photographer portfolio

Ray Bouchard

​Ray was born in Clearwater, Florida and grew up in the orange grove his grandfather planted in 1908. By the age of ten Ray was exploring the swamps beyond the grove and cultivated a great love of nature. Throughout his teens he was active in sports and was President of the Student Council his senior year in High School. After graduation he built a small cabin in a ravine on a family ranch in The Ozarks. While working on the cabin he nursed an injured owl and hawk back to health. By the time the birds were well enough to be released back into the wild Ray had experienced a transformation of his own.

His love of nature and desire for adventure has guided him throughout his life. Ray returned to Florida thinking he would pursue a career in oceanography. A few weeks after starting college he was invited to sail with friends to the Bahamas for a few months, so he dropped out of school and began the great adventure of his life. He started acting in his early twenties landing roles on "Ryan's Hope," "All My Children," and "Smokey and the Bandit 3" before his love of the sea carried him to the Mediterranean and Caribbean working on large yachts
​
After receiving his Ocean Operators license from the Coast Guard in 1986 Ray lived in Los Angeles and New York for a few years. He has enjoyed working in the entertainment industry for over thirty years as an actor, and also behind the scenes as a set carpenter. He produced and directed the documentary. "THE FARM." He recently created one hundred and thirty acres of wetlands on a former tobacco farm in Rockingham County, North Carolina, and then granted the state an easement protecting nearly two miles of Haw River frontage along with the wetlands.

"All along the river is this beautiful Old Growth forest. Some of the trees are three hundred years old, and many are over six feet in diameter. One of my neighbors to the west sold his timber and then two land owners across the river sold their timber because 'the market was good.' Some were clear cutting all the way to the banks of the Haw. The forest is magical to me. I felt I had to protect as much as I could."

The documentary "THE FARM,"  was filmed in the wetlands and forest along the Haw River in North Carolina.

Ray is a competitive sailor, Volunteer Gaurdian Ad Litem, and Youth Sailing Safety Volunteer.