Ray French
I’m a former lab technician who cut his photographic teeth printing glass plate electron micrographs of incredibly small things. I am now taking photographs of much bigger things, trying to convey a sense of place in a rapidly changing world.
When Covid put paid to the day job, I started to develop An Ordinary Place – a fledgling enterprise whose aim is to re-invigorate the concept of Society (civil or otherwise) through printed photography.
I’ve captured the precision beauty of a garden in Kyoto, the faded grandeur of some old Scottish football stadiums, the arid isolation of a petrol station under a big Australian sky, and the chaotic joy of a community park in Malawi.
The first AOP book, Beware of Pickpockets, was published in April ’22 as a limited first edition and has now sold out. The second AOP book, Kit Bags, Flags, and the Harry Wraggs, was published in November 2023 and is available via the Partick Thistle FC online shop. Both books adhered to a square page format similar to a vinyl LP record sleeve, which I found helpful in terms of content layout but also pleasingly familiar to myself, and also many buyers. Having proven the concept works, I am now working on the next two projects, one relating to AOP’s home city of Edinburgh, and another covering sub-Saharan Africa for a UK-based charity.
Commercial enquiries, which will indirectly support the not-for-profit work are, of course, welcome!
(Portrait of Ray French © Yihong Wan 2022)
Locations: Scotland
Categories: Documentary, Editorial, Photojournalism, Sport, Still life, Travel