Janean Ray

My art is about capturing moments not making them.  I want my work to inspire people to look around them and see what beauty there is in the world if you just pay attention.  I try to keep my photos as natural as possible, emphasizing that simplicity is beautiful in its details.  To see an object, a building, animal, flower or landscape in a way you never noticed before, is what I want people to take away from my work.  If I can get people to see my photos and have it inspire them to stop and look at something and say ‘WOW!, I get it now’, then I’ve succeeded.  

Comments about her work: 

    …….“We all think we see things the same way, but we don’t. You see things the rest of us miss.”

………“This photo is overwhelming…. I cannot even articulate how this makes me react… Too many memories, and images, and oddly – aromas. Oh my”.

Aside from my full-time job with the Legal Defender Office, I am a trustee with the Norton Historical Society and is on the Norton Bicentennial committee working on their 200^th Bicentennial festival this year.  I also work on family genealogy when not in my studio or out shooting more photos.  Besides photographing the tow paths and metro parks, and everything else from A to Z, (literally) I have photographed Highland Square Porchrokr Fest, Barberton Cherry Blossom, Norton Cider Fest, Akron Rubber Ducks, Akron’s Over the Edge, Portage Lakes Dragon Boat Races, Cleveland Tall Ship Festival, Cuyahoga Valley Railroad – Steam in the Valley, Barberton Mum Fest and Yankee Peddler just to name some events.  My next project is “In Thy Honor” Craft Fair and Car Show at the Ohio Veteran’s Memorial Memorial weekend, where I will be photographing approximately 100 corvettes in front of the Veteran’s Memorial Wall.  My photos have been featured on Fox 8 News Cleveland and I currently have three (3) photos on display at Barberton Summa Hospital and have won various digital contests, many 1^st and 2^nd place as well as one Reserve Best in Show.