Photographer. Gardener. Both, always.
I am a photographer and a gardener, and I have never really been able to separate the two. I grew up with my hands in the dirt and a camera in my pocket.
Six years ago I began the garden on Main Street — cultivating it from bare soil into a layered, living space that changes with every season. I grow it because I love flowers. I photograph it because I see something in them that I cannot stop trying to capture.
My cutting garden is where my eye learned to see — but those lessons have carried me to historic estates, celebrated public/private gardens, and remarkable landscapes across the country. If you found me through my photography, you will want to see the garden. If you found me through Main St Gardener on YouTube, you will want to see the images. Either way, you have arrived at the same place — and I am glad you are here.
My Story
I picked up my first digital camera twenty-five years ago and have not put it down since. I am entirely self-taught — as a photographer, as an editor, and as a gardener — which means I learned everything the slow way, by trying and failing and trying again until the image finally looked the way I felt it should. My garden is not just a subject. It is a creative laboratory where I test light and composition the way a painter tests color on a canvas. Most mornings you will find me out there before the day gets loud, clippers in one hand and camera in the other, looking for whatever the garden is offering that particular morning.
The garden serves as a classroom, where I host hands-on flower photography workshops, small private sessions, and intimate events for photographers and flower lovers who want to slow down and see differently.
My Approach
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For more than twenty-five years I have been photographing the world at the level of a single bloom — finding in it the light, structure, and quiet emotion that most people walk past without stopping to notice. My work is rooted in a belief that flowers are not simple subjects. They are complex, transient, and endlessly expressive when met with patience and the right quality of light. My practice is rooted in the garden. Whether I am in my own garden at dawn or standing in a centuries-old formal garden for the first time, I bring the same attention: patient, unhurried, looking for the detail that holds the feeling of the whole. Working primarily in natural light with a Fujifilm XT5, I am drawn to color, quiet, and the transient beauty of a single bloom. My goal with each image is not documentation but feeling — a stillness that invites the viewer to look slowly, and find more than they expected.
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Every image I make starts with observation. I am looking for the moment when light does something specific, when shadow reveals texture, when the whole frame becomes quiet enough to feel something. Natural light is where I do my best work — early morning in the garden, or the soft, diffused light of an overcast sky that strips away distraction and lets the flower speak. I shoot with a Fujifilm XT5 and a collection of lenses chosen for the way they render softness and depth. My editing process in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop is an extension of the seeing — I am not correcting the image so much as finishing it, drawing out what was already there in the light. My creative practice also includes light-pad photography and still life work, which brings a different quality of intimacy to flower imagery — painterly, and deeply focused on form and translucence.
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I work with a range of clients and collaborators, and I would love to talk about what we might create together.
Editorial & Commercial Photography I offer refined, story-driven imagery for magazines, publishers, garden brands, floral designers, and growers. Beyond my own garden, I photograph historic, estate, and contemporary gardens across the United States — bringing the same patient, light-focused eye to celebrated public landscapes as I bring to the blooms at home. My work is available for editorial licensing and commercial use. If you are looking for images that feel grown rather than produced — with genuine light, genuine soil, and a genuine garden behind them — let's connect.
Workshops & Courses I teach flower and garden photography through in-person workshops hosted in my garden, online self-study courses, and my signature year-long program, A Year of Creative Photography — offered once a year to a small group of committed photographers. I also teach specialized courses in artistic editing, light-pad photography, and developing a personal creative vision.
Photographer. Gardener. Both, always.
Whether you are here for the photography, the garden, or both — there is more waiting for you. Come see what grows on Main Street. Lori
For press, editorial, and collaboration inquiries — including high-resolution images, biography copy, and publication information — please download the press kit or reach out directly.