EMU Student, Soldier, Photographer

By Jimmy Bates

Ray Bowyer was deployed to Iraq from October 2006 and returned home October 2007.
Bowyer’s unit was in Mosul, Iraq where they ran combat missions and trained Iraq police forces. While deployed Bowyer took pictures as he drove and of his brothers in arms.

Bowyer, 28, has been deployed three times since September 11, 2001 and in Iraq he took pictures using a small point and shoot canon camera. While driving he would click pictures from the vehicle and when he returned after his tour, he did not look at the pictures often.

Towards the end of 2007 he began looking at the pictures and working on them until there was an 11-piece collection now being shown at the Plymouth Coffee Bean at 884 Penniman Ave.
The collection is under the name “Walking is Still Honest” which comes from an album by the band Against Me!.

“I was just listening to them a lot, always been a huge music fan. Some albums define parts of my life and Against Me! I would listen to them before missions, it kind of kept me grounded in my mind, kept me back home” Said Bowyer.

While training the police forces, Bowyer’s unit was out every day. Bowyer said at first they stopped every time they were shot at but it happened so frequently that after a while they only stopped if someone was hit. Bullets did not worry the unit, they were more worried about IEDs on the roads.

IED stands for Improvised Explosive Device, roadside bombs that were disguised at trash or other objects that blow up vehicles. Despite these dangerous conditions, Bowyer took a large number of photographs, many from inside the vehicle he drove.

Bowyer said he did not look at the pictures initially because they brought back bad memories but after a while he began looking at them and now he is sharing them. The series features other troops and local people, culminating in the title piece, Walking is Still Honest, which inspired the show, Bowyer said.

The show will run until May 31st and several of the pictures are for sale.