Born in Somerset, England, Tony Ray-Jones studied at the London School of Printing and later at Yale University in the United States. His formative years in America exposed him to the work of photographers like Alexey Brodovitch and Joel Meyerowitz, which influenced his approach to street photography upon his return to the United Kingdom in 1965.

Ray-Jones is best known for his project A Day Off: An English Journal, which documented the British seaside and traditional social rituals with a blend of irony and affection. He primarily utilized 35mm film to capture complex, multi-layered compositions that highlighted the peculiar habits of the British public.

His legacy remains a cornerstone of British photography, frequently cited as a primary influence by subsequent generations of documentary practitioners. His work is held in major institutional collections and continues to be studied for its unique synthesis of social observation and formal artistic rigor.