My name is Ray Holland and I was based in Osaka, Japan for 23 years (1981 – 2004). Now, having spent the last 20 years of my life back here in Cambridge, I am planning to spend the final quarter of my life back in Japan, with my young family.
After studying photography here in the U.K., I originally went to Japan to photograph Asia and send the images back to a color library in London. I then took a job as an assistant in the largest commercial photography studio in Osaka (Yamagishi Studio) where I learned more in three months than in three years at photography college (Farnham, Surrey). Studio work taught me how to re-create natural light (much brighter than the U.K.) needed for interiors (kitchens), fashion, and catalog work. We began to anticipate the photographer’s style and usually set up the lighting before he took control. We kept a watchful eye on the subject in case something needed correcting. A hair over the model’s face would have us competing to rush in front of the camera and ‘blow’ it away. No Photoshop then and no allowance for mistakes. No digital photography.
#1 Itami Airport, Osaka, Japan
Before the large new Kansai airport was built
#2 Kobe Festival, Japan
Father and son
#3 Rice Planting Festival, Osaka Suburbs
#4 Summer Festival, Kobe, Japan
#5 Osaka Aquarium, Osaka, Japan
#6 Summer Festival, Osaka, Japan
#7 Summer Festival, Kobe, Japan
#8 Sea Gypsies, Phuket, Thailand
#9 Bali
#10
#11
#12 East Coast Of The U.k
#13 Phuket, Thailand
#14 Catching A Yawn!
#15 Rupert
#16 Gamelan, Bali
#17 East Coast Of U.k
#18 Fushimi Inari Shrine, Kyoto
#19 Phuket
#20 Bali
#21 London
Follow Us
