In 1991, Bay Area arts benefactor Stuart Kogod opened a small storefront gallery and community darkroom on Polk Street in San Francisco. Combining the last name of Surrealist Man Ray and the first two letters of his own, RayKo Photo Center quickly emerged as a vital resource for photographers seeking reasonably priced darkroom access; youth and continuing education classes; exhibition and residency opportunities, and community involvement. RayKo moved to its current location on Third Street in 2004. At 12,000 square feet, it is the largest photographic community center west of the Mississippi.

In January 2017, Kogod announced that the building housing RayKo is up for sale, citing that the space could only succeed if it secured sustainable financial support beyond his own. If the sale is completed and RayKo shutters its doors, San Francisco will lose an irreplaceable space that has served both regional and national photographic communities for more than 25 years.

Humble’s senior editor Roula Seikaly posted a call for input from photographers who have worked, taught, learned, or exhibited at RayKo Photo Center. What follows are thoughts, memories and images produced by of a few of those artists whose practice and professional arc have been significantly enhanced by their association with RayKo. The post closes with a love letter to Ann Jastrab, RayKo’s ace gallery director and vocal photography advocate.

Thank you to all of the contributors, and to all those associated with RayKo Photo Center for helping to keep the doors of this unique institution open through numerous trials and tribulations.

Interviews by Roula Seikaly

Blake Andrews

Roula Seikaly: How long have you known of and/or been associated with RayKo Photo Center, and in what capacity?

Blake Andrews: I've known about RayKo for maybe ten years. I first heard about them through their annual Plastic Camera Show which my buddy Bob has been in several times. Based on his suggestion, I submitted to the show a few years back, was accepted, and then used that exhibition as an opportunity to visit. Since then I've been back roughly once a year while on photo outings to SF.

Seikaly: How would you describe the contributions RayKo and its administrators have made to the Bay Area photo community?

Andrews: A photo center is a welcome addition to any community. I wish there was something like RayKo in every city in America.

Seikaly: If you could describe RayKo Photo Center in one word, what would it be?

Andrews: Brontosaurus. (and gentrification is the meteor)

Seikaly: Do you have any funny, interesting, or inspiring anecdotes or stories about RayKo that you'd like to share?

Andrews: The analogue photobooth in the front of RayKo was awesome. The exhibition space is tight, quirky and awkward, but it somehow works. I think what impresses me most is the general archaic character of the place, this huge warehouse tucked under the Bay Bridge in a little armpit of SF. It has personality.

Sarah Christianson

Seikay: How long have you known of and/or been associated with RayKo Photo Center, and in what capacity?

Christianson: Eight years. When I moved to the Bay Area in 2009, the best advice I received was to show my portfolio to Ann Jastrab at RayKo. Since that meeting, I have been involved with RayKo in some way. It was exactly what I needed as a new arrival, fresh out of graduate school in a new city where I didn't know anyone. Once I met Ann, I knew everyone. In RayKo, I found a supportive and curious community of photographers that helped me bridge the gap between life as a graduate student and life as a working artist.

Ann hired me as her gallery intern. After three years of interning, I became a full-fledged employee (2012-2015). I worked in the digital lab and taught a variety of classes (large format 4x5, professional practices for artists, scanning, digital printing, and beginning digital photography). Over the last eight years, RayKo has been the place where I create my own work. Two of the grants I have received in the last five years specifically supported the making of c-prints in RayKo's color darkroom--something I couldn't do elsewhere.

Seikaly: How would you describe the contributions RayKo and its administrators have made to the Bay Area photo community?

Christianson: They've created a unique, supportive place that welcomes everyone. I often tell people unfamiliar with RayKo to imagine a photographer's wonderland. They're always interested in your work, figuring out equipment or technical hurdles, connecting you to others, and providing opportunities through the gallery and artist-in-residence program to display and create new work.

Seikaly: If RayKo shutters, as opposed to downsizing its operations, what will the Bay Area and photo community at large lose?

