rickrayfilms

I have been traveling the world for 25 years with a backpack and Lonely Planet guide, filming the people, places, wildlife and wonders of planet earth. It's my greatest passion and joy. I have produced 14 films about other countries as well as countless promotional videos. My best known film is "10 Questions For The Dalai Lama" (2006) which was distributed internationally, but I have also done films about Vietnam, Cambodia and Burma ("Raising the Bamboo Curtain", with Martin Sheen), Israel ("Jerusalem Sacred and Profane"-Learning/Discovery Channel), Lebanon, Syria and Jordan ("Lost Worlds OF The Middle East"). I also shoot for stock footage regularly and own my own stock footage library, www.dvarchive.com where clients can download amazing clips (humbly submitted) at reasonable rates. We also supply footage to other libraries like Pond5, Thought Equity, Getty and Fotosearch. I have taught documentray film at Brooks Institute in Ventura and Santa Barbara but am currently in a state of semi-retirement from the school. I'm an Apple certified Final Cut Pro editor and write, shoot, produce and edit all my own films. In recent years I have branched out to other kinds of documentaries, doing work on more traditional documentary subjects. My latest passion is flying drones to capture amazing and dreamlike images of the world from above. In addition I fight for issues of conservation in my home community of Ventura, CA. I saw my own home city, Glendale, ruined by urban sprawl and utterly insensitive development. Ventura is one of the last old fashioned beach towns in America, surrounded by farmland. It takes a fight to keep it that way! It's a full life!