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May 18, 2025
Through the Lens: 50 Years of Ray Lowe Photography in Broxbourne
Through the Lens: 50 Years of Ray Lowe Photography in Broxbourne
00:00
1:06:52
Transcript
0:05
Hello, everyone. Welcome back to The Voice of Hotels, the podcast that brings you the people, the stories shaping Broxbourne and beyond. I'm your host, Emeka Ogbonnaya.
0:15
Today's episode is a special one because we are sitting down with a man whose name is etched into the halls of our history.
0:22
For 50 years, Ray Lowe Photography has captured milestones, memories, and moments for generations of families in our borough.
0:31
From weddings, newborns, to graduations and portraits, Ray and his team have been part of the Broxbourne story. The studio is now officially closed, uh, after about five remarkable d- decades, but the impact remains.
0:47
Ray Lowe is not only a master of his craft, but also an avid reader and supporter of Broxterne. And today, we are honored to talk to him about the journey, the legacy, and what comes next. Hello, Ray. How are you? Hi.
1:03
Um, how am I? I've been told by my staff I have to say I'm wonderful, thank you. But in fact, I'm exceedingly depressed. [laughs] I can imagine. Because I've come to a point in my life that I didn't envisage.
1:18
Um, when I started my business in Cheshunt 50 years ago, I didn't think 50 years down the line. You never think, I don't think you think that far ahead. Um, when I opened my first studios,
1:34
it was a case of worrying about paying the rent for the month or for the year. You never really thought much beyond that.
1:42
Then you started booking weddings for another year down the line, then so you started sort of elongating your, your time s- span. Um, but never ever did I think that I'd be sitting here 50 years later.
1:58
Well, we can take the first one. You are looking great, and you sound great. [laughs] Looking great. I wish I felt looking great. Well, we're gonna have to start, um, by asking you what really inspired...
2:12
I guess when you look back 50 years, what really inspired you to choose Broxbourne, and Cheshunt in particular for your business? Um, I actually
2:22
lived in a small terrace house, the first property I owned, which was over the back of St. Mary's Church in Cheshunt. Um, so I, I obviously took out a mortgage, bought a property there.
2:39
[laughs] And if anybody wants to know how times have changed, that property was £9,000. Oh, no. [laughs] Now, you know, people pay more than that for their cars and things like that. So times have changed enormously.
2:54
Um, but because I sort of started in Cheshunt, I decided quite early on that I wanted to run my own business because I had that mentality of I found it difficult working for other people.
3:09
I was unlucky that I worked for other photographers who turned out to be complete and utter selfish idiots. Um, and I swore I would never, um, be like them.
3:23
Um, so at the age of 16, when I started in photography, um, albeit I actually wanted to be a policeman, um, that was my ambition, but obviously things took different turns. Um, and then
3:38
I moved to Cheshunt, and then I saw a shop that was coming up empty, which was next door to the Wimpy Bar at Cheshunt Ponds. Mm.
3:48
And when I, [laughs] when I talk to people about the Wimpy Bar, they say, "God, does Wimpy still exist?" And in fact, next Thursday on my birthday, I'm taking the staff to the Wimpy for lunch. Wow.
3:58
So for me, it will be a 50-year full circle- So good... of having a shop next door to the Wimpy Bar and now going there for our last get together. Um, but I sho- saw a shop that was ideal, put in an offer,
4:15
took out a five-year lease on it, um, and the story really started from there. Albeit I'd worked from home for a few months, where I was able to do weddings for people.
4:29
I also did commercial industrial photography for companies. So, you know, my knowledge base has been quite vast. Um, then obviously once we got the studio, uh, at Cheshunt Pond,
4:43
it was portraiture for families and weddings, and it's carried on from there. And then six years later, no, five years later, we then took over the shop that we're in now. Wow.
4:56
I mean, if you, if anybody was to actually think back, I don't even kn- know if anybody knows the history of that Wimpy- [laughs]... Bar close to, uh, Ray Lowe Photography.
5:06
Well, it's been there more than 50 years, that's for sure. If you know anything, uh, we would like to hear from you guys, uh, just to remember all of those, uh, times.
5:17
The problem is having a shop next to a Wimpy Bar, going in there for a milkshake three times a day, um, [laughs] and getting Wimpy's and Knickerbocker Glories, it certainly didn't do our waistlines any good.
5:31
Yeah, I can imagine. I mean, this, uh, plan for you to go there for your birthday will be a good one for anybody else's waistline. [laughs] Like, I'm just looking at, looking at your business.
5:45
Where were those early days in terms of now booking your first, um, gigs, uh, getting those photography, getting those portraits done? Uh, how, how... What-- I guess, what were your first, uh, memorable, um, bookings?
6:00
What were your challenges, and how did you even build a loyal customer?
6:05
Because I think over time now, Ray Lowe is, like I said earlier on in my intro, is etched in people's memory, especially people who are in this, um, part of Hertfordshire.Well, it's funny because when I think back to those early days, it was that assumption that you had a big shop window, you put photographs in the shop window, people would see what you do, and that's why having a shop in effectively that was called the High Street at Cheshunt Ponds, people would see you, people would come in.
6:37
But in fact, in those days, word of mouth when you first started out obviously wasn't that great because not many people knew you, so you had to spend a lot of money advertising. Now we've got Facebook and Instagram,
6:53
um, and before we obviously closed it all down, we were spending £1,000 a month advertising on Facebook and Instagram.
7:01
But go back 50 years, the-- literally the only place you could advertise yourselves was in the local newspaper.
7:07
Um, and we had the Cheshunt Mercury, the Hertfordshire Mercury, both of which don't exist anymore, which is why I love Brox Town because, you know, I think reading in Brox Town good news stories, um, is always, you know, a joy on a Tuesday and a Friday.
7:26
But the local newspaper was the hub of the area. That's where everybody advertised and things like that. Um, and
7:37
I realized from an early time that you've got to do things, you've got to be different, you've got to step outside the box for people to notice you and that sort of thing.
7:47
So in our industry, um, there are obviously competitions.
