Work samples

  • Midtown Street Jam
    Midtown Street Jam
    Dr. Salim Washington performing his complex improvisations at a New York Midtown intersection
  • On Broadway - 2018
    On Broadway - 2018
    This work is a 21st Century interpretation of Claude McKay's Harlem Renaissance poem "On Broadway."
  • The Practice Room
    The Practice Room
    The Practice Room depicts the most acoustically designed room in an early 1970's inner city high school with a legendary music program that produced MANY internationally renowned Artists and Musicians in spite of very limited resources. Many graduates of this inner city institution are still practicing their craft around the globe for thousands! The student pictured is the late Wendell Shepherd who went on to perform around the world with many popular groups, most notably Parliament / Funkadelic as a member of their "Horney Horns!"
  • Inner Harbor Sunset
    Inner Harbor Sunset
    It's not often that everything comes together to capture a captivating and beautiful image. On this special random day, the right elements synchronized perfectly to help me produce this stunning Baltimore Inner Harbor image.

About Raymond

Howard County
Raymond's journey as an artist began as both a musician and photographer at the famous Frederick Douglass High School in Baltimore, Maryland. His earliest work in Black and White 35 mm photography collided with his love for instrumental music when he did a series of portrait photos of fellow band members during his senior year in 1973. This experience helped Raymond realize his knack for capturing captivating moods and expressions in his work and was further inspired by the fact that the… more

A New York Minute

I truly love New York. And one of my favorite things to do there, is to walk the streets, day and night, with my camera capturing the pure energy of the city and its surroundings from downtown to midtown to Harlem and more. I can walk for miles and not realize how far I've gone, and with no fatigue.  So many images around the city truly touch my soul and allows me to bring what I see in the city right into my art.

The New York experience stirs my imagination and allows me to create compelling works of art.

  • On Broadway - 2018
    On Broadway - 2018
    Inspired by Claude McKay’s Harlem Renaissance poem, “On Broadway,” this piece represents a 2018 interpretation of McKay’s work, through the eyes of a Woman of Color. This work attempts to visually capture McKay’s poem’s simultaneous feelings of exuberance from the human activity illuminated by brilliant Broadway lights, and a sense of loneliness expressed at the end of every stanza of the poem. The dancer in spite of her being in the center of so much exciting activity, expresses a somewhat sense of loneliness with her head down. Considering the time the poem was written and the many challenges Claude McKay must have faced in a pre-Civil Rights era, it is easy to imagine the loneliness a Black person might feel walking down this “garnished street” in New York, feeling like an outcast during McKay’s time. Its likely McKay couldn’t even get access to a decent bathroom to relieve himself! Not only has time MOVED on from the era of Claude McKay, but one MOVEMENT after another is emerging to give strength to the underserved, the oppressed, the marginalized, and the abused. Creating this piece took me on an incredible journey through time from McKay’s interpretation of Broadway in the 1920’s to the Broadway I experience on my annual 21st century New York trips. And, even today, one can still feel loneliness on Broadway’s garnished street.
  • Salim's Midtown Street Jam
    Salim's Midtown Street Jam
    The backdrop of a New York Midtown skyline is most appropriate for a shot of International artist and educator, Dr. Salim Washington. Every time I see him perform, I experience a new dimension to his music. Whether on Tenor Sax or Oboe, he truly exemplifies the concept that there is more than One Way to do JAZZ! And I am honored to capture him in my work.
  • Second Set
    Second Set
    This is a tribute to my late friend, Wendall Shepherd who was one of my first photography subjects in high school. Wendall was one of many students that launched incredibly diverse and successful careers in music following attendance at Baltimore's famous Douglass High School. Beyond Wendall's reputation as a premier local musician in Baltimore, he traveled the world as one of Parliament / Funkadelic's Horny Horns and played with several other popular groups. I just had to put his young image in Birdland after seeing this Birdland ad during one of my New York excursions. The picture of Wendall truly represents how incredibly serious these young, talented musicians were about their music.
  • Mentor
    Mentor
    Mentor mysteriously ends up in my New York Minute collection because it is a tribute to the Mentoring organization, 100 Black Men of America, Inc., born in New York in 1963. I have had mentors all of my life, with some family members and many others from all walks of life, including all colors and genders. The motto of the 100 is "What They See is What They'll Be," and for the last 13 years, the 100 has given me the opportunity to Mentor and be Mentored by many AWESOME people. This work is truly a tribute to EVERYONE that Mentors or has been mentored...and if you have not had the experience, I strongly encourage you to do it. It truly is a mutually beneficial endeavor!
  • Michael's Dream
    Michael's Dream
    Available for Purchase

