About Lori Ryerson

A bit of Herstory

and why she does this stuff

“Photography gives me an escape hatch into a quiet universe…”

While my first loves are travel and landscape, I will pretty much photograph anything that catches my eye, from architecture to zoo animals, and everything in between. It’s the act of photography that brings me joy, rather than the subject matter. Photography gives me an escape hatch into a quiet universe, where the only thing that matters, in that moment, is the space and time between me and the object of my attention.

Lori onsite creating the image "Moira's Pond"; photo credit Lisa D. Hickey

“I seek out little mysteries in the mundane, and wait for the stories to make themselves known to me…”

I am always on the lookout for echoes of lives lived, narratives that have been left behind in urban and ancient landscapes. I find intimate abstracts by getting close up with nature. But what interests me most, in our increasingly noisy universe, is finding ways to photograph silence. Everything around us makes noise; the traffic, the phones, email. Even when you think it is silent…the refrigerator hums in the background. I create art that gives you a space to listen to the silence, to see it for yourself.

Sixteen years of studying flying trapeze in the Toronto cirque community changed my perspective on the world. A lifelong exposure to Japanese art and culture have given me an appreciation for fine details, and negative space.

“After 30 years of experience in written communications, this latest incarnation as a visual storyteller FELT like the right transition.”

In 2012, I started my photography business, Focalocity. In the years since then, I left the corporate world behind to pursue photography as a full-time artist, was accepted into the Ontario Society of Artists (Canada's oldest continuous-running society of artists) and am now an elected member of the Society of Canadian Artists. I enjoy collaborating with and mentoring other (emerging) artists. My camera is now both my brush and my pen as I continue to share my stories through photography.

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Press

2022 - CanvasRebel: Meet Lori Ryerson
2022 - Splash Purple Media - Artist Project Part 2 Artist Interviews
2022 - Your Yonge & Eglinton - Lori Ryerson Fine Art Photographer
2022 - Light & Landscape Magazine - Return to Death Valley
2021 - Toronto Star: Life @ Home Front Page
2020 - Talking to Artists: Lori Ryerson
2020 - Talk about Talk Podcast: Learn About Creativity
2020 - CBC Radio One Arts Report
2019 - ArtScopeTO 08: Interview with Photographer Lori Ryerson
2018 - On Your Doorstep Magazine - Last Stop: Newfoundland

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