7:52
Um, so I would enter, um, photographic, professional photographic competitions, and if I won an award or I got highly merited and things like that, I would put it in the local newspaper.
8:05
Um, and that is something that we did the way we do Facebook now, was a constant. We tried to get into the local newspaper as often as possible.
8:18
And in fact, I spoke to the editor once, and he said, "Will you stop sending me stuff because people think that we are biased towards you because we put so much in the newspaper about Ray Lowe winning awards."
8:29
And then I'd go shopping, um, and somebody would say, "Oh, I saw you in the newspaper last week. Oh, you keep winning awards." So it worked.
8:37
It worked because the more you could put yourself and your face of winning things, because people want to go to successful businesses.
8:47
Um, and therefore, the more that you can show that you're successful, then the more you're likely to attract people. And for me, in those early years, that was such a vital thing.
9:00
Um, so our professional associations, which I then, um, got heavily involved with, were a lifeline towards publicity, so it made a big difference. But we spent a lot of money on advertising.
9:15
Well, you heard it from the legend himself. Uh, it is not something that you can just set up a business and expect people to just roll in.
9:22
Uh, back in the day, there was a lot of, uh, putting yourself forward in places you wouldn't normally do.
9:28
But I think he had a strategy, which is win the awards, use the awards, uh, uh, to get people noticing how, I guess, the quality of your work ranks against your peers.
9:40
Uh, so if you have to, uh, take any sort of, uh, tips from it, I'm sure you've heard it now directly from the legend. And, uh, over 50 years,
9:49
you have basically photographed thousands of people, recorded a lot of milestones. I guess there are many sessions that you have actually captured.
9:59
Are there any funny moments, you know, during your, you know, that you can't forget, you know, maybe from cl-clients or maybe requests from clients that, you know, stand out to you now? It's funny because, um,
10:16
you don't sort of remember necessarily funny things. Um, you remember various stories. You remember various things. Um, you remember...
10:32
Funnily enough, I often say what you do is you remember the really good customers or the really bad customers, customers that give you grief, um, and the, the customers that are just so wonderful and delightful, and we've had so many of those that in a way, there aren't sort of any single individual things that stand out in terms of I've been bitten by dogs.
10:55
I've turned up to weddings where the bride is two hours late. Um, you know, I've done portrait sittings for huge families. You know, we've had sort of 20, I think 28 people in a family in the studio.
11:11
We've done three, four, and five-generation families. Um, and all those sorts of things are what you do, but none stick out more than any others because, again, to me,
11:24
individual customers have always been the most important thing. You mentioned it a little bit earlier about quality. The one thing to me that's been paramount in, in my industry is the quality of the product.
11:38
I've always maintained customers are coming to me as a professional, and it's my job to give them the best quality possible.
11:46
Because when they put that on their wall, then that is going to be there for a very, very long time. And that, for me, that longevity of what we do was so, so important.
11:59
So making sure that we gave the customers what the customers wanted was the most important thing. That is fantastic.
12:12
So Ray, you mentioned previously that, um, uh, back in the days, there were no Facebooks, Instagrams where you can put your-... advertisement on. I just wanted to know, how have your business
12:27
moved or sh- or has been shaped or evolved over time as technology shifted from your typical film to digital? How has your work evolved? That's a massive question because
12:44
the shift has been astronomical. Um, nobody now, nobody doesn't know what Instagram or Facebook or TikTok is. You know, the world revolves around that.
13:01
[chuckles] America revolves around that. You know, the president only talks to the world through social media it seems. Um,
13:11
I, I sometimes look back and I think if Facebook had been around, you know, when I was sort of building the business from the start, you could become massive very quickly.
13:26
And I think that's the thing, is it does become a numbers game. Um, this business needs customers. Customers is the only thing that has kept this business going.
13:38
Now, getting your name in front of a person is the single most important thing. So for us at the moment, or has been for many, many years, our website has been the single most important thing.
13:53
We've spent a lot of time, or my daughter, who has run this business for me for the last 20 years, otherwise it wouldn't exist, has run our social media. She's built up a Facebook, um, following.
14:09
She built the website from scratch, and now we have a fanta... or we had a fantastic website where we were able to put that in front of thousands and thousands of people.
14:20
I mean, the funny thing is we're talking about Cheshunt and Broxbourne and Hertfordshire, yet customers come f- to us from huge distances because of the reputation we have, because of the quality.
14:34
Um, we have them coming to us from, you know, Luton, Romford, London, way out Cambridge, and everywhere in between.
14:46
You draw, um, a circle around those four areas I've mentioned, and that's where our customers come from. Now, that's only happened because of social media.
14:56
Um, when you advertised in the local newspaper, it was your local newspaper.
15:01
If you were lucky enough to get one of my press stories about winning an award into the Hertfordshire Mercury, uh, which w- was a, a step up in quantity from the Cheshunt Mercury, you know, y- you were over the moon because you knew you were reaching a wider audience.
15:19
Then your customer base grew through word of mouth. Um, or you'd go to a wedding and people would ask you at a wedding if you do families or children and things like that.
15:31
So, weddings became a, a conduit for reaching more people. So it was a very sort of uphill, slow grind of getting your name out there for people.
15:43
Um, and then of course, the digital world, I don't know what, 25 years or so ago, um, just changed absolutely everything. It changed photography out of all sight.
15:55
But remember, I've been around that long, that when I first started, um, the first professional picture I took was in 1966. October 1966, um, it was in black and white. The weddings...
16:13
I worked for a photographer in Islington, and the weddings I did in 1966, '67, '68 were black and white weddings.
16:22
Color film was only coming in in the amateur market, then Kodak's, um, expanded it into the professional market.
16:32
In those days, we used very classy, expensive cameras called Hasselblads, and Hasselblads still exist now, and they are the, the sort of Rolls-Royce of cameras.
16:42
But in those days, um, it was black and white, then it moved on to color, um, and then it sort of carried on from there. But you had to load a roll of film into the back of a camera and, you know, that was clumsy.
17:00
Um, now... And you could take either 12 or 24 pictures on a roll of film. Now, you can take 2,000 images in a digital camera without doing anything.
