenges is the balancing act between the two things that we are: creatives and documenters. Or to put it another way, artistry and authenticity. We have all these ideas for shots, we see music videos and movies and think “I want what I make to look like THAT”. We’re always walking into days with lots of creative energy and inspiration, only to be hit with the reality that hey, this day isn’t about us and the “cool” shots we want to get. It’s about these two people and whatever their day ends up looking like and feeling like. We can’t make it into something it’s not, which can be a harsh reality when you are inspired by movies, tv shows and music videos where the filmmakers have complete control of the lighting/narrative/acting, etc. But we’ve slowly learned to embrace the lack of control, to see it as a gift that we get to walk into a room and find the corner with the best sliver of light to play with, hunt down the tears before people have a chance to wipe them away, capture grandpa smiling across the room as all the “youths” bust a move on the dance floor. The things we can’t fabricate end up being the best things we capture, and those shots hit home for us more than any “cinematic shot” with the best lighting.
Just a heads up for anyone who isn’t married out there, so much of a wedding day is and can feel fabricated, and we’ve struggled with that and have started advocating for couples to break the mold and not feel boxed in by tradition or outside voices or what they see on social media, and to value the experience of their day above everything else. Because you can tell in video when something is fake. As we’ve learned to value the honest moments in between the production of it all, our work has fallen more in line with what we strive to create and we feel we are serving our couples with a better representation of them and their unique love. We’ve learned to be flexible, run and gun, and advocate for an atmosphere that everyone feels good in. And we think that’s a huge reason people want to work with us. They feel that reverence for their story in our work. It’s not flashy and fabricated, it’s just them.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We’re a husband and wife videography team specializing in wedding videography, specifically for non-traditional celebrations and elopements. We have been filming weddings for nearly eight years now and have filmed many different kinds of days, from a 200 person Texas barn wedding to an intimate elopement in Moab with just us and the couple. We’ve come to a place where we are over the wedding industry trends that each couple is shoved into, the “plug this couple into the same mold” kind of days. We have refined our taste and understand what we vibe with, what inspires us to create; couples who do their own damn thing and just have fun with it. Those who want to celebrate their love their way and the rest is just background noise.
I (Sharayah) am a major self-critic, so it can be hard to list things I’m proud of. But what comes to mind is the feedback we receive from couples & fellow vendors – that we are easy to work with, make people feel comfortable in front of the camera, and create something that represents the personality of the couple we are capturing. I know we are doing something right when a couple reaches out and says, “We watched all the films on your website and we feel like we know these people.” Like, that blows me away because that’s all I want. To honor people’s stories and character with our work. They also say our work “isn’t cheesy” which is nice to hear. If there is anything that sets us apart from others, we hope it’s our honesty and willingness to experiment with the medium and challenge the wedding industry norms.
How do you think about happiness?
In our chosen career, what makes us happy is documenting humans (lovers, musicians, small business owners – you name it, we’d love to film it) being honest and passionate. Capturing real people in love surrounded by the people they love celebrating in a way that resonates with them. Or capturing individuals doing what they love, creating what they love and getting that out into the world. We’re grateful to work in a field that is centered around some of the best things in life; love, relationships, family, good food, music and dancing. Getting to work with an awesome community, our fellow vendors in the Austin market that we get to collaborate with each weekend is one of our favorite things. Weddings allow all these small business owners who are normally isolated in their day to day work to come together and show off all that hard work. It’s like a potluck, where everyone is bringing their best dish to the table to create this stellar meal. That never gets old. But we also love live music and would love to film more of it, film content for local musicians and get their music out there. Capture small business owners and get into their world to share it with others. We’re always looking for ways to build up the community of creators around us in whatever way we can!
In our everyday lives, our cats sure do make us happy, even if they destroy every piece of furniture we love. Binge-watching live music performances on YouTube (until we get to see them for real when they come to town) and discovering new artists to listen to is one of our favorite pastimes. We have a goal of seeing as much of the United States as possible before we’re 30. We love splurging on a meal and there is no shortage of amazing food in Austin. Ryan loves getting out and playing disc golf, Sharayah loves walking around the course and not throwing any discs because they will end up in the trees. Mostly, spending normal ass weeknights in the presence of our friends keeps our serotonin at a healthy level.
Contact Info:
- Email: hereafterfilmco@gmail.com
- Website: www.hereafterfilms.co
- Instagram: @hereafterfilms
- Youtube: www.youtube.com/channel/UC3c40RMoiooGH2JrZJKqp5Q
- Other: https://vimeo.com/hereafterfilms
Image Credits
Hereafter Films
