Ray Thompson is no novice when it comes to communications, technology and photography. Whether it is founding Abilene Christian College’s first radio station, KACC, bringing his knowledge of Morse code to the United States Air Force or being an early adapter of computers in the 20th century, Ray attributes his early love of tech to his first hobby: ham radio.

While in Southern Germany with the U.S. Air Force, Ray picked up photography as a hobby and then later found a way to merge this with his love of computers.

“I love photography—in a technical way,” says Ray. “I am proficient in Photoshop and Lightroom, and I enjoy sharing my photographs with my real family, my Facebook family, my Apple Corps family and my church family.”

Once discharged from the Air Force, Ray decided on a career in electronics, which ultimately led him to Collins Radio Company (which later became a part of Rockwell International). Then, when he was the engineering technical writer, Ray was promoted to manager of publications engineering and later he moved into logistics engineering and lifecycle cost analysis because of his fascination with computers.

It was at this time that Ray purchased one of the very first Apple II computers in 1978 and became one of the founding members of the Apple Corps of Dallas, the oldest Mac Users Group in the U.S., and he hasn’t missed many of the monthly meetings since!

At 85 years old, Ray is the only remaining founding member and serves as the co-chair of the VisionsSIG, where members are encouraged to become involved with photography, videos and graphics. Among his group, Ray is the FotoMagico guru and loves teaching others to use and enjoy the app. He even started a public Facebook group, FotoMagico Fans, which has over 150 members!

Ray says, “I believe FotoMagico gives me an ‘edge’ in presenting my photographs and videos. Most of my audiences have no idea how I create my presentations. They don’t ‘get’ photographs as video, and their wonder and admiration are the fruit of my limited ability as a photographer. A few are curious enough to ask, and I invite them to our VisionsSIG to learn for themselves, but most just enjoy the show!”

Ray’s enthusiasm for photography and technology is contagious, and we can’t wait to see what else he applies his FotoMagico skills to! To see more of Ray’s FotoMagico work, click here.