Christianson: RayKo is not just a funky bricky building in SoMA (practically underneath the I-80 overpass) that's freezing cold in winter and sweltering in summer. RayKo is an invaluable institution that fosters the photographic arts, enables experimentation, encourages learning and mentoring, and provides a hub for connections and the opportunity to rub shoulders with other creatives.

Seikaly: If you could describe RayKo Photo Center in one word, what would it be?

Christianson: Wonderland

Seikaly: Do you have any funny, interesting, or inspiring anecdotes or stories about RayKo that you'd like to share?

Christianson: The first time I met Chris McCaw was at a RayKo gallery opening. He was wearing shorts (obviously). He blushed when I told him that I had written about his early work on his grandparents' farm in my MFA thesis defense paper.

Klea McKenna

Seikaly: How long have you known of and/or been associated with RayKo Photo Center, and in what capacity?

McKenna: I’ve been printing at RayKo for just over a decade. I’ve spent countless days in both the color darkroom and the private black and white darkrooms and Mural printing room. My use of the RayKo facilities ebbs and flows because I divide my work time between the darkrooms at RayKo and my Studio at Minnesota Street Project and working in the landscape. Sometimes I’m there once a week and other times, when I’m in full “production mode” I can spend several days a week there.

Seikaly: What needs did the Center fill that had not been identified or addressed prior to its opening?

McKenna: Honestly it fills every need a working photographer has – it’s been a blessing for me personally and for the Bay Area art scene. Even when I was in graduate school and had access to school facilities I preferred RayKo because it ran like a “well oiled machine”. I could count on it. And the staff (while sometimes moody) are deeply knowledgeable and generous. As time went on and other institutions shut down their color darkrooms RayKo became the only color darkroom in Northern California – a crucial asset. People come from afar to use it. Several photographers from New York have even flown out for intensive work sessions in the color darkroom.

Installation of Klea McKenna's work at RayKo Photo Center

Seikaly: How would you describe the contributions RayKo and its administrators have made to the Bay Area photo community?

McKenna: It’s hard to overstate the role that access plays in shaping a region’s art practice. There are lots of examples of that over the years. But in this case I think it is no coincidence that the West coast, particularly San Francisco has spawned so much experimental, analog photography in recent years– which is having such a moment on the larger scene right now. Artists such as John Chiara, Chris McCaw, Meghann Reipenhoff, Eric William Carroll, Mariah Robertson… the list goes on… we’ve all passed through RayKo. It’s fostered this kind of inquiry and also created a community.

Seikaly: If RayKo shutters, as opposed to downsizing its operations, what will the Bay Area and photo community at large lose?

McKenna: I try not to even consider this. I’m clinging to the hope that it will transform, but remain operative. On a personal level, I so depend on it in order to make my work that I would be devastated if it closed completely. And it would trigger some big decisions in my work/life, like whether to stay in San Francisco. And the people who RayKo benefits range from working artists to teenage students who are just discovering photography.

Seikaly: Do you have any funny, interesting, or inspiring anecdotes or stories about RayKo that you'd like to share?

McKenna: When I think about being at RayKo, I think of the countless moments that all blend into one - standing in the darkness in anticipation, sliding a latent image into the processor or the chemistry and humming my darkroom anthem, the Leonard Cohen lyrics: “there is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in”.

Editors Note: In addition to the short interviews above, we gathered some testimonials from photographers who have worked with RayKo over the years.

