Ray Manley

Manley suffered a stroke in 1997 and passed away in 2006.

In the 1970s, Manley opened the Manley Gallery in the lobby of his studio, located on Tucson Boulevard. The Gallery would eventually have its own building on Fort Lowell Road. The same decade saw Manley and his wife Ruth open up a new business initially called Indian Land Tours, which offered guided visits to places Manley had photographed such as Monument Valley and Canyon de Chelly. Its name changed to Ray Manley Tours later on and began offering international tours.

In 1954, he and professional partner Naurice "Reese" Koonce, who had worked together at Western Ways, opened Ray Manley Commercial Photography on Broadway Boulevard in Tucson. Later on, Manley would build a new and more spacious studio on Tucson Boulevard and take on an additional partner Mickey Prim.

One of his first jobs as a commercial photographer was photographing Dr. Lytle S. Adams' Pellet Seeding Operations on the Hopi, Papago and Navajo Reservations in 1944-1949. He took hundreds of photos for the purpose of promoting and advertising Adams' invention. During this time Adams and Ray became good friends. in 1963 the Adam East Museum in Moses Lake, Washington asked Dr. for a portrait of him as Dr. Adams built the Museum. Ray volunteered to make the portrait for free in thanks for all that Dr. Adams did for him at the start of his career. The Portrait hung in the Adam East Museum until it was moved and now hangs in the new Adam East Museum.

He attended Arizona State College (now Northern Arizona University) at Flagstaff with the intention of becoming a science teacher and this is where he also met his future wife Ruth, who was a student. During his time in college, he saw a picture by noted Arizona photographer Esther Henderson, which inspired him to take photography more seriously. He purchased a 4x5 view camera and took several photos in the Flagstaff area. He submitted the images to Arizona Highways in the off chance one might be accepted. His picture of the San Francisco Peaks was purchased by the publication in 1940 but not run until about four years later.

Ray Manley (September 4, 1921 in Cottonwood, Arizona – July 15, 2006 in Tucson, Arizona) was an American photographer whose photographs of Arizona helped increase tourism and migration to Arizona.