A Photo Tribute to Keeping the Arts in Public Schools - Frederick Douglass High - 1973 Raymond Lucas

I took this Black & White photo series of my fellow, High School musicians in 1973 at Frederick Douglass High School in Baltimore. (Clearly, the BEST Band in Town.) This was where I experienced that special moment of Dynamic Convergence bringing music and photography together in my life, not realizing the powerful impact this marriage would have on me. From 7:00 am to as late as 7:00 pm, we (today we would be known as Band Geeks,) were in school. There was no question as to where we could be found. If not in class, we were either in the band room with Concert Band playing Peter Mennin's Canzona, or on the field playing Isaac Hayes' Shaft, preparing for a parade or game, or playing a Reppard Stone or Wit Williams original song or arrangement for our Jazz Band.
The collateral skills that students gain from being taught The Arts in public schools are vast. Skills that I developed through my Band experience included, but were not limited to:
Listening
Leadership
Discipline
Organization
Mathematics
Teamwork

Academics are certainly important, but I am sure that the brilliant leadership of our public schools can figure out a way to leverage The Arts to help students pass their No Child Left Behind Tests. I am certain that I would not be as successful as I am today without these experiences that enhanced my skills and shaped my values through my exposure to The Arts in public school. Thanks to Ruby Gill, Mr. Sturtevant, Dr. Delaine and Dr. Stone! And also, a special thanks to my photography teacher, Mr. Wallace Baden who helped me develop an eye for composition and see what others could not see!

KEEP MUSIC AND OTHER FINE ARTS PROGRAMS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS!
  • Always one in the crowd
    Always one in the crowd
  • Michael, Ricky & Wendall
    Michael, Ricky & Wendall
  • Victor's Trombone
    Victor's Trombone
  • kbrown1
    kbrown1
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    douglassmminor_11x14_ba2016.jpg
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    douglasscwilliams11x14_ba2016.jpg
  • beyondblues_sws_006_ba2016.jpg
    beyondblues_sws_006_ba2016.jpg
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    beyondblues_dws_007_ba2016.jpg
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    bblues_practice_room11x14_ba2016.jpg

Beauty in the Shadow of the Baltimore Riots

On Monday, April 27, 2015, while driving past Mondawmin Mall in Baltimore, traffic froze up as I watched riot-clad police officers disembark from a bus on the Mall parking lot. The parking lot began to fill up with students, mostly from the famous Frederick Douglass High School, my alma mater. I found out later that one of the reasons that students were gathering on the lot was because they were not allowed to get on the subway, as they typically did, every school day. It is no coincidence that the violence that began on the parking lot and the mall, coincided on the same day of the funeral of Mr. Freddie Gray, a Black American that died while in police custody.
I sat there for about 20 minutes, very nervous in my car, while waiting for police to allow traffic to flow again, watching heavily armed police face off angry students that seemed MUCH more interested in getting home than starting any trouble. Watching the news coverage showing the escalation of the situation, my heart was broken by the poor coverage and misrepresentation of how this whole tragic situation began.
As things settled in Baltimore, I began looking for those things I love about Baltimore and rediscovered Druid Hill Park with my camera, a beautiful and serene place of my childhood that is within walking distance of all the violence that happened on that day for the entire world to see.
This project is my effort to show the world how much Beauty Lies in the Shadow of the Baltimore Riot!

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    druidhillpark_aboretum_20150814_057_ba2016.jpg
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    druidhillpark_20150812_10_ba2016.jpg
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    druidhillpark_aboretum_20150814_002.jpg
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    williamwallace_druidhillpark_ba2016.jpg
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    druidhillpark_aboretum_20150814_005_ba2016.jpg
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    druidhillpark_aboretum_20150814_061_ba2016.jpg
  • At the Entrance of Druid Hill Park
    At the Entrance of Druid Hill Park
    This garden and structure is right at the entrance of Druid Hill Park, literally two blocks away from the start of the the unrest in Baltimore that began on the parkinglot of Mondawmin Mall. I believe that if more people in our community spend more time in this beautiful park violence would take a back seat to experiencing this incredible Baltimore resource
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    DruidHillPark_Aboretum_20150814_062_Bakerr.jpg
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    BMore_DruidHillPark_20130524_01b Copy (1).JPG