17:11
And you were asking about funny stories or things like that, and the one thing I remember and I go back to, was when I was 18, so that would have been around about '68, '69, um, that's 1968 [chuckles] '69. Um,
17:30
I got to photograph the Queen, um, because I... The, the company I worked for worked for a local newspaper called the Islington Gazette, and I don't even know if that still is going.
17:41
But Islington Gazette had, um, throes of going into certain places as the local newspaper press photographers. This particular day, um, the Queen was visiting, um, a place called St.
17:58
John's just outside Islington, and I was nominated as the local photographer. You had the guys from the Mirror and The Sun and the big boys and things like that, and we were just given one spot on this rotor.
18:14
So there's this snotty-nosed little 18-year-old who was absolutely scared out of his light, out of his wits with a HasselbladWho got to photograph the Queen Mm.
18:26
And I remember being inside this building, and I'd taken various photographs, and this was actually...
18:33
Yeah, it would've been '60, '68, '69, because it was actually color, because I can still in the back of my mind remember the picture I took of the Queen in a gr- lovely green outfit.
18:44
And there was five of us photographers all sort of in an area, and they were all using 35 mil cameras, and I was using the Hasselblad, and I had to change a roll of film. And of course, I was nervous as hell.
18:58
Um, and I'm fumbling, trying to change a roll of film, and she was just coming past and she looked at me and she went, "You take your time, young man."
19:07
[laughs] And at that point you think, "Oh my God, the Queen has just spoken to me," you know?
19:13
And, and in a way that was such a wonderful experience because, one, it obviously settled me down, um, and I carried on, um, and carried on taking some more photographs, which I don't have anymore 'cause The Evening Gazette owned them.
19:28
Um, but I got to photograph Prince Philip at a, a, an event and various things like that, which that was the pinnacle.
19:35
Now, after her, nothing after that ever phased me because, you know, going to a wedding of 300 or 400, um, guests would be daunting, but it wasn't, because once you had done- Reached that pinnacle...
19:52
you know, reached that point of, well, nothing's gonna be greater than this, therefore everything after this is gonna cruise by. And I have photographed so many celebrities and, and famous people over the years that
20:08
nothing ever bothered me, because that was so special. But in those early days it was, you know, the newspapers that literally ran everything and, you know, life revolved around newspapers more than anything else.
20:26
Well, you've, you've heard it all. Um, I guess when you listen back to this, you're gonna know, um, some of the history you didn't know before.
20:37
I guess most people who will probably be listening to this, uh, w- w- will hardly remember the 1960s. [laughs] But if you do, I'm sure you have some, [laughs] some of the memories back, uh, that you can actually tell us.
20:49
We would like to hear, some of us who were born a little later than that. [laughs] Um, so Ray, I, I just wanted to ask a little bit about, um... Of course, the studio became part of the community.
21:04
And how did, how, how did it feel to be part of so many families' lives? Because obviously people have become close to you.
21:14
Um, people have taken, I guess, maybe wedding pictures, followed up with baby pictures, followed with, you know, growing up pictures. I guess when you are that close to families, you know,
21:26
it must, it makes, it must make you feel a certain way. Yes, it does, and it, it's a very strange feeling because you do feel part of a bigger thing. I mean, I've always felt part of Cheshunt.
21:43
I've always felt part of Broxbourne. I've always felt part of Hertfordshire, because for f- 50 years of my life, this has been my life. You know? It's where I've grown up.
21:55
You know, I joke man and boy, I've been a photographer. Um, and as man and boy in this area, I've become part... I feel I've become part of it. But something happened this week.
22:10
Um, since COVID, one of the things we offered was delivering customers' work to their houses, because obviously through COVID we couldn't work, but we had a lot of work from before it happened.
22:22
So we said we would deliver the work to people's homes and that sort of thing. And since COVID, it's carried on since then.
22:29
Well, this week there's a woman, uh, in Hertford who we photographed her child at least every six months. Um, and people... The only reason we've stayed in business is because of the loyalty of customers.
22:44
Customers have come to us every year. We've seen children grow up from babies through to, you know, teenagers and school.
22:54
Since we've announced that we're closing down, the amount of people that said, "Oh, you did my wedding 31 years ago. You did my wedding 37 years ago." Um, I've had so many people reminding me that I did their weddings.
23:09
[laughs] One woman said, "Your photographs lasted longer than my marriage." Um, so, [laughs] um, I said, "Well, I can't be blamed for that one."
23:18
Um, but it, it's this thing of I've only ever really thought of myself as a local photographer.
23:27
I've never had these highfalutin ideas that I'm gonna be world famous or, you know, um, the sort of likes of David Bailey and that sort of thing.
23:37
It's very much a case of I've always been a local photographer involved with local people. Even though people visit us from huge distances, we get people...
23:48
One woman come, or won't anymore, but one woman came to us recently from Norwich, and she said, "I grew up in Cheshunt, and I wanted you to photograph, um, our family, um, and that's why we've come to you."
24:02
So they've come a big distance, but they actually grew up in the area. And
24:08
this woman I went to deliver her photographs in Hertford this week, knocked on the door, rang that horrible ring doorbell, um, and she opened the door. She went, "Oh, Ray, fantastic. Thanks very much for delivering them.
24:23
Uh, we're going on holiday tomorrow, so we're finding it a bit difficult getting everything done." And I stood at her front door, and she's got-...
24:30
the passageway, and on the left-hand side of the passageway was about 15, what I call Ray Lowe portraits. Every single one of them was in a beautiful black frame, and she hadn't just put them up, you know, willy-nilly.
24:46
She had got a lovely design going up her wall, and she literally stood back, put her hand out and, you know, as if to say- Look at this... this is Ray Lowe Gallery. This is your work.
24:56
And that's exactly what it felt like. It felt like a Ray Lowe Gallery because it looked fantastic, absolutely fantastic.
25:04
Now, that is somebody who photography is important to, and that customer is important to us as a business, and that's what's helped us grow as a business. So
25:17
I've never felt anything more than being a good quality local photographer that works for people.
