Raymond Tucker is no stranger to taking photographs. Still, there’s something a little different about snapping the Empire State Building and the Brooklyn Bridge as postcards for the folks and showing your artwork for the first time at Brooklyn hotspot Free Candy. Tucker’s collection is a series of photographs attempting to capture the way we behave and display ourselves in public – when we’re not saying cheese. Unposed is a raw, celebratory, introspective collection and with only 30 photographs to feast on, the audience will undoubtedly be asking Mr. Tucker for more.

EBONY: How do you feel right now, at this debut show?

Raymond Tucker: This is like my baby. I nurtured it. Last night we were here from 9pm to 2:30am and I’m just so pleased about the way it turned out. What prevents a lot of artist from doing this is the difficulty. There are so many artists that do art and have a really nice product but then this part – showing it to people, getting their reactions – is so intimidating. I just decided to disregard all of those trepidations and just do it and I’m having a great time.

EBONY: What made you know that this collection was the one you wanted to debut?

RT: That’s a really good question because this is not typical of the work that I do. I’m really proud of the concept. I feel like its kind of unique and something that needs to be said. When I take photos, I don’t pose for the scene, I don’t ask people to pose, I don’t arrange things. I just capture them as they are. I want to communicate to everybody that these things are happening all around you. You may or may not have noticed it but after an exhibition like this, you start to notice that child riding that scooter, and you’re like wow, that’s poetic. That’s what I want to communicate to everyone – art surrounds us. It immerses.

EBONY: How do your balance your passion for photography with your full-time work?

RT: That’s also an interesting question. I’m actually in a residency for dentistry. I do pediatric dentistry. But photography has always been a big past time but when you do something so technical, at least for myself, I have to have a creative outlet. And now that I’m doing this specialty of dentistry, it just makes my need to have that creativity that much stronger. I feel like if I had to do photography to pay my bills and eat, it wouldn’t be fun. It would become stressful. But the way it is now, when I have to find time to do it or when I have some free time or a weekend, and I can do something like this, it just makes it that much more rewarding.  

Unposed will be on display in Harlem in early August. To keep an eye out for specific dates and to see more of Raymond’s work, visit his website, www.TheSilentClatter.com