-Ian Raymond Photographic Artist-

This collection of work contains photographs showcasing the Lakes Region of central New Hampshire. Some of the scenery may look familiar to you...some of it you may pass by every day. Other scenes may look very unfamiliar, even though you may pass by them as well.

Having travelled and photographed throughout much of the world, I have always found it exciting to explore new places. The “newness” one encounters in exploration catches one’s eye easily. Photographing in my own back yard--the Lakes Region, however, I found to be much more challenging. The novelty, excitement, and visual stimulation of your environment fades with time, and although you don’t become oblivious to the fact that you live in one of the most beautiful places on earth, one tends to allow much of this beauty to fade into the background while they get on with life. Living in a particular area for an extended period of time, the magnificent scenery becomes so embedded in one’s mind that--except for the occasional spectacular sunset--you stop really looking... one tends to focus on what they need to do, instead of enjoying where they are.

This project has been an exercise in regaining a vision. Of wandering throughout the Lakes Region and really looking. At times, even a meditation... of shutting out the what you need to do, and replacing it with the blissful enjoyment of where you are. The process has allowed me to rediscover the Lakes Region, as if I am visiting the area for the first time. The creation of these images has, at times, been an almost metaphysical experience, where I would set out with the intention of coming upon something extraordinarily beautiful, and after hours of searching came back to where I started, to realize that sometimes it is the mundane which was sitting right before me all the time, which best reflects the beauty of God’s creations.

Having lived and worked in the Laconia area for over 30 years, I have seen many changes take place in the Lakes Region--some for the better, some not. And as these changes have taken place, I have come to truly appreciate what we have here in Central New Hampshire. We are incredibly fortunate to live here, work here and perhaps most importantly, play here. I hope that this collection will serve not only as an historical record of our picturesque environment, but also as an inspiration to others to preserve what we have been blessed with.

These photographs are printed on 100% cotton rag museum quality paper with pigment based inks to provide you with an image of unrivaled beauty and permanence.

I hope you enjoy viewing these images as much as I enjoyed creating them. It was truly a pleasure to get back to doing some of my personal work, and to travel around and just enjoy the great outdoors.

Ian Raymond, originally from Beverly, Massachusetts, has been calling New Hampshire home for the last 30 or so years. He studied Media at St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire; followed by studies at the New England School of Photography in Boston; after which he became a certified photographic counselor and certified photofinishing engineer.

His work has won awards in the Luminos Print Makers Guild, and is collected throughout the United States and Europe. He has worked in photographic retail, managed a photo lab, and then went on to open a commercial photographic studio:The Image Center, in 1987. In 1992 he moved the studio's location and re-opened under a new name: Raymond Photography.

He has worked in Paris, Los Angeles, and done photography in such exotic places as Bora Bora, Tahiti, England, Scotland, France, Hawaii, the American Southwest, and, of course, most exotic of all (at least that's what he tells himself when it's 25 degrees below zero)--New England.

His studio specializes in product photography for the mail order catalog industry, architectural and industrial photography, and editorial work for magazines. He lives with his wife and 2 children in the beautiful town of Sanbornton, New Hampshire.

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