This vintage widelux camera with its unusual moving lens takes panoramic shots.

This vintage widelux camera with its unusual moving lens takes panoramic shots.

In Cuba, Missouri, Missouri artist Ray Harvey painted the interior murals at the Victorian Manor assisted living facility and inside the Catholic Church. He painted the Bette Davis Mural, the murals on the 1931 Phillips 66 Station on Route 66, and the mural of Jesus on the Catholic Church School building.  In 2009, he painted the mural for the My Place Tires business.

Artist Ray Harvey is an all-around talented guy. Along, with his wife and chef Paula Harvey, he ran a restaurant, and he worked in advertising as an illustrator. He’s a fine arts painter, a mural artist, and a photographer.

The widelux camera shot gives a new view of the History at the 4-Way murals.

The widelux camera shot gives a new view of the History at the 4-Way murals on Route 66. Used by permission of Ray Harvey.

Now with his new site widelooks.com, Harvey showcases his panoramic photography.

Harvey uses a swing-lens widelux camera to provide panoramic scenes—with a twist.  Using this unique vintage camera, every image is exposed, proofed, chosen, and hand-signed by Ray Harvey. After you view the photos on his new website widelooks.com, you’ll see where the twist comes from—or maybe it’s more of a curve.

A visit to the website explains the widelux camera, displays some of the photos, and offers them for sale.  The blog link on the new site leads to some of his fine art paintings and mural images. Harvey is constantly adding to his photographic displays as he travels. He plans a future Route 66 Gallery on his site.

Part of the site’s Cuba, MO Gallery displays widelux photography at the Lions Club September Car Show and at some Viva Cuba murals .

When talking to Harvey about his new site and the widelux camera, he mentioned that he is interested in taking custom shots for businesses and social occasions. Imagine businesses with a widelux shot of their building hanging in their corporate offices or a wedding party in a widelux view. And the classic car shots are pretty cool too. I can see how a car owner might like a widelux shot of a classic ride.

Take a look at Harvey’s new site and see how Cuba looks in the wide view.

In 2010, Viva Cuba hopes to update the information on some of our other mural artists.