Ray Laskowitz

Ray Laskowitz was to born to be a photographer. Some of the earliest photographs of him show him holding a camera. In those days it might have been his dad’s Voightlander or it might have been his trusty Kodak Instamatic. Then, his pictures were of things rather than interpretations of things, as they are now.

Ray was born in Brooklyn, New York and raised in Southern California. His family traveled back to the East Coast almost every year. In many ways, he had the best of both worlds. But, more importantly, his love of travel was born. And, because his family made their bi-coastal trips by train – in those days names like The Super Chief, El Capitan and Broadway Limited were still around – Ray’s love of all things trains was born.

After completing his degree in Journalism, Ray joined the staff of a small newspaper in rural Virginia. He spent 15 years working in the newspaper world as a photographer, picture editor, director of photography and designer with stops in Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Richmond, Virginia; Washington D.C.; Orange County, California; San Diego, California and Spokane, Washington where he was offered the opportunity to travel to Shanghai, China where his love of global travel was born.

Ray left the world of daily journalism and joined the staffs of a couple of well known photo agencies; Westlight and The Image Bank. Ray continued his Asian travels producing marketing material, books and catalogs for The Image Bank in Hong Kong, Singapore and Southern China; all the while photographing in every spare moment. Eventually, Ray left the Image Bank to found his own company, Laskowitz Pictures, LLC.

Ray began contributing to Lonely Planet Images in 2000. He has been the prime photographer for the Condensed series with stops in Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Montreal, New Orleans and Beijing. He has also contributed to The Cities Book. He is currently working non-LPI projects that include trips to Mexico City, documenting New Mexico and something loosely called a picture a day.

Ray lives in New Mexico where he relocated after being forced to leave New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina flooded his 187 year old house.

Website: www.LaskowitzPictures.com