25:25
Um, and the amount of people that say to me, "Oh, you know, you photographed my kids 15 years ago, and the portrait's still on the wall," and the- these sorts of things. And it is a very, very warm feeling because it,
25:37
it means I'm leaving behind huge memories for people, and there are always stories around pictures. People will look at a, a certain picture at a certain time, and that will bring memories back to them.
25:54
Um, and it's a, a moment in their life that we've recorded. Capture.
26:00
And of course, unfortunately, time moves on, and people pass away, and people say, "Oh, we've got this fabulous family generational portrait, um, but Granddad's passed away now, and therefore the picture means so much more to us."
26:14
And it's things that people say like that that make me realize that what I've done is been there to create memories for people to im- improve their lives, as it were.
26:29
I think what you don't realize is how much that is in many lives across the circle you drew earlier on- Mm... not just the Chesham, not the local. Mm.
26:40
Um, because what you've done is, like you said rightly, you've captured moments in people's lives, and that record remains forever. Mm.
26:52
And obviously, without you, and obviously the quality that you have kept over the years, that has kept people coming back after their first or their second- Mm... visit. And I'm basically one of the examples.
27:04
I've got my kids when they were toddlers, they were being photographed in those, uh, little things, but they're, they're big now. Yeah. And, um, those, uh, memories will never leave us.
27:14
I mean, to be honest with you, when they were kids, the pictures we took are still on their walls- Mm... in their rooms, and they, they know it is them when they were young. That's right. So that's- And that's- Yeah.
27:24
We're gonna tell them, "It's Ray." Yeah. That's the longevity of, of what we do, is that they're gonna be around for quite some time. And, uh, there's a very psychological effect as well.
27:35
Um, we've had people come to us and say, "Oh, we've had another child." Um, and we'd say, "Yep, fine. How old are the children?" "Well, the first one is, uh, is nine and, and the second one is three.
27:49
And it was last week the three-year-old said, 'Don't you love me, Mommy?'" And Mommy looked at her and said, "Why'd you say that?"
27:58
And she said, "Well, there's a picture of you, Daddy, and Jamie on the wall, and I'm not in it." And all of a sudden, psychologically, that child is going, "Hold up a minute. Am I not important?
28:10
Is my brother more important than me?" And that becomes such a, a huge effect on children. We as grown-ups sometimes forget that kids are a hell of a lot more astute than we, we give them credit for.
28:27
They notice things a lot more than we give them credit for. Um,
28:33
I had one family come to us who fostered children, um, and she would always come in for a family portrait with the fostered children and put it on the wall because it was important that that photograph told that child that she was part of this family.
28:52
Um, and that I think is a, a very, very important thing. Well, I'm gonna have to tell you my story. I had to,
29:01
over time with my three kids, I have to take out the photographs on the wall and replace it with the latest one. [laughs] Because the kids, when they're missing, and we obviously have...
29:11
There's another kid here, but then you've only got a few of them on the, on the, on, on, on the photograph. They start asking, "Why am I not there?" Yeah.
29:19
So we have to take it out, take a new one so that we can put it up so that everybody's included. Yeah.
29:23
I say to people, what you should do is, is put your photographs up the staircase, and you can say to your kids, you know, "This is the evolution of your family. This is, you know- When you were there...
29:33
this is when you weren't there, which is now at the top of the stairs. The bottom of the stairs, now you're there. You know, and, and one day you'll be at the top of the stairs.
29:41
[laughs] Well, I- I'm just gonna ask you, I mean, you've mentioned that you, you really like BroxTown and, um, and all the local newspapers that you have actually engaged with or interacted with in the past.
29:57
What role has local storytelling and media played in your life and your business? Oh, huge. Um, communication is what it's all about. Telling people what you do, what you can do for them, and everything else.
30:13
But reading about what goes on in the local areas, um... The funny thing is my wife buys a local, um, uh, newspaper at the weekend and things like that, and she'll say, "Oh, did you read that story?" And I go, "No."
30:28
Because I flick through a national newspaper, and I look at the pictures, literally, and I look at maybe the odd headline. But to me, a n- a national newspaper is so depressing.
30:41
I think, you know, a national newspaper-... is, is the cause of suicidal tendencies because you, you think you live in a world where everything is bad, where everything is horrible.
30:53
You assume that every kid in London has got a knife in his pocket.
30:56
You assume that every teacher in, in London is, is being attacked, and, you know, all these terrible, terrible things that go on because that's all the he- the newspapers highlight, and that upsets me enormously.
31:10
So I find that I just don't want to read it, and I don't. I read Jeremy Clarkson because he's funny and things like that, but apart from that, I don't read the newspapers except for the sports pages.
31:24
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32:12
That's Media Town Property Services, where selling your home is just easier. And now, back to the conversation. Um, and Brox Town is the complete opposite.
32:27
I find when I read Brox Town, I learn far more about [laughs] my local area than even I knew, and yet, you know, I sort of go around quite a bit.
32:37
Um, and learning more about the people in it and that sort of thing makes a huge difference. But it's always positive.
32:45
That to me is why I love it, and it's that positivity, and I think the more in our society we could see and read positivity, then I think it would be a much, much better place to live.
32:58
Um, I mean, I think the borough's a fantastic place to live. But, um, I just think that communication, communicating to as wider audience as possible of what is good is so important, and I think you do a fantastic job.
33:15
And what the hell we did before Brox Town because there was this huge void between the Chessunt Mercury no longer existing and, and then you sort of coming on the scene.
33:26
Um, and you literally just didn't even think of what was going on in the areas. But, you know, I've looked at some of the adverts.
33:33
There's one I think on May the 31st up at Hertfordshire Zoo, and I thought, "Oh, I wouldn't mind going along to that." A bit of, a bit of Indian street food, you know, and sort of feed it to the lions.
33:45
I think that's a [laughs] that's quite a nice day out. So, um, you know, I just think that within the local area, having good news and things to hook into just makes people feel happier and more aware about everything.
