Raymond Vos Biography My father documented my family’s growing up years, first with a Brownie film camera and later, as finances allowed, with an 8mm movie camera. My own excursions with the borrowed Brownie whet my appetite for something more. Later, I shot many rolls of B&W film with my new 35mm SLR for the High School yearbook, which introduced me into the world of candid portraiture. I spent far too much time in the darkroom, at the expense of my grades and social life, I’m sure. Over the years I loved to document the life of the communities that I was involved in. I still share those early photographs today with the people who lived in them. The photographs help us to celebrate and cement our history together. In more recent years, when I hesitantly began to use my brother’s digital point-and-shoot camera, my photography world shifted again. My love for photography was rekindled. I replaced the darkroom with Photoshop and expanded my abilities. Slowly I allowed my creativity to resurface again and express a connection between the outside world and my own perspective. After my fourth trip to Kenya I counted over 21,000 photos taken on my visits. I love to document my travels to share the wonderful adventures I have with the people and the land. I love to tell stories and I use my photos to illustrate them. All proceeds of my Kenya photos go to my charity that was started in 2009 called ”The Kenya Initiative: From Street To School” and funds educational support for many students there. More recently my wife and I collaborated on a 100 page photo-essay hardcover book called “The Grandmothers of Kenya” which is for sale with proceeds going back to Kenya. Artist’s Statement After more than 50 years of taking photographs, I feel that I am finally focusing on what I wish to achieve as a photographer. I want to tell stories. I want my photos not only to capture my interpretation of beauty, but to convey a glimpse of someone else’s world through portraiture, as they allow the camera to reveal a part of themselves. This is a quote by one of my favourite photographers: “There is a creative fraction of a second when you are taking a picture. Your eye must see a composition or an expression that life itself offers you, and you must know with intuition when to click the camera.” Henri Cartier-Bresson