Bio + Style

My full name is Ray Anthony Iavasile, and I accept commissions to artistically photograph “documentary wedding stories” across the country and beyond. I have two showroom locations to meet personally: Villa Park in Orange County, California and Birmingham, Michigan.

I am motivated by a love and passion to photograph what is real: real life, real moments, real emotions, real people. My style is specifically documentary and often called “wedding photojournalism.”

For each commission, I will personally create a collection of work which not only documents the unfolding of the wedding day, but an exploration of images that reveal the beauty of the lives and personalities who come across the camera’s path. An artistic exploration of truth and emotion which reveals the essence of what ties the couple to one another and to their families.

Having come from a career in Hollywood behind the camera, I have taken the good and the bad from the movie industry. I don’t want to create something phony or suppositious, but rather, to find the existent and authentic story, reality with all of its beauty and flaws. I have mastered the “art” of telling the story photographically.

I earned my Bachelor of Arts (BA) Degree in Photography from Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, California. My work has been published in several bridal magazines and I am listed in several preferred vendor lists from prominent venues. I have photographed weddings over the years in Naples (FL), New York City, Long Boat Key (FL), Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Birmingham (MI), Grosse Pointe, Santa Barbara, Newport Beach, San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Olympia (WA), Columbus (OH), Indianapolis and Macinac Island. I have photographed at some of the top venues in the country including the Ritz Carlton in Naples, Florida, Marina Del Rey, California and Dearborn, Michigan; the Four Seasons Hotel in Santa Barbara, California, and Las Vegas, Nevada; the Townsend Hotel in Birmingham, Michigan; the Royal Park Hotel in Rochester, Michigan; the Westin Book Cadillac Hotel in Detroit, Michigan; the Palmer House Hotel in Chicago, Illinois; and, the JW Marriott Las Vegas Resort in Summerlin, Nevada. My goal is to photograph a wedding one day in my grandfather’s home town of Santa Croce del Sannio, Italy, in the church where he was baptized as a baby.

I have been a member of PPA, WPPI, WPJA, and ISPWP. I recently was awarded Wedding Wire’s 2011 Brides’ Choice Award. I am a featured photographer on the Wedding Compass. I also colloborate with some of the best wedding photographers in country on the Foundation Workshop Forum, home of many former newspaper photojournalists and Pulitzer Prize winners.