34:02
Well, that's actually what, um, what we go out doing, looking for those lovely stories, and recently there was this story about the street sweeper and which, um, I guess we might as well let the people know.
34:19
[laughs] You let, you let us, um, highlight and spotlight, uh, Calvin White, and which was really good.
34:25
I think, um, since I've been posting on Instagram, that was the one that has gotten the, the, the highest interaction. Really? Since I have been posting on Instagram. Oh, that's- That one got the highest...
34:39
that pleases me. Yes. Because he's such a remarkable person- Yes... in so much as you'd never, never notice him, but he always says hello. You walk past or he'll wave at you across the street and things like that.
34:52
And I was sitting in a traffic jam, um, about three weeks ago, and he wasn't just sweeping the streets or whatever.
35:01
He was actually using a, a, a hoe, I think it's called, uh, where he was sort of digging up the weeds on the edge of the pavement. Oh. And he was sort of... And he was...
35:12
I was stuck in this traffic jam, and it wasn't bothering me being in this traffic jam 'cause I was watching him doing what he was doing, and I thought, "You know what? Nobody, but nobody has noticed what he's doing."
35:23
Even his employers probably don't have a clue who he is. Um, and he was doing it so methodically to get rid of these weeds, and then he swept them up and put them in a...
35:34
And then he moved on, and I've seen him emptying the, the various bins and things like that. But he's always so happy, and I just thought, "You know what? There must be hundreds of people like that who are amazing."
35:46
I think we have, um, a brilliant dustbin service, if you call it that, or refuse service. Um, I don't know, you know, what is the correct terminology anymore. But when you consider what's just happened in Birmingham.
36:02
Now, okay, um, nobody will remember, but in the 1970s, um, there was a national bin strike or rubbish strike or whatever, and the streets of London were piled high with rubbish, and that's when there was, um, the rat problem and all this sort of thing.
36:23
And I didn't think about that until what's just happened in Birmingham.
36:27
But I know that if I put our rubbish bags out on a Saturday or a Sunday evening, first thing on a Monday morning, they are gone, and it doesn't matter whether it's a bank holiday or the weather or anything.
36:42
Our dustbins are brilliant. And I just think that is such an amazing service that whoever in Broxbourne is in charge of it needs a pat on the back. Yes.
36:51
Um, the same as, you know, Calvin is just one of those people that nobody notices, but he's brilliant, and he's brilliant because he does what he enjoys doing.Yeah, I think, um, everybody sort of acknowledged that he's one of those people you don't necessarily pay attention to what they're doing, great service to the- Yeah...
37:11
community. Yeah. Phenomenal. Phenomenal. Oh, I'm pleased with that. [laughs] Yeah. And I guess, uh, he will probably be surprised by the time he start getting a lot of hugs. Yes. [laughs] Yeah.
37:23
Well, af- after I read what you put, [laughs] I, I was just thinking, oh, somebody's gonna walk down the street, give him a hug, and he's gonna go- And he's gonna be like-... what the hell was that for? Yeah.
37:32
[laughs] What have I done? So I, I'm sure he will acknowledge at some point. We'll probably speak to him and see what his reaction was. Mm. I wanted to go into the legacy you leave behind.
37:45
Obviously, when people talk about Ray Lowe Studios in the years to come, what do you hope they'll remember? Wow. Another huge, huge, difficult question to answer. Um, legacy,
38:04
it, it's one of those things that I'd love the thought of somebody looking at the picture on the wall and going, "Oh yeah, Ray Lowe took that."
38:12
Um, it's really funny because if you go back, back, back, um, people used to have this conversation of is photography art? And I've belonged to these professional associations.
38:25
I've been president of both of my professional associations, which no other photographer has been. Um, um, but there's always been this question, art versus photography. Artists sign their work.
38:40
You know you've got a Van Gogh because of the signature, or a Renoir, or whatever. And there was always this thing of should photographers sign their pictures?
38:52
And there are some photographers that believe you should sign your pictures, and there are other photographers that believe you shouldn't.
38:58
Um, and I went through a little phase where I did sign my pictures, [clears throat] and I did get to a point where I thought, do people want a photograph on their wall with my signature in the corner?
39:11
Um, and then I reached a point where I stopped doing it, and I've never done it since.
39:16
And it isn't because I don't think photography is art, I just don't think that when people are buying something like that, that they necessarily need my name on it.
39:25
But I would like to think that somebody, when they're chatting to people or somebody walks into their home [clears throat]
39:32
and goes, "Oh, love that picture," and they go, "Oh yeah, we had that done at Ray Lowe's," that would make me feel really, really warm because that means that they remember me as an individual, not just a photograph or a professional photograph.
39:51
When people say, "You did my wedding," you know, "31 years ago," or, "You were a big part of our wedding."
39:56
Because I always used to be part of a wedding because I used to have to organize events, I used to have to organize, you know, getting people in the right place at the right time and working out a timeframe
40:10
so that people's wedding days went smoother. So, you know, when people look back at their wedding albums, they're gonna remember who the photographer was and things like that.
40:20
And that, for me, is the legacy, is you've left something behind that in a way is part of you. If you're a good photographer, [clears throat] when you take a photograph, part of you is in that picture. Yeah.
40:37
What I say part of your soul.
40:39
When I go in- into any work, whether it's commercial, industrial, or portraiture, or weddings, there was always a bit of me left behind, and it's what I'd say is I'm using my heart and soul to take a picture.
40:55
When I'd get back from a wedding, I would be so totally and utterly exhausted mentally and physically because I've given 100%. And it's that belief of I'm leaving something behind. I'm leaving part of me behind.
41:13
I'm... With every picture that I've got on people's walls, part of me is in that picture. That to me is important.
41:23
Because of sort of how I started, where I started, and my desire to be the best I probab- possibly could. My father, um, had three jobs because he instilled in me the necessity of work.
41:41
You've got to work if you want to achieve anything. You're not... In those days, they didn't have the lottery, so, you know, you were never gonna win money. You were never gonna get money any other way than working hard.
41:51
So that, that thing of I've worked seven days a week, um, for a huge amount of years, weddings on Saturdays and Sundays, portraiture and commercial work during the week. Working a seven-day week is...
