This tribure was written days after Ray Chen passed away in Canada on February 7. The photos accompanying the article were taken at a Mass of Thanksgiving for his life at Stella Maris Church in St Andrew on Saturday, March 12. Chen was interred in Canada after a funeral service at Elgin Mills Cemetery Chapel in Richmond Hill, Toronto, on February 20.

Although Ray and myself attended Wolmer’s Boys’ School as students, he was about three years ahead of me. He decided to pursue photography as a profession and enrolled at the New York Institute of Photography. I chose to enter the advertising and graphic design field and, although I did creative photography, we went in different directions.

I will never forget my next encounter with Ray Chen, which was many years after leaving high school. In 1984, I heard that a Jamaican-born Chinese photographer who lived in Montreal, Canada, visited his homeland to have a one-man, one-night exhibition of large prints organised by some of his friends, including Gloria Palomino, Paul Chen Young and others at the original Courtleigh Hotel on Trafalgar Road. I learnt about it after the fact on the radio and in the newspaper.

As president of the Colour Photography Club of Jamaica at the time, I needed to meet this photographer in person to find out why none of us from Jamaica’s leading photography club were invited to the exhibition. When I finally contacted Ray, he apologised and told me that the private showing was entirely organised by his friends. He told me that he was already packing to return to Canada.

I insisted on seeing a few of them and he obliged. I was totally impressed with what I saw and immediately called Peter Fraser at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel (another Wolmerian) to set up a meeting. I told Ray that all Jamaica must have a chance to see this magnificent exhibition, so it wouldn’t be returning to Canada for now.

Ray also arranged for his first book, Jamaica: The Land and The People, to be presented to Governor General Sir Florizel Glasspole (another Wolmerian), who was asked to declare the exhibition open. I took the photographs and arranged the public relations for the opening. The public was then invited to visit the exhibition, thanks to Peter Fraser and his staff. Hundreds of Jamaicans thronged through the Negril Suite to view one of the finest and most popular photography exhibitions ever held in this country. Ray’s book went on sale at Sangster’s and other book stores and was well-received. He also autographed copies for purchasers.

He launched his first set of Jamaican postcards through his company, Periwinkle Publishers, and set a trend for others to follow. He worked hard, visiting many pharmacies and gift shops from Negril to Morant Point, thus setting a new trend in the postcard business, complete with custom metal stands. Today, many Jamaicans and visitors to the island benefit from these cards, which include his personal autograph. Posters and calendars also came on stream.

Ray went on to publish three other books: Jamaica:The Beauty and Soul of the Land, in 1993; The Shopkeepers in 2005; and his final book, Jamaica: My 50 Years in Photography, in 2015 at the Grog Shoppe, Devon House in March.

Jamaica has lost a photographer extraordinare, but his images of the land he loved will last for generations to come.