Ray Carofano’s Lens Preserved a Community and Its Humanity
Raymond Mason Carofano
Photographer Master Printer
December 7, 1942 — July 15, 2026
Ray Carofano was an American photographer who lived and worked in the Los Angeles port town of San Pedro. Ray and his wife, Arnée Carofano, were vital contributors and collaborators in the formation of the San Pedro arts district from the time they moved to town in 1998 and opened Gallery 478, in downtown San Pedro.
Ray and Arnée met on the first day of spring, March 21, 1991, and as Arnée said, that was always the day they remembered as their beginning.
In 2020, writer Bondo Wyszpolski wrote that Ray came to the West Coast in 1966 driving an old Jaguar cross-country. A 50-year career in commercial photography allowed him the freedom to pursue his artistic gift. Wyszpolski went on to characterize how, during the First Thursdays Art Walk, Gallery 478 became the de facto gathering spot “to mix with an eclectic group of artists, musicians and intellectuals to discuss art, politics and enjoy a glass of wine.”
The Carofanos’ dear friend, artist Ron Linden, told Random Lengths News in 2017, “For the first 15 years of this century, the Carofanos’ anchored San Pedro’s budding arts district by inviting cutting-edge artists from across the country to their gallery and hosting regular artist openings. Gallery 478 was not alone in this work, but it did lead the charge.” A number of years later, the Carofanos began to feature more of their own works in their gallery.
Ray was born in New Haven, Connecticut. His career in photography spanned over fifty years. It was first a hobby, then a passion, and finally a profession. His self-education in photography began at an early age when his parents gave him the complete set of The Encyclopedia of Photography. He studied at Quinnipiac College, Southern Connecticut State College and Paier School of Art.
In 1969, he started Ray Carofano Photography Inc., specializing in product photography with special effects. When he wasn’t shooting ads and brochures for clients, he was doing his own personal work. In 1991, he began focusing more on fine artwork and less on commercial work.
Ray’s early work was mostly street photography — marginalized people on the fringes of society inspired by the sight of railroad “hobos” he had witnessed as a boy.
In 1998 he began Faces of Pedro, formal studio portraits of local “characters,” from the port town where he lived. Bill Kouwenhoven, contributing editor to HotShoe Magazine, wrote; “Ray’s portraits are haunted by the haggard visages and dark shadings that speak of those moving through long nights looking for something that was, and might never be again.” Ray’s decades-long Faces of Pedro reflects his ongoing engagement with this early passion.
Ray’s subjects shifted during his career, beginning with figurative subjects and moving towards landscapes and the Mojave Desert. He began capturing desert scenes and the detritus left by long-gone inhabitants. Broken Dreams, his 23-year project, examines the disconnect between the American dream of independence and the realities of social isolation. In Ray’s words, “it’s a place where everything seems a little out of alignment.
“The Broken Dreams series is about the disconnect between the American dream of self-dependency and the realities of social isolation. The images examine places and belongings. They tell more about the people than a portrait can.”
Ray’s black and white photographic portraits of San Pedro residents, past and present, are breathtaking by way of his striking photographic skills and the subjects’ expressions, some of which are confrontational.
Random Lengths reported in 2025, “Through a dance of give and take between photographer and subject, the resulting portraits, some shocking at first glance, are empathetic in Carofano’s hands, and viewers soon understand the vulnerability and complex systems and events that brought these individuals to their circumstances.”
These subjects were further explored in his series Terrene and High Tension. The Terrene photographs reveal Ray’s penchant for documenting the environment as it cycles from life to death, desolation to renewal.
His most recent series, riverrun, shot entirely in color — a departure for Ray — documents the Los Angeles River.
“These are probably the most geometric compositions I have done in a single body of work. I have been thinking about doing a body of work in color for many years, but this work sort of found me,” Ray said of his series.
In April, 2016, Ray released a limited edition book on his riverrun series of the same name, inside which Linden wrote: “riverrun is a suite of photographs capturing seldom-seen images of the fifty-one-mile storm drain that is still flatteringly called the Los Angeles River. Taking “less-picturesque” portions of the river as his subject, Carofano’s carefully framed images reveal the not-so-hidden majesty of the concrete, the smooth lines of the river’s channel, and its functionality. Sophisticated geometry, atmospheric light and color, and rightness of scale lend these images a painterly quality that requires close observation to determine that they are indeed photographs. Conditions considered appalling appear alluring, serene – each image paying homage to the intersection between nature and the designed environment.”
