Lilies 2 Tondo by Lori Ryerson

Lori Ryerson is an award-winning Toronto-based fine art photographer. She refers to herself as an “opportunistic photographer,” meaning she makes the most of wherever she lands.

“My art is the result of chance meanders, rather than planned outcomes. I go to less-travelled places in search of new stories, but inspiration can strike anywhere.”

Refusing to be restricted to one genre, she shoots travel, landscape, nature, animals, and anything cirque. Sixteen years of studying flying trapeze in the Toronto circus community changed her perspective on the world, and lifelong exposure to Japanese art and culture inspires her appreciation for detail and negative spaces. Lori looks to photography as a tool to create impressionist views that invite emotional responses using lines and light.

She says, “Ultimately, my goal is to give viewers a mental place to decompress from what has become an increasingly noisy and stressful world. I experiment with techniques like long exposures, intentional camera movement, and watch for smaller, more intimate landscapes to draw them into a place of silence. My camera is a brush, a palette knife; it’s the tool I use to tell my stories.”

After 30 years in the corporate workforce, she re-launched herself into work as a full-time artist. Her photography has been featured in countless exhibitions and art fairs across Canada and in the USA. Lori is an active patron and advocate of the arts, and is a juried member of the Society of Canadian Artists and the Ontario Society of Artists.