To me, RayKo Photo Center is the heart of San Francisco. It's a rad place jam packed with everything a photographer could imagine. Not only do they have an extensive collection of cameras, they have a color darkroom with a one-of-a-kind Colex. I can always count on being amazed when walking into RayKo because they consistently display jaw-dropping photos made by great artists. The employees are very kind and are always there to help with any problems. It's amazing that a place like this exists in 2017. Not only that but they gladly open their doors to programs like First Exposures. Without RayKo, I'm not sure how First Exposures could properly run. RayKo is the backbone of First Exposures in the sense that RayKo provides enough space and equipment for First Exposures to empower youth through photography. I wouldn't be the photographer I am today if I wasn't able to experiment and work with the equipment provided at RayKo.
Jacob Weber, age 18, 4 year First Exposures mentee - graduated 2017

Growing up, photography had always been one of my interests.. I didn't know any of the big names in the industry but I had always been fascinated on how capturing a moment was both so easy and complex. It was for me, easy to point and to shoot, and I wanted to learn more about the roots of photography. I was lucky enough to find out about First Exposures and a year into the program, I grew more interested in their relationship with RayKo Photo Center.
In two and a half years at RayKo, I found a place to belong and a place where I could be alone for hours. The staff was always so welcoming and kind and generous, you never really felt afraid to bring something up or ask for what you needed. It was also a place where I was able to learn more about the roots of photography. Looking at the collections of cameras, the dark room, the books on photography, the information it provided. I definitely took advantage of the things RayKo provided the students of First Exposures and the discounts I received as a student. I developed film, worked in both black and white and color darkrooms, used the studio and the lighting, I was able to dry prints, learn how to do it, learn how to wash them both in the washer and by hand and how to dry negatives.
I learned so much in RayKo and I am so grateful places like these exist.. get youth who could be on the streets or who find no purpose involved something as magical as the dark room and allow them look forward to creating art. It is the reason I get up on Saturday mornings and the thing that gets me through the week, knowing I will be able to be in the dark room and be able to make something that makes me feel proud of myself. Places like RayKo Photo Center are so important to keep in San Francisco, especially now that there's so many corporate buildings and fancy condos being built everywhere in the financial district. It's scary to think that we may someday not have dark rooms that offer so many resources to our youth, especially affordable and spacious ones like RayKo. Lupe Reyes, age 18, 4 year First Exposure mentee - graduated 2017

Ann Jastrab. Just mention her name to anyone anywhere - nevertheless in the Bay Area - and a huge smile will spread itself across the face of the person you are talking to. If the conversation is not happening in person - you can feel the love streaming through the phone or even radiating out from an email.

Everyone. Loves. Ann.
Period.

I first met Ann just after moving here with my son, Theo, from Denver at the end of 2010 to take over the Director of Photography position at the San Francisco Chronicle. I didn't know a soul. One of the people I did know - a beloved Chronicle freelancer - came down with a brain tumor and I organized a portfolio review/print auction with a local gallery. I reached out to a few contacts for reviewer suggestions and every single person asked if I knew Ann Jastrab. I had not been introduced to her yet but the second I reached out to see if she would be interested in helping us out she responded with a resounding "YES!" I knew then that Ann Jastrab was a special person.

The night of the fundraiser, we raised a ton of money and I found one of my best friends in the world. Ann introduced me to the Bay Area photography world through RayKo, she invited me to curate shows there together - I recall that the opening of the last show we put together had to have been one of the funnest nights I have ever had - and believe me - there have been a few high times in my sordid life. Ann counseled person after person in that side gallery area on matters of work, the heart and the world. She found time for everyone, even if she had no idea who there were.

I have spent so much time at RayKo looking at and experiencing some of the most kickass photography out there, thanks to Ann's incredible eye and her dedication to looking at ALL PORTFOLIOS that are sent her way.

So for me, Ann was the glue that bound me to RayKo. I cannot imagine it without her infectious positivity, her consummate talent at curating amazing exhibitions and her lyrical laugh booming off of the brick walls . I hope that RayKo can re-imagine itself through the support of the many people who have expressed interest. However, I am sure that Ann will land somewhere soon and I only hope that the people who she will be working with understand what a treasure Ann Jastrab is to the world of photography and how lucky they are to be getting to work with her.
- Judy Walgren

A love Letter to RayKo: 6 Photographers on the Photography Center’s Influence, Impact and Legacy