In 2015, RLN arts writer Andrea Serna wrote of riverrun, “[Ray] has experienced his own personal revolution with his move into color, away from representational photography and toward contemporary abstraction. It seems much of this collection could have been created with a paintbrush, rather than a camera.”
Carol McCusker, Curator of the Harn Museum of Art, wrote: “In Carofano’s photography is a sense of deep time, history, erosion, decay, passage and renewal. He takes these abstract ideas and literally allows them to abstract the things he is drawn to. The edges of his world blur, creating images at once literal and metaphoric, apocalyptic and expectant. They are transcendent, reconciling the forces of nature with man’s optimistic attempt at permanence; within each a recurring cycle of cultural death and exultant rebirth.”
Ray’s work can be found in the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas; University of Texas, Gernsheim Collection, Austin, Texas; Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, California; Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, California; Galera de Arde Fotografo, San Miguel Allende, Mexico; Fototeca de Cuba, Havana, Cuba, and many private and corporate collections here and abroad.
Remembrances from the local art community
We really came to know and appreciate Ray’s work when we had the privilege of working on Palos Verdes Art Center’s 2025 retrospective, CHRONICLES: The Photography of Ray Carofano. The show charted his career by showcasing a variety of his photographic suites. What quickly became apparent was that whether it was his hauntingly beautiful landscapes or unflinching portraits of eccentric outsiders and San Pedro locals, Ray’s humanity always shines through. Seeing him at the opening reception pointing at his work with recognition and joy was a real highlight; as was the accompanying panel discussion with the artist, curator Ron Linden, and Arnée Carofano that shed light on his process as both a gifted photographer and master printer.
Gail Phinney, Community Engagement Director, Palos Verdes Art Center, Beverly G. Alpay Center for Arts Education
When I moved to San Pedro, Ray was a name that always came up when people talked about the scene in town. Gallery 478, which he ran with his wife Arnée, helped elevate the local art community, and while Ray moved on, his influence will continue to be felt.
Artist/Gallerist Peter Scherrer, solo. Gallery.
Faces of Pedro [was a] years-long project in which Ray documented many of the unique denizens of the area in downtown San Pedro. Ray was highly sympathetic to the hardships of the homeless and the downtrodden. He put together other volumes of his work, but this may be the one book that most people remember best, largely because of the bank of photographs that adorned one wall in his studio. As a collection, it’s an invaluable piece of history.
Ray said, “I tell people that, if I do photograph you, that means you’re going to be around for a long, long time — long after you’re gone, and even after I’m gone, your photograph’s going to still be here.”
Ray was an integral part of our lives while he was with us, and he’ll remain an integral part of our lives because knowing him was an honor and a gift.
Writer Bondo Wyszpolski
Ray Carofano is a uniquely perceptive and gifted documentarian of the everyday. As a person he was admirable with his adventurous motorcycle and bicycle riding. Also, he was a man of few words, but get him started, there were no wasted words. Ray and Arnée Carofano have been a dynamic force in San Pedro as well as his photography outside of our town. He will be missed.
Artist, Eric Johnson
Back in 2002, while walking around downtown San Pedro, we noticed a large, stunning photograph hanging in a front window on 7th Street. It was Gallery 478. The photograph was a huge leafless tree that only Ray could make so hauntingly beautiful. I’ve not forgotten this photo. We truly admired Ray and his talent. He was an amazing story teller, and fearless, both visually and abstractly.
Artists Anne and Eugene Daub
I knew Ray since I was a kid! He was breaking creative ground doing photojournalistic photography of families (vs. old-style portraiture). After UCSD, Ray hired me as his assistant and taught me to print black and white. Ray’s incredible camera virtuosity was mind-bending. In those early days, Ray was already known to be a dark room magician, alchemically weaving his eyes and hands with chemicals, light, paper and film to create impeccable prints.
Throughout my career I’ve had people say to me – how can you see the grey scale that way?! I always say – Ray Carofano. I worked with Ray many times, and could always depend on his integrity and quality workmanship. The last time being when we tackled some very difficult photos from the Armenian Genocide for Crows of the Desert.
Ray was such a good guy. He and his wife Arnée were so generous with other artists. I feel sad that such a lovely spirit is gone now, but his work and our memories live on.
Emmy Winning Filmmaker Marta Houske
Ray Carofano is survived by his wife “Arnée” Nancy Carofano, his son Tracy and daughter Krista, Arnée’s two sons Robert McCann and Michael Corey McCann and four grandchildren, Haley Rae Carofano, Simone, Sebastien and Christian McCann, and two cousins, Franklin (Franco) Carofano and Gail Murdough.