Charles Ray stepped behind the camera in 1954, at the age of 23. The Story Behind the Story: The Charles A. Ray Photography Collection tells about a man who documented the second half of the twentieth century with an unerring eye and an incomparable nose for news. Ray’s camera captured a nation in flux. Through his lens, television viewers experienced the drama of presidential campaigns, the passion of the civil rights movement, and the adventure and tragedy of NASA’s race for space. Charles Ray documented our nation’s growing pains, including the bloody clashes between police and journalists covering the civil rights protests of the 1960s, and the tragic end of Camelot. He holds awards from The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the National Press Photographers Association, the Illinois Press Photographers Association, and the Chicago Press Photographers Association, including three-time Cameraman of the Year, as well as multiple Emmy Awards for his news camera work.
Charles Ray graciously donated his collection to Florida Gulf Coast University Library in 2002. The Charles A. Ray Photography Collection includes photographs, negatives, daybooks, audiotapes, videotapes, periodicals, newspapers, a reel-to-reel projector, 16mm film, and other professional mementos. The collection will be digitized and made accessible to the public in 2014, cementing Ray’s aspiration to inspire future generations of journalists and photographers. Charles Ray was a skilled visionary photographer; The Story Behind the Story exhibit continues his legacy by reminding us never to take our eye off the action.