    Woman flying kite in Druid Hill Park

Jazz is Freedom, Freedom is Jazz

I have always been totally fascinated by Jazz. I continue to marvel at those incredible musicians that have mastered the skill of improvisation. And the Jazz musicians captured in this project are VERY skilled at their craft. They enter another world by exploiting the right â??Keysâ? when they take their solos. And, if you, as the observer, are really listening, you will make the unpredictable trip to that other world with them enveloped in their blanket of FREEDOM with limited rules.
My connection to Jazz is very deep and very personal. I saw jazz as a child as a more subdued smoky, blue light and learned very early that Jazz was something very special, yet truly, a confusing enigma. Jazz records were always in a special pile, and it was simply understood that there would be hell to pay if the surface of one of these treasured records got damaged or scratched.
Jazz really stirred something in my parents that allowed them to freely reveal their pain as African American adults in the 50â??s and 60â??s. Jazz was part of their ritual that transitioned them to brief periods of relaxation. My mother or father (usually my mother) would carefully remove the jazz records from the album covers and sleeves and gently stack them on the shiny metal rod in the center of the turntable. And by the time that the first record hit the turntable platter and reached the full speed of 33 1/3 revolutions per minute, my parents, either individually, or together, were sitting on the couch, heads back, with a lit cigarette holstered in their monogrammed ashtrays waiting for the soothing sound of Coleman Hawkinsâ??s breath latent tenor sax, or the unpredictable harmonic brass blowout of a Count Basie opening.
Jazz listening was sometimes accompanied with alcohol â?? usually Cutty Sark scotch or a beer, but always with a full supply of Kent filtered cigarettes. This seemed appropriate since many of the musicians on the album covers looked as if they were doing the same. I especially remember a Coleman Hawkins album and noted how much more relaxed he looked than Nat King Cole or other more mainstream musicians on their albums. The blue tint effect of the black and white picture along with Colemanâ??s casual and somewhat disheveled look just said â??Cool.â?
Another favorite was their â??Big Beat on the Organâ? album by Jimmy Smith. I must have been about 6 or 7 at the time and my brother had to explain the metaphor from the picture of a huge red beet lying on the keyboard of an organ. Now that was REALLY cool.
Jazz was one of the bright joys in my parentâ??s lives that helped them decompress from the dull, dim darkness of oppression and racism that they faced everyday while they struggled to carve out a good life for their family. Jazz served as a protest or a position of non-conformity that my parents could flick back on the â??white manâ? and say, â??I donâ??t care what you do to me, cause Iâ??ve Got JAZZ and you will NEVER be this COOL!â? So, it should be no surprise that I have been walking into the light of jazz some part of my entire life through listening, performing and capturing the images of Jazz. To me, â??Everything Jazzâ? clearly represents those joyful moments of freedom that I watched my parents cherish so much to help them deal with the â??dark sideâ? of being â??Black in America.â? Jazz is
My photographs convey only a mere portion of what I felt when the image was captured. What is missing is the music produced by the subject, in that space, in that moment in time, never to be heard again the same way. I want to make people feel the music through that one instant from the musicianâ??s expression and body language. I want people to experience the joy and freedom that these musicians feel through their expression of music, and, really feel some part of those â??Stolen Momentsâ? of freedom felt by my parents during a very difficult and complex time in America.
Jazz is Freedom, Freedom is Jazz!

  • Classical Flow
    Classical Flow
  • Melanie Electrified
    Melanie Electrified
  • Melanie in Flow
    Melanie in Flow
  • Blute
    Blute
    I was feeling the Blue while listening to Salim Washington play his solo and reflecting on the Blue atmosphere my parents created while chillin' on their Jazz. This picture was photographed at the Bohemian Caverns and I was amazed to find out that my parents attended jazz shows at this same club in DC in the 1940s..
  • Photographic Improvisation
    Photographic Improvisation
    This Jazz Dance performance featured my daughter several years ago. While my family depended on me to capture this image for posterity, my flash batteries did not cooperate. So I worked dilligently with this poor photo to morph it into something that my daughter and the family would be proud of. My daughter is the dancer floating in the center. The fact that they all still speak to me is a great indicator that I was successful. Thank you Photoshop!
  • Jazz Freedom, Freedom Jazz - Poem & Background
    Jazz is Freedom, Freedom is Jazz
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    bblues_intimate_collaborationba2016.jpg
  • Noble in Flow
    Noble in Flow
  • Galactic Serenade
    Galactic Serenade
    I just went crazy on this one and love it!

