We were lucky to catch up with Raymond Holman recently and have shared our conversation below.

Raymond, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

I have been a professional photographer for over 20 years. It was a hobby that I was able to turn into a career when I became a freelance photographer for the Philadelphia Inquirer. The switch from a hobby to a career in photography took a ten year period to complete. Being the first person in my family to graduate from college, earning a degree in Economics the move to photography was not supported by many of my family members including myself. But as time went on I could not ignore the call to take photography seriously. And once the Philadelphia Inquirer opportunity came about there was no turning back.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Once I was able to land the job as a freelance photographer for the Philadelphia Inquirer I had to fight to get assignments. I worked for the suburban section of the Inquirer in Springfield. I would drive there everyday from Philadelphia and hope to get an assignment. Many times I was one of the last photographers to get work. Most of the assignments in the beginning were high school sports related but as time passed, I received more feature assignments, which I enjoyed. I have always been really good with meeting new people and them feeling relaxed around me. As my worked started appearing in the Philadelphia Inquirer I captured the attention of people at the Philadelphia Daily Newspaper and I started doing assignments for both newspapers. I would eventually capture the attention of corporations in the Philadelphia area and added them to my list of clients. I am very proud of a personal project I created titled “Portraits of Family Caregiver of People with Alzheimers/dementia”, which focused on the challenges family caregivers face when a family caregivers has dementia. I believe photography is the gift the Universe gave me and I am to use this Gift to create images that touches the Human heart. It is why when I am in the process of any photography related situation my attention is a hundred percent focused on creating great images.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

When I first noticed photographs from the early 1900 – 1950’s I was fascinated by the clothing and the look on the faces of the people. I hope is one day when people view my work it will capture their attention the same way those black and white photographs captured my attention.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

Yes. I wish I had attended an university and obtained a degree in photography, then a masters degree, then a PhD. I would approach photography the same way a person approaches the becoming a doctor of engineer. One hundred percent focused.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.rholmanjr.photo
• Instagram: @raymondlove2photo
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/raymond.holman
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/raymondwholmanjr

Image Credits

All images credited by Raymond W Holman Jr Photography