Ray Llanos.Carib Camera : Photographer

We wanted to celebrate the holiday season without all of the imagery usually reserved for marking year end life. Snow capped mountains, snow men, snow boots, snow this, snow that etc. etc. Enter Ray Llanos. The founder of Carib Camera, one of the most beautiful photography sites on the web, Ray knows color. The creator of the I Love My People t-shirts, Ray knows about celebrations. Put that together and you've got colorful celebrations. Put that together and you've got Ray Llanos, one of the most dynamic young photographers working today.

We held court with Ray in the Meatpacking district of Manhattan and talked about his work with the Studio Museum of Harlem, his work with Aaron Davis Hall, and his work with the joy and energy of Carnival.

Ray Llanos: I’m from the Virgin Islands originally, St. Croix. I lived there until I was twelve and then I moved to Silver Spring, Maryland. Growing up in the Silver Spring/DC area was a beautiful place to be. The culture is strong, the diversity… It’s a concentrated, diversified slice of the Diaspora. That’s why they call it Chocolate City. It’s the truth.

Ray: My father’s side of the family is from Puerto Rico, Vieques to be exact. My mother’s side is Afro-Caribbean and I readily identify with both. And being from St Croix, the middle of the Caribbean, you identify with all of the cultures of the Caribbean

Ray: It’s a US territory so you have a lot of people from other countries that come to St. Croix to earn the US Dollar. Its closer and easier then Puerto Rico or Miami. I always grew up with people from Trinidad, Antigua and points north and south. As a result I was already exposed to a melting pot of the Caribbean. Coming to DC put me into a melting pot of the world and built on my foundation.

Ray: There is some history beyond the camera. I’ve always been a visual artist. My mother recognized it when I was young and began enrolling me in private art classes because she wanted me to explore my opportunities. And bless her heart because she was raising 3 kids on 2 jobs and she spent that extra money as an investment. She wanted to make sure that I had options. I’ve always had a need to have a creative outlet

My brother has been a photographer for over 20 years so I was frequently exposed to photographs andimages. I have a great black and white of my mother and myself from when I was 3 years old. If I didn’t own that picture it would still stay with me because it is such a beautiful piece of work

Ray: No it was from another photographer in St. Croix named KC. I remember the experience from being a subject to seeing the completed image. That picture has had a lasting effect on me.

To answer your question on when I decided to pick up a camera and take it seriously was in 2000. I was talking to my best friend Lesley and after being subjected to my point-and-shoot camera everywhere we went-including Trinidad. We decided I should buy my first SLR instead of taking a bartending course. It was kind of a crossroads period in my life.

Oggi Ogburn- A music industry photographer for over 30 years- is also a great mentor personally and professionally.

Ray: Carib Camera became an entrepreneurial endeavor after I began doing photography on a professional basis. We wanted to present images that further the culture of carnival. Beyond the bacchanal. Beyond theslackness. Its not just women in bikinis. We wanted to counter all of that with images that carry some form of social awareness.

From there I wanted to see what I could do with my images beyond storing them on my website so I went down to Trinidad to see what ideas I could produce. I came up with the idea to do a calendar- Caribbean Calendar- and shot Carnival the following year. Our marketing niche consisted of turning the images around quickly so people could have a souvenir from Carnival. We are now in our 3 rd year of production

This past summer we decided to come up with Carib Camera I Love My People t-shirts, meaning my people from all over the world. My Virgin Islands people, my Trinidadian people, my African American people, mypeople all over the world. We brought them out in time for the Puerto Rican Day Parade and they were an immediate success. We learned that we could make the shirt for every country in the world so that people could represent their country in a fashionable manner without being touristy. From South Korea to Madagascar. I’m happy with the direction things are moving in. Silk-screening is possibly the next step of what I want to do with my images.

NC: When I look at your work I think about celebrations, bodies moving and dancing. Is that a primary part of your overall approach or creative philosophy?

Ray: I have always admired griots and story-tellers so I’ve worked to become one. Photo-Griot is the term I usefor a person that captures the energy of an event and tells an audience so much about the event that they feel like they were there. As a Photo Griot I have to capture the moments that are poignant and go from there.

NC: Is there a different approach between the work you do for Carib Camera and the work you do for the Studio Museum in Harlem and Aaron Davis Hall?

Ray: Somewhat. The best thing is that the Studio Museum and Aaron Davis Hall respect me as an artist and a photographer. I didn’t have to give up the integrity of being an artist for the service side of things. I’ve been blessed that these two institutions have accepted this, appreciated what I have brought them and have never asked me to do anything different. So there are a lot of similarities to when I’m shooting Carnival. I’ve beengoing to Carnival since 98 and the first thing you have to learn is to stay focused and realize that the editing process is very poignant. Its the same with my work with the Studio Museum and Aaron Davis Hall. Whether it is a book signing, gallery opening, concert of a music legend or a dance performance I’m looking to capture the essence of what is there.

Ray: Its a collective of photographers that are primarily based in the Bronx and we work from both an artistic and educational standpoint. One of the projects that we are currently working on is called Blurred Boundaries. We are photographing all 61 or 63 neighborhoods of the Bronx. Its an exciting project and I’m enjoying trying tocapture the culture of the Bronx

Ray: With AIDS being so prevalent on the African continent as well as in the Caribbean it would be ridiculous for me not to do what I can to combat it. Just from a position of being an educator. I was fortunate to connect with Maya Trotz of Phiva.net. She explained to me her goals and I believed in what she was doing. So when Carib Camera released its first calendar, we did a tie-in and created some awareness for what she was doing with the project. I always try to move with some social consciousness.

Please visit www.caribcamera.com for more information on Ray, his work, his projects, his life.