42:07
was quite normal for me. That's why now retiring is gonna be so alien. I'm scared to the... You know, I'm just petrified of giving up because I've always had things to look forward to.
42:22
But going right the way back to the very beginning, I hated school. Um, I was no good at school. I had no teachers at school that ever inspired me.
42:33
There was no one teacher that would sort of put their arm around you and go, "You should do this"- Yeah... "or you should do that." Our careers master suggested I join the army because I was fit. Um, uh, [laughs]
42:47
and my father was seriously wounded in Dunkirk. The last thing he was ever gonna do was let me go in the army, which is why, in a way, I wanted to go in the police force.
42:55
But, um, the only inspiration I ever got from secondary school was on the very last day, our English housemaster went round the class telling the students what he thought of them.Um, and he was not necessarily a nice teacher.
43:12
Um, and he'd say, "Right, Hunt, yes, you're, you know, you'll go through life well," and all this. Got to me and he went, "Lowe, you will just go through life average." He said, "You will never amount to anything.
43:25
Um, so just, you know, try and find a job that, uh, will give you some money." And that destroyed me at the, at that time, that he told me I was gonna amount to nothing. And
43:38
what happened, obviously somewhere in my psyche, is I had to- Prove him wrong... prove him wrong. Yeah.
43:46
And when I got my first fellowship, because in qualification terms, fellowship is the highest level you can achieve, and I've achieved three fellowships. But when I got my first fellowship, um,
43:59
I wrote to him, because at that time he had left teaching and he'd become a conservative MP, and he was working at the House of Commons, and he sent me a letter on House of Com- oh, no.
44:12
I sent him a letter at the House of Commons saying, "You said I would amount to nothing. I'm now one of the highest qualified photographers in the UK," blah, blah, blah.
44:21
He wrote back saying, "I knew if I gave you a piece of inspiration, uh, you would achieve something." And I thought, you lying toad. [laughs] What a typical politician, you know? Yeah. Absolute typical.
44:33
And then a few years later, he got arrested for fraud- Oh, no... because he fraud... He did fraud against British Rail or something like that.
44:43
And I just thought, my God, you know, how the sort of- He lied in the first place... So that piece of inspiration was not from a teacher that was trying to make you do good. It was a teacher that was horrible.
44:53
Um, so for me, my legacy was creating the very, very best I possibly could create, um, because I wanted to be the best at what I did.
45:05
Um, and I believe I've achieved that, because I've achieved everything I set out to do. 50 years in business was never one of those things that I set out to achieve, but obviously have. Yeah.
45:17
But getting my qualifications, um, and all those, and, you know, having two wonderful children that I've put on the lines of hopefully their success, then that's all you can ask for.
45:32
Do you think the art of professional studio photography still has a future? That again... [laughs] You're coming up with some cracking questions. Um, that again is one of those difficult things because Mr.
45:47
Apple has produced a product that allows every human being to take a photograph as easy as anything, and unfortunately I see so much rubbish out there. We see so many bad pictures.
46:05
There are, what, millions and millions of pictures taken every single day on iPhones.
46:11
The art of what we do, of what I call creating an image, by taking a mum, dad, and a couple of kids, um, and a dog in the studio and creating imagery that is special,
46:24
I think is going to become less, and less, and less of a feature because there are less and less discerning people.
46:34
There will always be this group of people who want something special or something different, and they're the people that will go to a professional studios.
46:44
But so many people will make do, will just make do with an iPhone picture and go, "There we are. That's good enough." For me, photography's never been something where I'd go, "That's good enough."
46:58
It was never, "That's good enough." It always had to be special. It always had to be different. We try to understand the customer, you know.
47:07
Do you want something that's very formal and conservative in the studio, or do you want something that's more casual and fun? You know, what type of family are you?
47:17
Um, are you a family that play together, therefore your photography in the studio is gonna be much more, um- Informal... yeah, mu- much more fun and sort of lively. So
47:30
I think if anybody is going to want to be a professional photography, a photographer, they're gonna have to be very specific about what they do. Newborn photography, um, is something we've done so much of.
47:47
Huge for, for donkey's years. Um, photographing a baby at one, two, three weeks old is such a remarkable thing, and if you can create an image that, that baby
48:01
is going to look at in 10, 15, 20, 30 years' time and go, "That was me as a two week, two-week-old," that becomes very, very special. That becomes a, a memory that lasts forever.
48:16
And I think generational portraiture is the other area that I think is vital. Photographing your kids, your parents, and even your grandparents in one picture, to me,
48:32
I think it is one of those important...
48:36
th- those single important moments, because people are gonna move on, and for those kids to be able to see what their parents, pa- grandparents, and great-grandparents looked like in a picture is vital.
48:48
I think kids at school, one of the... They talk about the curriculum of kids and things like that. I believe one of the important things a kid should do at school is a family tree,
48:59
and I think if children could actually do a family tree and go and ask their grandparents, "What did you do?" You know, I wish I could have asked my grandparents, "What did you do in the war?" and that sort of thing.
49:12
Unfortunately, our parents who were in the war never really wanted to talk about the war, and we're seeing these amazing veterans now who are becoming f- you know-Fewer and fewer.
49:23
I-it's very much a case of if every child did a family tree, then had a picture with their grandparents, that w- I think would be such an important part of their life.
49:35
We hear so much now about health, mental health, wellbeing, and all these things, and I think wellbeing comes from being within a, a secure family.
49:48
And if you could do your family tree and see the history of where you've come from as an individual, um, and have a photograph of your grandparents, that to me is so important to a, a child's upbringing and wellbeing.
50:04
Um, and in a way, I wish I'd known that 50 years ago. Mm. Because I could have built the business- Started that early... on a slightly different footing. You know, I could have taken the business down a different avenue.
50:15
So it's no good looking back and saying, "I wish, I wish, I wish," but that certainly is one of those areas that if anybody was running a business now or starting a business now, they could seriously consider.
