a conversation with visualbyrae
Rafael Molina, creatively known as visualbyrae, has a way of catching the part of a moment that other people miss, then building a world around it.
Raised between Puerto Rico and Massachusetts, Rafael Molina has spent years building a visual language through film, music, live shows, and the people moving through them. His photos feel close to the action without losing the story around it.
When we first spoke, a lot of our conversation centered on film, process, and risk. This time felt more like a check-in after more life lived — moving, becoming a father, stepping back, and finding his way to the camera again.
We talked about Rolling Loud, late-night creativity, staying connected to Western Mass from Puerto Rico, and what it means to keep creating with more to carry than before.
The 413 Joint: I know you said you’re getting back into things, so talk to me a little bit about your journey over the last few years. Let’s catch up.
visualbyrae: Oh yeah, definitely. It’s been a hell of a ride. Now that I just noticed, I’ve been doing this for 10 years. I started this in 2016, so I feel like it has been evolving each year.
Each year, I get new opportunities, new ways that I can compete with myself, and try new things, things that no one has really done yet, or I don’t know, just experimenting overall. But it has been a great year.
These last 2 years, like I told you, I moved from Mass, I moved to Puerto Rico. It’s new territory that I’ve really known, and as I landed, I started working with artists. I work with Diplo and multiple artists in PR. So it has been great for me.
The 413 Joint: How did the culture, the colors, and everything around you in Puerto Rico affect your art?
visualbyrae: It was something new, out of the normal for me. When I came here, it was a lot of love instantly, mainly from artists. I’m not really used to working directly with them, and here, they really love how I do my photography with my work.
That is something that they really like, and they have shown me a lot of love and support. I’ve met great peers all these years, and yeah, it’s been good. The vibes are amazing.
The 413 Joint: I know you took a little break. Was there a moment that made you want to come back and pick the camera back up, or was it something you were always thinking about?
visualbyrae: I’m always working, really. It was just a period of time where I had just, I don’t know, like anyone, you just kind of run out of ideas or creative block how they call it.
And I decided to step out of the scene and really reevaluate myself, and see what else can I bring to the table, what’s new, what is moving right now? What people haven’t done.
And yeah, I took the plans myself, build a family. I have a kid now and my wife. So, you know, everything is moving directly, and then one day she told me, “I think you should get back into your photography. You’re good at it.”
And in that moment, specifically, someone just hit me up and said, “Hey, we would like to have you in Rolling Loud,” and boom. Magic happened. I’m right back to it.
The 413 Joint: What’s your favorite part of traveling?
visualbyrae: My favorite part, honestly, would be the day before, the night before. That entire night, I get this feeling, like this adrenaline rush, that I have to sit down. I have to write what I’m gonna do, journal a little, pray, and just really organize what I’m gonna go for.
It’s like going to war.
That night before, it’s just like, this is the set, this is the artist, this is what I’m gonna do. So everything is really planned out. I don’t really like to improvise, but when I do, it still feels like I planned it for some reason.
The 413 Joint: Seeing your photography, you have a really good eye for energy, storytelling, and culture. What are you looking for when you pick up a camera? What are some of the first things you want to capture?
visualbyrae: I just try to capture things that, like, it’s gonna sound crazy. Sometimes I understand myself when I say it, it makes sense in my head. But I see the things that people don’t really look at.
They see the artist. That’s okay. They see the public, that’s fine. But I want to tell a story with that picture. I want to land a shot that nobody really thought about.
I have a post on my Instagram about Don Toliver. I see that my peers, and absolutely really not to talk any negative things, everyone has their own way of photography, but I see what is moving right now. It can be a picture of the whole body of the artist or from far away. But really they don’t get that really close-up shot, like facial expressions or anything that involves something else than just a regular picture that you will see on your feed all the time from photographers.
I look at that area to really make a difference. And when they go there, then I go another route. So I’m always ahead, I think.
The 413 Joint: Do you feel more drawn to raw moments, or do you like capturing really styled, polished moments?
visualbyrae: I think more of the raw shots, I would say, than more polished, because again, everyone can look or pick up a camera and take a picture and it looks nice, or they don’t really put thought into it.
But I really listen to the artist music before. In my head, I’m creating all this scene, and how they would look best of a certain picture, or a certain shot. That’s what I think and look before showing up to the scene to take pictures.
I really observe and see how they move and the concept that they have. So if I see something that they really haven’t done or seen before of themselves, then I make sure that they see it, because I’ll make it happen.
The 413 Joint: Last time we talked, we talked about film, your process, and taking risks. What does taking risks look like for you right now?
visualbyrae: It’s waking up every day, I guess. Every day is a new mission.
With my son and everything, it’s a challenge. That’s my new risk right now, making sure that my family is stable, making sure that my photography, my art, stays intact, and creating new contacts and new networks.
So my risk right now will be waking up every day and making sure everything is fine and doing my absolute best to be the best.
The 413 Joint: Do you think fatherhood has changed how you approach photography?
visualbyrae: Yeah. Most definitely. It’s something that I want to leave for my son, or my future children as well, to look back and say, “Hey, my dad was really something to be proud of,” and tell them my dad was a really good photographer. He worked with this person, that person, but he’s overall a good creative.
