YORK travel and and documentary photographer Ray Price is exhibiting Burma: A Brief Glimpse at the newly refurbished Spring Espresso, in Fossgate, York, until May 1.
Ray, 60, works primarily in and around the Indian Subcontinent and his black and white photographs usually portray people in their natural surroundings and environment.
On show at Spring Espresso are 18 prints from the streets of Burma. "Burma is rapidly changing in many ways," says Ray. "Politically it is on the threshold of democracy after nearly 50 years of military rule. The people are expectant but apprehensive about the future and what it brings.
"In the past few years, tourism has increasingly occupied the lives of more and more locals as visitor numbers rise at a frantic pace. To meet the demands, villagers are moving to towns for work as fishermen trade their nets for tourist-filled speed boats. My exhibition is a glance of the rapidly changing face of Burma as it morphs into Myanmar and tomorrow's world."
One of of Ray Price's photographs from Burma: A Brief Glimpse
Ray decided to visit Burma in 2015 before the ever-increasing numbers of tourists bring about further change. "But already many places are overrun in peak season," he says. "I travelled around as much as the country as was possible by road, rail and air. Everywhere I went the people were overwhelmingly pleased to see me, offering hospitality and a chance to talk about life here. Burma: A Glimpse, is a brief look at some of those people and the places I saw."
Ray's past shows include India In Steam at the Shildon Locomotion Museum, in County Durham in 2014; YO1 & Beyond and Rugged Faces at Spring Espresso in 2014; and Rugged World at the Gallery on the Green, Settle, again in 2014. In 2013, he was selected as York Photographer of the Year.
Photography has always been Ray's passion but, like so many people, he became embroiled in that world of work, career and success chasing, always hoping that one day he would break free and finally "get round to taking some pictures".
"Eventually I did and I coupled this with my love of travel and particularly trekking, a rediscovered pleasure from my boyhood and, I guess, those happy days in the scouts that I’d all but forgotten," he says.
Another Ray Price photograph from Burma: A Brief Glimpse
"With a new lease of life, I've trekked in the high Himalayas of Nepal and India, the flatter but equally attractive lower lands of Asia and many places elsewhere. I've come to love the people there, the colours, the smells and the life they lead. I've shared simple pleasures with them all and have fond memories of their smiles, hospitality and endless cups of welcoming tea. I can still smell the burning wood fires and hear their chatter, their laughter and sometimes their tears."
He has photographed "back home" too, not least for his YO1 & Beyond show at Spring Espresso two years ago. "I've taken a fresh look at England, my birthplace, to see for myself the eclectic mix of life on the streets around me. How true it is that we miss much of what we're surrounded by simply because it's with us all the time; life so ‘full of care, we have no time to stand and stare’," says Ray.
"I've tried to capture this and more, much more, in my pictures and stories. If I haven't ,it isn’t for want of trying and if I have then I hope I can long continue to do so. I guess the answer lies somewhere between these two extremes."
Ray's website title reflects his life as an itinerant photographer: ruggedworld.com. "People often ask me how I get my pictures and I reply, first I fly several thousand miles, then I walk for a few days, usually above 3,000 metres," he says.
Globe-trotting photographer Ray Price
"I live in tents, mud huts, stilt houses, whatever. I’m often cold or hot but seldom comfy. I eat locally and with the locals. If all goes well I get lucky, I get my picture. And then they say ‘you must have a good camera then’, as if that’s all that matters!"
He introduces his website as "the home of Mr. Rugged: traveller, adventurer, photographer and sometimes writer". "Here you will find a selection of my pictures, stories and experiences of the world in which I live and the eyes through which I see it," the site says.
"I cannot deny that these are very personal reflections, images and tales, hard won and now part of me. Hopefully you will also find something enjoyable that makes my sharing them with you worth while. But then as Bob Dylan said, 'it’s alright ma, it’s life and life only'."
Ray Price's exhibition, Burma A Brief Glimpse, runs at Spring Espresso, Fossgate, York, until May 1 2016
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