The Photographer

Born, raised and educated in the San Francisco Bay Area, Richard Murai recently transitioned away from academia after thirty five years teaching creative photography in Northern California's Central Valley. His ongoing fascination with documenting sacred sites has generated travel to locations within Asia, India, South America, the Middle East, Russia, Western Europe and Oceania.

In addition to passionately pursuing his art, Richard actively exhibits, is widely collected and his work has been published here and abroad including Lenswork, Camera Arts, Silver Shotz International (AU), BBC Online and other respected journals. Recent honors include first place awards from the Travel Photographer of the Year (UK) in 2008, 2010 and 2011; a Jurors Award from the 2010 California State Fair; Best in Show from the Center for Photographic Art's (Carmel, CA) 2015 International Juried Portfolio Competition, and honorable mentions from the 2008 Pilsner/Urquell International Photography Awards.

Richard conducts ongoing regional and foreign photography workshops to locations such as Italy, the United Kingdom and Ireland, Spain, Portugal and Morocco, South East Asia, and also hosts small-group instruction as well as individual mentoring.