And that’s what I’m thinking every day. I just want to make them proud.
The 413 Joint: Would you say that’s what’s feeding your creativity lately? When do you feel the most creative?
visualbyrae: Late at night, I feel the most creative. Sometimes after everyone go to sleep and I get my moment after work.
I just sit down and analyze what my future would look like in a way. I just think what can be, or what I can do, or what else I can implement into my photography, or my art, and really analyze the game, and see how the artists are doing right now, and what I can bring to the table to make it even better, or more exciting.
The 413 Joint: You’ve worked with a lot of different artists and covered different concerts. What’s your favorite artist or concert that you’ve shot so far?
visualbyrae: Right now, my favorite has been Rolling Loud. It has been a festival that I always wanted to cover, and the fact that I didn’t do much before because I was out without taking pictures for almost 2 years, and to get that invite just because of my work in the past speaks volumes.
That makes me really feel like I have so much more to give to the game. And this is only just the beginning. It’s like a second chance to really work hard this time and go 100%.
But just like we covered on the last interview, I mentioned that one of my favorite artists to work with was Don Toliver. So at that time, Don Toliver was a headliner, so everything aligned, and I was able to capture some good moments for Don Toliver. You can see on my Instagram, it’s just an amazing shot.
The 413 Joint: What do you want this next chapter of Visuals by Rae to feel like?
visualbyrae: I would say just fresh air, new energy, new things to my creative.
It would look raw. It would look just as powerful as before. That’s what I’m thinking right now, this chapter will be. I would like to work with different areas, like with videos now.
I’m still sticking to film, and that’s what brought me all the way into here. I would never thought in a million years, just sticking with one thing, being consistent with one thing, and it had landed me to the biggest stages, so many people that I never thought I would meet, and that’s the most exciting part.
So I will apply the same pressure, 100%, to this new era of mine.
The 413 Joint: Now that you’ve done Rolling Loud, which was one of your dream festivals, what’s the next big goal for you?
visualbyrae: I would like to continue into the same area of photography, like festivals and more. But my goal right now would be actually like the Grammys, Billboard Awards, all of those award shows or anything. I would like to photograph red carpet events. That’ll be my next goal to look at.
I also want to work with clothing brands and modeling. That’s one of what I’m looking at right now. I feel like I can do a lot of damage with my photography.
The 413 Joint: If you could go back in time and shoot any festival or artist, who would you go back to shoot?
visualbyrae: That’s a tough question. And that’s like overall, like any artist, dead or alive?
Well, I would say it’s still alive, you know. It’s popping right now, but I would like to be in the beginning of the career of Yeat. He’s someone that I really admire now and how he moves, and his music really inspires me.
So that’s someone that I would like to be there from the beginning. But if we’re talking about dead artists, that’s kind of complicated, but I would say MJ would be a good person to take pictures of.
The 413 Joint: You mentioned video. What would video look like for Visuals by Rae?
visualbyrae: Really, I’m being honest, I haven’t really. But I would say concert recaps, or clothing brands, or just an ad overall, like a brand ad.
I would like to work for New Balance or something like that. It’s just a cool ad that I can direct or record. That’ll be awesome.
The 413 Joint: You also mentioned your recap videos, the event tapes. Can you talk a little bit about those?
visualbyrae: Yeah, absolutely. I also have my recap videos, like the event tapes. I’m still doing that, so it’s up on my YouTube.
Basically what I do with that is like a little recap before I show you the pictures. It’s something that I’m working on. With a VHS, I record everything that I did throughout that shoot and summarize and make a cool video summary.
Then 3 days later, a week later, you will see the actual pictures of what I worked on within that shoot. So you can see the most recent video. There’ll be people shouting me out on the videos. And yeah, it’s cool. That’s pretty much it.
The 413 Joint: Are you still shooting with the same camera, or do you have a new camera?
visualbyrae: I’m still with the same equipment. Same film, same camera.
Also, about the same camera, I bought like 10 of those. Everybody was jumping into the trend and it was getting expensive. So around the pandemic time, I grabbed like 10 pieces of them and I have them here.
So every time one of the cameras breaks down, then I got the other one right next.
The 413 Joint: You’re in Puerto Rico, but you’re still connected with the Springfield scene. What does that look like?
visualbyrae: I’m connected still, even though I’m here in PR. Still connected with the Springfield scene. So I’m working with swizzy2turnt. I’m still working with Gnarly So Cozy.
They’re my bros, so I’m still working on their creative part of things. So all this time that I was out, I was working on their careers and supplying them with pictures, tips, managing here and there.
So I wasn’t really out, just in the photography part. Other than that, I was still tapped in and working with them and helping them out, because they helped me with my career.
The 413 Joint: How is it balancing all of those worlds — photography, managing, Puerto Rico, Western Mass, fatherhood, and being creative?
visualbyrae: It’s amazing. It’s an amazing feeling, especially when they’re my friends that started with me at the same time. I love how they evolved in their music and their scene, and I’m happy to be able to supply them with what they need, with the tools that they need at the moment.
Like I mentioned, with the visuals, the pictures, anything, all creative sides for them, I’m always 100% down. It has worked magic for me. During the time that I was not doing pictures, at least it kept my mind occupied and still creative.
