This week, we’re excited to chat with Ray Fisher! We first connected with Ray after discovering his Instagram account, where he shares his beautiful photos of Downtown Glens Falls. We were thrilled to learn a bit more about him, including his favorite spot for ice cream, and the one place he’d love to photograph a sunrise from.
Tell us about yourself!
I’m Ray Fisher, a photographer and dad to 3 amazing little girls and a baby boy.
On Life in Glens Falls
I've lived here most of my life, except when I was very young and a 2 year hiatus in Florida.
I came back to Glens Falls because I've lived here so long that a lot of my friends still live up here, not that I didn't make great friends in Florida (miss you guys). but friends are one of the most important things to me and I've been lucky to have some great ones.
I stayed in Glens Falls because I fell for my wife (I knew her a long time before that, but we both grew up) and we had our first munchkin. My family is my entire world and everything I do now is to hopefully create things they can be proud of.
We rent a house in the city, just makes more financial sense right now. And honestly, I just love that my neighborhood has a park within walking distance - it really helps keep the kids busy in the summer.
Some Glens Falls Favorites
My favorite thing about Glens Falls has to be the aesthetic. I'm a visual person and just the fact that I can walk down the street and see an old Gothic church, walk a few blocks and see some old buildings with old iron fire escapes, old houses with their own personality, go walk around an old cemetery, and then walk around the woods (I know Cole's Woods is technically Queensbury but eh I still walk them).
A Perfect Glens Falls Day
Honestly, my perfect day in Glens Falls would probably be waking up super early, going out and getting some nice sunrise shots hopefully from someplace elevated (I've been wanting to get on top of the Traveler's Building forever). Then come home, wake up my kids, go outside and let them play for a while. Then we all go get ice cream at Cooper’s Cave because I am a sucker for mixing all those soft serve flavors. Then take ‘em all to the movies assuming something we want to see is playing. Then after we tuck them in, leave the kids with grandma and go take some night portraits of my wife out and around town. Yeah, that sounds like a pretty good day.
On The Past
I have a loooooot of memories of Glens Falls, but one of the best has to be when I was around 11, my mother used to work at East Field when the Lumberjacks still played here. She would bring me to work, so I got to watch the teams warm up, plus I would always walk around under the bleachers looking for foul balls (I found like 30). Then one day just to put the icing on the cake, I won a raffle they had to win a ball autographed by the entire team! I know it wasn't any big team or anything, but it was great.
As for a favorite store I miss two things - the first is Jolly John’s, my mom used to take me down there to get fried clams like once or twice a month. I walk by the building everyday, and it still brings back memories. The second is the original spot for Dirty John's (New Way Lunch) - not that the new spot isn't great, I still eat there like all the time, it's just nostalgia.
…And on The Future
As for the future, honestly if I could bring one thing to Glens Falls, it would be one giant creative space for every creative mind we have in this area to get together, talk, collaborate, create, and just be around other creatives. All for free (or at least affordable enough for everyone) with spaces and equipment for photographers, videographers, artists, musicians, and any creative project to just be able to come together and work on creating. We are lucky to live in an area with as much artistic support that we have, but there are still some barriers that are difficult for some people to overcome - musicians have a hard time finding a space to practice, high school students can't afford studio space, that kind of thing. I just want to take the starving out of starving artist.
Honestly, this area is just a great place to raise a family - no hurricanes, no tornadoes, lots of snow, beautiful lakes and mountains within driving distance. As a photographer, I am very lucky that I live here, but as a father I feel pretty good about sticking around.
