Lori Hall
Everybody has a story... Lori Hall is an Ashe County, NC resident, a Professional Fine Art Photographer and owner of Art & Soul Photography. A life-changing event brought her to where she is today. She worked for corporate America for 20 years when a life-threatening illness struck her. Lori believes that everything happens for a reason and views her illness as a gift.
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For through her illness, she began to reflect upon her life. She made a vow to God that if she lived through this ordeal, she would change her life and never forget the lesson. She did get her second chance.
Lori realized that making a living is not the same as making a life. She was guilty of riding that fast-paced, gotta climb the corporate ladder, get the next promotion, buy the bigger, better, this or that mentality. Money was the way she measured her success. Her first lesson was that people and relationships are what really matter, not money and things. The second lesson she learned was one of gratitude. She realized that living such a fast-paced life she had missed the beauty in the ordinary and simple. The concerto of real life was playing all around her, yet pleasures were often overlooked... she learned to pause. She now finds the sacred in the ordinary, the mystical in the mundane. She savors the moments, for moments become memories. The power of gratitude caught her by surprise. Lori says ‘it was as if I removed one pair of glasses and put on another. The eyes of my eyes are now open. I feel fully awake now. This was truly a gift.” Her third lesson was to live her purpose. Lori feels that God placed each of us on this earth for a special reason and it’s our gift back to God what we choose to do with our lives. Lori remembered as a child devouring Life magazines and the beautiful black and white photography. She knew, inside, she was an artist. “I realized that this was a huge leap of faith, but I just didn’t doubt where God was leading me”. Once she completed her chemo treatments and recovered from her illness, she did just as she vowed. She changed her life and has kept her lessons in the forefront of her mind.
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She ended up leaving her corporate job and sending herself back to school and obtained a Professional Photography degree from New York Institute of Photography. She moved to Ashe County, located in the North Carolina mountains, a place that brought her peace during her recuperation. Lori feels her training comes as much from her inner eye as from her extensive training at a respected institution. She realizes that the lessons she learned about gratitude and noticing the details has enabled her to be a better photographer... to see emotion and therefore, create emotion. “I’m very blessed. I’m living my purpose, for it’s reaffirmed each time I pick up my camera... it’s a feeling I can’t explain”. Lori has a passion for photography, particularly old-time black and white. “It’s simple, elegant and classic. My goal is to keep my work pure and true to the original art form”. Only archival papers and true black and white prints are used in her black and white fine art prints. “This means 100 years from now, your print will look just as it does today. No other process can say this.” Lori has studied under the top U.S. and European photographers and is a member of numerous national, state and local photography groups. She has won photography awards both locally and nationally. However, Lori doesn’t measure her success from things any longer. She measures it by living in purpose and gratitude and by relationships and emotions.
“If you are moved by my photography, that, in itself, is my goal, for I feel that feelings and emotions are the language of the soul and is my ultimate measuring stick of success”. It is her love for–and intuitive understanding of–life that is both enthusiastically and brilliantly exhibited in her photographs.
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