It is a simple fact of modern life that we all take pictures: our homes, kids, pets (especially cats), a holiday — anything, really, we wish to capture for posterity. But there is a difference between that casual snapshot and the work of a professional, master photographer such as our own local Lori Grice.

Currently on view at the Averitt Center, Grice’s work is most familiar to many of us from family portraits displayed in her storefront studio on East Main Street. But it would be a mistake — and a missed opportunity — to imagine that portraiture of our handsome populace is all that her work embraces.

Covering some 20 years of work, Grice explores not only the fleeting beauty of growing children but also the rich textures and patina of architectures abroad, of flowers in full bloom, of an unexpected snow in the South.

Her eye for that right moment, that never-to-be-seen-again phenomenon of light and shadow, is informed by two great moments in her own life: the birth of a daughter and her own survival of cancer. She said that the joy she felt at being a new mother, and then a survivor soon after, was best translated through her lens.

Clearly, the photography industry agrees with her, as she is the recipient of numerous awards as well as a successful entrepreneur.  Of particular interest is a horizontal view of flowers in “Flower Market Find,” taken not in a market but a local garden. Lavish purple, yellows and deep green compose the image, which captured three awards and five ribbons in a statewide competition. 

“Heavenly Chill,” a view of our own First United Methodist Church of Statesboro bathed equally in snow and early morning light, was taken in 2010 after a rare snow that Grice stayed up all night long to capture throughout the town.

A family photo may capture a person’s image, or be a record of a place, but in the hands of a master photographer such as Grice, the lens becomes an extension of the heart, and the resulting image a shared experience.

Don’t miss it!