If you’ve been reading my newsletter you’ll likely remember I did a series of interviews a while back. These were exciting for me in a variety of way but probably most in the fact of me getting to know other photographers, learning about their work and finding out more about the person behind the camera.
Another great photographer I started talking to was Ray Arias. We started talking in the comments on Instagram and I’ve always admired his street photography work, especially the ones where he photographs models.
I will leave a link to Ray’s website at the end of the article which contains all his socials and some stunning photos which will show you why I found his work so captivating and interesting.
And now, onto the meat and potatoes…
Hello Ray, first I want to say thank you for agreeing to answer a few questions. Can you tell us about yourself, when you started photography and what moved you to pick up a camera for the first time?
Hey, Richard. Thanks for the invitation, I am honored you thought of me. I started well over ten years ago. I mainly shot black and white film...Kodak Tri-X and T-Max 100 & T-Max 400. I also shot with Ilford Delta 100 & Delta 400. Sometimes I shot color transparency (slide) film, with Fuji Velvia and Kodak Ektachrome being the main ones. I used to develop and print my own black and white photos, which was a lot of fun.
On your website you list fashion, editorial and documentary photography genres. Do you have a favorite amongst them? What is the most interesting place where photography has taken you for a shoot?
I love all forms of photography, yet my favorite is documentary. If there was only one genre I could shoot, that would be the one. It provides a lasting record of our times and subjects. My favorite photographer, of any genre, is Sebastião Salgado, who shoots masterful and stunning long-form documentary work.
As for most interesting place....my home town of NYC cannot be beat ;-)
I've been following your Instagram for a while and something which is interesting to me is people's reactions to photographers on the street.
How do people react when you're shooting on the streets with models?
What's interesting is that I never notice them once I start shooting. I am so focused on the model and what I am doing that I forget everything else.
At the end of many shoots, the model has told me there was a group of people behind me, watching, and I had no idea. I'm sure it must be interesting for them to watch.
Why do you think NYC makes such a great place for street photography?
The tremendous variety of interesting subjects and locations available....everything you can imagine.
While reading your blog I found these two lines: "People will remember you only for the great shots, and they will never think, for even a second, about how many shots you took to get them."
Social media makes people think about overnight success. What are your thoughts on this and how do you think it affects newcomers to photography?
Overnight success only happens to such a tiny, tiny percentage of photographers that it basically does not exist.
You simply do the best you can and keep improving as much as you can and have fun with it, and put it out there to hopefully be seen and discovered by the right people.
My final question - what is one thing you have learned during your career as a photographer which people might not know about or understand when it comes to the photography business?
I'll answer with regards to fashion photography for this one, because I have come across many people who do not know this. The photos and photographers you see published in editorial fashion magazines...those photographers are not paid for those shoots.
The exception being the huge, very famous magazines, such as American Vogue, which do pay. But, for the majority of fashion magazines, the photographer shoots the models and clothes at his or her own expense, in the hopes the photos will be published in the magazine, even though they will not be paid for those photos when they are published.
Why would photographers do this?
Because they know that big advertisers, such as Chanel, Prada, etc. look at the shoots published in those magazines. If a big advertiser likes the photos, they may then hire the photographer to shoot an advertising campaign for them. Those advertising campaigns are, indeed, paid shoots, and they pay very well.
I hope you enjoyed this interview as much I did and if you do find Ray’s work interesting please have a look at his website and social channels (IG & Threads). If you are a fan of street photography, fashion photography or any other photography you will definitely enjoy his work.
Thanks for reading : )
Nice! Love his photos!
…awesome interview…awesome photos…thank you…