Nature Therapy

I developed this series after feeling totally overwhelmed by emails, text messages and phone calls - those days that you drink life from a Fire Hose! I realized that it had been a long time since I felt the serenity of a beautiful day. You know, those days when you get to walk down a path and feel the heat of the sun on your scalp, and a breeze draws your attention to the beauty of nature that surrounds you. I have yet to be able to reproduce film or digital images that truly capture the colors that I experience in nature. When you are outside in the sunlight, it is almost as if each color produces a different sound, and these sounds envelope you with a feeling that no picture can ever replicate. These pictures that I took in various settings, from Baltimore's Inner Harbor, to Centennial Park in Columbia, to the Royal Gardens in Tokyo Japan, are the closest I have ever come replicating my connection with Nature through photography. This is truly my "Nature Therapy." I encourage you to try it!
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    lake-elkhorne02_ba2016.jpg
  • Centennial Stroll
    Centennial Stroll
    With a great day in Centennial Park, great shots just present themselves!
  • Turtle Heads
    Turtle Heads
  • Color Contrivance
    Color Contrivance
    A beautiful fall day in the King's Contrivance
  • Angry Sky
    Angry Sky
    Centennial Park in Columbia Maryland has multiple personalities. I happened to catch this one at random.
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    lakewalkelk20151026_001.jpg
  • The Bench
    The Bench
    I got a Fitbit last year and beyond the healthy aspects of walking, I recaptured the beauty of my community. I was fortunate to capture the colorful transitions of Fall in the many shots I took while walking Lake Elkhorn in Columbia Maryland.
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    septemberbutterfly01_11x14.jpg
  • Touchdown
    Touchdown
    And, No - I did not glue his little feet to the flower!!!
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    LakeWalkElk20151026_012c.jpg
    Lake Elkhorn, Columbia MD

Experiencing the Beauty of Baltimore's Inner Harbor

For years I took the Inner Harbor for granted from the perspective of it's beauty and utility. I attended the opening in 1980 and spent several years with a compelling view from my IBM office in the 80's and 90's.  But it wasn't until I began to take my camera along on my many visits to the harbor across the previous decade, capturing many compelling and breathtaking shots with my Nikon D7100 that I realized what a gem Baltimore's Inner Harbor really is.

I've entertained friends and family from around the globe and if you ask them about Baltimore, you won't be able to get them to shut up about the Inner Harbor - they don't seem to remember anything else.

This project represents those precious and beautiful moments I was able to randomly capture during my many visits to Baltimore's Beautiful Inner Harbor.
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    InnerHarbor9BF_v3.jpg
    I took this shot in October of 2014 in the evening while in Baltimore for a conference. The temperature was crisp yet the sun was bright followed by the dark cloud cover in the photo. I took this and several other shots from the Pratt Street Pavilion side looking south east perfectly timed with the gathering dark clouds.
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    InnerHarbor27BF.jpg
    I had never seen a sunset quite like this on on this Fall day on October 20, 2014 and it didn't last long since a storm began to form. I caught the sun emerging from the main National Aquarium building.
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    InnerHarbor278F.jpg
    Here is another great shot as the storm built in intensity from behind the World Trade Center at the Dragon Boat dock and it took my breath away! I used some mild pixel manipulation to reflect the true intensity of the storm.
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    InnerHarbor7BF_v3.jpg
    I moved quickly around the Inner Harbor to anticipate the gathering storm so I could get the best shots and this one really highlights the cloud activity. Also shot on October 2014.
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    InnerHarbor_Pier6BF_v2.jpg
    Seems like every time I was at the Inner Harbor, a storm was brewing. The clouds behind the Seven Foot Knoll lighthouse are very dramatic and noisy with thunder. This shot was taken in August of 2018
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    InnerHarbor15BF_v4.jpg
    While at a conference at the Pier 5 Hotel in July of 2019, I took this shot from the balcony of their round conference room. I learned later that the Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse featured here was relocated from the Chesapeake Bay to Pier 5 in recent years. It was originally built in the bay in 1855.
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    InnerHarbor14BF_v3.jpg
    This shot was taken on one of my many strolls around the harbor in the summer of 2018. The cloud formations were amazing that day.
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    InnerHarbor10BF_v3.jpg
    While sitting on a bench on the Harbor Walk on the Key Hightway side I took the shot in remembrance of the many lunchtime sailing excursions I was blessed with while working on Pratt Street for IBM. I have always found these views around the Inner Harbor relaxing and regenerative. This shot was taken in September 2019
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    InnerHarbor17BF_v3.jpg
    If you want to get an amazing view of Baltimore in all directions, be sure you go to the top of the World Trade Center. I took this shot from to top in May of 2015 looking out over the harbor
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    InnerHarbor16BF_v2.jpg
    This view of the USS Constellation and World Trade Center in the back ground was taken in August of 2018. I guess its pretty clear that I always check the weather before going to the Inner Harbor beause I always have an amazing backdrop for all of my shots!