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Ray Zirkle was born in Chicago in 1960. He lived in the Chicago area for most of his life. He had
neither a desire nor a reason to ever buy a decent camera, but having children soon changed that.
A successful position as a manager of a national one hour photolab provided the reason to learn more about photography. With it, a reason to buy a better camera to not only photograph his children, but experiment with different types of photography that most people never consider trying presented itself.
Experimenting with infrared black and white film and then seeing an Ansel Adams photograph, Ray's whole outlook and opinion of photography changed from being just a "job" to an artistic expression that he wasn't aware he was capable of showing. After a couple of years of experimentation and finding a "style" that he felt comfortable with, Ray was ready to present what he thought was his best work up to that point.
A chance acceptance to one of the largest art fairs in Illinois literally changed Ray's direction in life and after doing well there started to really concentrate on his "style". What was to follow in the early nineties has contributed to the Ray Zirkle Portfolio you see today. After moving to southeast Wisconsin in 1994, Ray's appreciation of nature increased along with his photographic skills. After a couple of years he was back in the art fair circuit.
In 1998, after much consideration and many requests from art fair patrons, Ray incorporated color photos into his portfolio and this added a whole new dimension to his work. Now some of his color work is considered among his best.
In 2000 and 2001 more changes affected the direction of Ray's art and life. The main change was his entry into the cyber world, with development of the website and the ability to spread his work to millions instead of hundreds at local art fairs. The other change was the acquisition of a black and white commercial lab. So what was once a hobby now became Ray's living, sort of coming full circle from the days of photolab management. The introduction of color infrared film that was only available in difficult to processes forms and is now available as film, has also lead to even more interesting images. Now fully digital, Ray is always searching for that elusive image; the one that will set it apart from all the others. Most of the images are shot in the Midwest, and with that said, the next conquest might be the west or some other part of this gorgeous country.
Whichever it is, Ray will have those Ansel Adams images in the back of his mind as something to strive for. 2007 brought the completion of a proposed book intitled "Images and Words" a mixture of photos and quotes on nature and photography. 2007 also brought representation from Agora Gallery, a Soho N.Y. art gallery. Only time will tell.....