50:29
I don't think there'll ever be a studios or a business like ours where we employ two, three, four other photographers, and we take a, a thousand sessions a year and that sort of thing.
50:42
But I think a photographer who wants to go into business and wants to do it as a career, you could do it if you really, really defined your marketplace and where you're gonna put your efforts.
50:56
Thank you very much for that. I think, uh, you've nailed it. And everybody who's listening, I'm sure if you're planning to start a photography business, there are some tips in here for you. Quick question.
51:09
Obviously, uh, the reason why we are having one, uh, this interview is because you've announced that this business is closing. What led to the decision to close the studio? Age. Age. Very simply age.
51:25
If I was 20 years younger, I would keep going. I would just keep going, no problem at all. Um, but physically, you know, I've reached a point in my life where physically things are becoming harder and harder.
51:39
People have said to me, "Oh, great, you can play more golf." Well, guess what? I play a game of golf, and it takes me three days to physically recover. Sure. Um, so I can't play any more than once a week. But...
51:51
And, yeah, okay, I could jump in a buggy, but, you know, that's not the point of enjoying the countryside. But it's such a, it's such a difficult thing to think about, of, of what I've done, what I'm gonna do.
52:09
Um,
52:11
closing the front door for the very last time and walking away is gonna be such a sad, depressing moment because I've loved for all these years to be able to turn round as I leave at night and look at the premises lit up in the evening, and I, and I'm proud of it, and I think, "Oh, yeah.
52:29
Yeah, that's gorgeous. That's lovely." Or when I walk in the morning, and I sort of cross the road, and I look at it with the sunshine on it, and I think, "Oh, yeah. You know, that looks really lovely."
52:38
But I don't think anybody will, you know, have a business this big or, you know, have this type of business again. Um, so it's just gonna be different.
52:52
How have, uh, clients and y- the community members responded since the, uh, announcement? Quite staggering because I'm not an enormous, um, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok follower.
53:10
Um, yes, I've got it. Yes, I read the various things. Different things pop up on my Facebook post, which is invariably about golf or, you know, things like that. Um,
53:22
but I have been staggered by the amount of messages from customers. And the, the problem for me is
53:33
customers to me are individual people who I look at their face, and I go, "Oh, yeah, I've, you know, did a portrait for them," or, "Oh, yeah, you know."
53:41
My sister, who unfortunately has passed away now, but she used to work for me, um, for quite some time. She used to be able to remember people's names, you know, and she...
53:50
And I, I just think, "My God, how do you remember people's names, you know, that are our customers?" I can remember faces. Um,
53:58
and I obviously get Facebook posts coming through, and a, a name will appear, and I think, "Oh, that's wonderful," but I don't recognize the name.
54:07
But I recognize the messages, you know, and I just think so many people have been wonderful. We've had some fabulous emails.
54:18
You know, people have, uh, what I used to call put pen to paper, um, and written, written us an email. And I'd come into work, and the staff would go, "Read this. Read this. Have a look at this. Read this." Um, and
54:34
it's, you know, it's amazing how many followers we've got. Um, I mean, our email mailing list, our email
54:43
mailing list, um, is 20,000 people that we've sort of grown up over 20 odd, 20 odd years. Um, and it's very much a case of
54:58
Facebook has a huge following as well, and a huge amount of people have less- left messages with the website and that sort of thing.
55:06
And that's made me feel, you know, very warm inside because you have touched a huge amount of people without really knowing it. Because when people pick up their work and,
55:18
you know, they've, they've taken it home, in a way you forget about them because you've moved on to the next one, and in a way they've forgotten about you because they're putting it on the wall and talking about it.So it's, it's really been one of the nicest parts of the whole job is those people contacting us and taking the time and trouble to contact us.
55:39
We've got one gorgeous customer, um, called Nikki Law, who, um, buys us donuts for no reason. Um, if it's our birthday or if we've won an award or whatever, she'll come in with some [chuckles] Krispy Kreme donuts.
55:57
Um, she does our waistline no good at all. But, you know, when she came in, um, a month or s- two months ago with donuts and said, "Oh, I hope Ray's not here 'cause if I see him I'm gonna cry because I'll wanna hug him."
56:11
Um, now we have photographed her family and her children and her grandchildren over such a long period of time. Um, and her messages to us are just absolutely wonderful.
56:23
Somebody put a message out last week, and she followed it with a reply, which was an emoji of a broken heart. Mm. You know? [chuckles] And just something like that started to make me cry.
56:34
And, and that is how wonderful I think the public have been and how wonderful I think our customers have been, and this area that I've built a business up in.
56:44
Um, if it wasn't for my physical health failing me, then I would've carried on. Um, and it's just reached that point of making the decision. Making the decision was the hardest.
57:00
Um, there are various times that I could've made the decision in the past, probably COVID being the biggest, because we've never been as busy after COVID as we were before COVID. Before COVID, we were...
57:14
We had four photographers. We were working seven days a week. The business was really, really bundling along at a, a tremendous rate.
57:24
COVID came along, we lost thousands and thousands and thousands of pounds, um, over that COVID period because of Christmas and that sort of thing. Um, and the business has never, ever gone back to the heights of then.
57:40
Um, a couple of photographers after COVID decided to leave and go and do other things. Um, so at that point it would've been very easy for me to go, "Enough's enough. Now I'll pack up the business."
57:54
And the customers, I think the public would've gone, "Yeah, okay, we understand it," because so many businesses did close down after COVID.
58:02
But I decided at that time that we would just keep going and see where we go from there. Um, and it, it's still exceedingly sad. What's next for you, Ray? [chuckles] Um, any plans- Yeah... hobbies, new projects?
58:20
That is the single most difficult question you have asked me. Will, will photography still be part of your life then? No, not at all. Okay. Not at all. I've already sold all of my cameras.
58:31
Um, the only camera I now own is the one in my pocket, which is Mr. Apple, and if I tell you that I hardly ever take iPhone pictures, hardly ever. Um, [sighs]
58:46
I'll be perfectly honest, I do not know what's next. I really do not know.
