Bill Wakeham

First let me say I participated in one of Ray’s workshops in Nov. of ’09 and though there was an issue w/the raptor handler.....lost.....Ray not only maintained contact w/the handler to vector him to the shoot site, but he also interacted w/us, the participants, talking photography and techniques for shooting BIFs.

By the end of the day I don’t think there was one disappointed photographer due to Ray’s personality and expertise.

But the raptor shoot isn’t the reason I’m writing this testimonial; the reason is to show how Ray goes that extra step to help photographers and to thank Ray for helping me.

Back on Feb. 10th I was given the opportunity to photograph a hockey game (Feb. 20th) between U of New Hampshire and the U of Vermont for an ad group at UNH.

Having never shot a hockey game (tough indoor lighting and fast movement) I was in a quandary to what lens(es) to rent (I knew my 2 lenses weren’t suitable for the task).

I put out a couple of questions to other photographers (including Ray) who recommended fast primes and/or fast zooms.

Now remember, this is 3 months after spending a few hours shooting raptors w/Ray and I was 1 in a group of about 12.....Ray not only remembered me, he quickly started giving me in depth suggestions (link to his shots of hockey games) on how to shoot the game via emails. He also offered to call me and help me w/some post processing tricks he had learned from his experience in shooting hockey games.

To say the least, I was overwhelmed by his willingness to put aside his tasks and spend time talking me through the process.

I received an email Friday, Mar. 5th from the UNH ad group and it began with the exclamation “WOW”.....I don’t think I would have received this enthusiastic response without Ray’s help.

Thank you so very much Ray

Bill Wakeham