self-portrait by Art Gray

Capturing Amarillo for 99 Years

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When the Gray family settled in Amarillo in 1910 it was to start a new life in a booming pioneer town. Pennsylvania native Jeduthan “J.B.” Gray opened a tailor shop at 304 E. 4th Street, and soon after, his son, Claude, began a photo business in the back. Originally named Gray Photo Shop, early advertisements read: Portraits of Kiddies Made in the Home.

“Claude was 20 years old when he started the photo business,” says Art Gray, owner of and photographer at Gray’s Studio. “My uncle Johnny and my dad worked with him, processing, printing and doing photo finishing. When you have a family business, everybody does something. Back then, you did everything you could.”

The family business boomed as the Gray photographers were hired to shoot everything from family reunions to the construction of new buildings in downtown Amarillo. Art’s father, Bob, would drive to drugstores on his scooter to pick up photo finishing jobs and bring them back to the shop.

“I think a lot of photographers started out doing photo finishing, and as the need arose, you go one direction or the other,” says Art. By the end of the 60s, Gray’s Studio gave up photo finishing and focuses solely on photography.

The Gray family suffered a great loss when the shop burned down in 1942, when it was located across the street from the Paramount building. Because film is highly flammable, not to mention all the chemicals required for processing, the firemen doused the entire place. Everything was gone.

“They moved the studio at 1222 W. 10th Street and we were there for almost 60 years,” says the third-generation photographer. “It was hard to leave that building. I remember going up there and watching my dad print and shoot when I was a kid. I’d sit on the counter and watch the enlarger go on and off. I remember being in the dark room and seeing shapes move around. It’s spooky, you know? Until you realize it’s your dad. I probably spent about 15 years of my life in a darkroom.”

His grandfather stayed on the cutting edge of photography, traveling to Los Angeles on a month-long trip in 1929 to study artificial lighting via Hollywood. Art’s uncle and father followed suit by making the shift from black and white to color photos in 1957.

“We were remodeling at the time and Uncle Johnny said, ‘Stop the remodeling! Put me in a color lab,’” laughs Art. “We were one of the first studios in Amarillo to do that.”

Gray’s Studio remains very much a family business, which was relocated in November 2007 to a roomy spot in the antique district on 6th. Art’s wife, Lori, helps with retouching while maintaining the accounting books, and their eldest son, Mason, is following in the footsteps of his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather.

“Mason has been working with me for six years but it only took him about six months for the light to click on,” says Art. “He’s a natural photographer, one of the best. He has the energy I used to have.”

Art and Lori have four sons, ranging in ages from 11 to 22. Art’s father and uncle still live in Amarillo, and while they spent their lives shooting this city, they are content to watch the business carry on in the hands of their children and grandchildren.

“When you do it your whole life, there comes a time when you need to get away from it,” Art says of his father and uncle. “They’re still interested in photography, but they needed some time away. However, my dad said, ‘I wish photography was this fun when I was doing it!’”

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by Jennie Treadway-Miller

Jennie was a columnist for the Chattanooga Times Free Press for eight years prior to moving to Amarillo in 2008. She is an avid reader, runner and writer.