58:52
Um, the amount of customers that have asked me that question, and then the amount of customers that say, "Oh, well, you know, it's a new chapter." Um- Yes...
59:02
it, it's a very, very difficult question because my life, my whole life since the day I left school at 16 has been photography. Mm. I've never done anything else. I've never been anything else.
59:17
I've always worked for the public. For the last 50 years here in Cheshunt, my aim every morning that I wake up is to please people, is to please the customer, is to do what the customer wants. That's been my
59:34
raison d'être. The... That's what has been my life. So having done that for 50 years, what the hell do you replace it with? I'm not really what I'd call a gardener.
59:47
I can walk around my small back garden with a pair of secateurs, and I can cut the grass.
59:52
But, you know, I'll go to Van Huys and buy a plant, and I'm the sort of person where I'd look at it in three weeks' time and wondered why I bought it 'cause it's now dead. Um,
1:00:02
so it's very difficult saying I'm going to do this or I'm going to do that. I hope I'm gonna wake up one morning, and there's gonna be a light bulb moment. You'll have clarity. So anybody listening to this- [laughs]...
1:00:14
I think it'd be great if you guys can start putting some suggestions out- [laughs] Yeah... for Ray. Um, I guess there are some volunteering work that he can get involved in. I'm sure you guys have ideas.
1:00:25
Please, please bring them on. And finally, uh, Ray, if you could give one message to your clients and the community, what would that be? Message would be,
1:00:40
do you realize what a fantastic community you actually live in? Because I've traveled far and wide, and I happen to think that Cheshunt, Broxbourne, Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, we live in such a fabulous borough.
1:00:57
I think we've got a brilliant, um, council that have done wonderful things. Our rates are quite low in this borough compared to a lot of other boroughs. Um, I've already mentioned a couple of the services.
1:01:12
I think the services we have in this area are quite remarkable, and that all comes from obviously the CEO, um, at Broxbourne, uh, Broxbourne Council, and obviously the overall Hertfordshire Council.
1:01:28
Um-If we realise what a wonderful community we have and we get together more, and that's why I love the things you put in Broxtown of what's coming up. You know, there's me wanting to go to Hertfordshire Zoo.
1:01:42
I guarantee I'll go to Hertfordshire Zoo on that day and I will meet people or I will see people who I've worked for. And whether they come and say hello or whatever is up to them.
1:01:53
But, um, that community spirit is something we mustn't lose. I think, again, I've already mentioned it, I think the world's a horrible place.
1:02:02
The wars and everything else that happen is a horrible, horrible world to live in. And therefore our community becomes even more important to us and even more vital.
1:02:13
And I think with our schools, our children, with everything that happens in our borough, the community is the most important thing we have.
1:02:23
And I think finding out about what else is happening in our area, in our community, going along to things that we might not think of.
1:02:31
Okay, we're now at a wonderful time of, of the year where to walk out on a Saturday or Sunday to a fete or, um, you know, to, to go to one of these events that are being put on are absolutely superb because that's the support the communities want.
1:02:48
And I think, you know, I will be going to more things like that because I now on a Saturday and Sunday won't be working and I can go to things.
1:02:56
You know, [chuckles] th-there was-- Somebody said to me, "Oh, y-," when we were at the mayor's final dinner, I was on a table with some wonderful people, and the bloke next to me owns Cheshunt Football Club, and it was, "Oh, you have to come along."
1:03:09
Well, I've never been able to go to a football match on a Saturday because I've been doing work. I've worked every Saturday that there's ever been.
1:03:18
Um, but just to be able to go along and do things on a Saturday will be wonderful. But for me, the last thing I would say overall is thank you.
1:03:30
A huge, massive thank you to each and every person that's been a customer in this business.
1:03:37
It's only been a business for fifty years because of the customers, because of the loyalty of the customers, because the customers have taken that step to open our front door and come in, and to actually walk into the studio, put their lives in our hands, as it were, having the faith that we will produce something for them.
1:03:59
Um, and without those customers, I would have gone out of business forty-nine years ago. Yes, it was a struggle at the beginning, and it's never, ever, ever been easy.
1:04:12
It's always been an uphill, um, struggle employing staff and, and every other problem that goes with it. But the customers has what's made me who I am, and it's the customers that have made this business what it became.
1:04:30
Um, I don't see myself as a legend at all. I just see myself as a, a small local business in the area, but I've only succeeded because of customers.
1:04:41
I've only succeeded because those customers have been loyal to us, and I'd like to thank each and every one of them for that. Ray, the legend, thank you. [laughs] Thank you for your time today.
1:04:55
Thank you for your services to the community and for capturing the beauty of our lives for the past fifty years. As Ray, uh, Lowy closes,
1:05:05
um, it leaves behind not just portraits, but a legacy of trust, care, and excellence that won't be forgotten anytime soon.
1:05:14
[gentle music] And that brings us to the end of a truly special conversation with Ray Lowy, a man whose lens captured more than just photos.
1:05:23
For fifty years, Ray documented love, legacy, and life in Broxbourne, and it's clear that his presence on the high street will be deeply missed.
1:05:32
Ray, thank you for sharing your journey, your passion, and your wisdom with us.
1:05:36
Your story reminds us that behind every small business is a big heart, and your impact will continue to echo through every family album and framed memory across the borough.
1:05:47
To our listeners, if you've ever had your picture taken at Ray Lowy Studios or have a memory you would like to share, we'd love to hear from you.
1:05:56
Tag us at Broxtown if you're in Borough of Broxbourne or Hertstown if you're across Hertfordshire, or just drop us a message. Don't forget to subscribe to
1:06:07
Broxtown Newsletter if you're in the Borough of Broxbourne and at, uh, Hertstown Newsletter if you're across Hertfordshire for more local news like this and exclusive interviews and everything happening here in our community.
1:06:21
Until next time, I'm Emeka Ogbonnaya, and this has been Voices of Our Towns, where we honor the people who make Broxbourne and Hertfordshire a place worth calling home. Stay well, stay kind, and keep telling your truth.
1:06:38
Take care, and have a wonderful time. Bye-bye. [outro music]
Voices of Our Towns
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