By Jim Bloch
Lori Hannon’s photographs make you think you’re living in a more beautiful place than you are.
You can tune into her Facebook page nearly every morning to view a stunning take on sunrises turning the St. Clair River into a chromatic wonderland and freighters, those heaving, rusting work horses of the lakes, into elongated studies of aquatic elegance.
Sometimes, her photos edge toward the abstract, as in her shot called Morning Glow on Sept. 17. The dark, lumpy skyline of Canada splits in two horizontally the dark morning sky and dark unrippled river, like a zipper leaking the tangerine light of morning twilight.
Sometimes, her photos turn a familiar scene into fantasy, as in her portrait of the pink ruffled blooms of sedum buoyed by an undercurrent of dawn light along the St. Clair boardwalk.
Her pictures make you want to visit where you already live.
A show of her work – “Through Lori’s Lens” – opens Thursday, Sept. 18 at the Alice Moore Center for the Arts, home of the St. Clair Art Association, in the downtown Riverview Plaza. Hannon is also the president of the association. The show runs through Oct. 19. A reception will 5-7 p.m., Sept. 18.
“I take sunrise pictures and freighter pictures every morning,” Hannon told Paul Dingeman on the CTV-Channel 6 presentation of the Focus Show.
The poster for the exhibit shows a rising lemony sun behind a freighter framed by the Palmer Park Arch.
Hannon has come to know various freighter captains, who have hailed her on Facebook, saying they were piloting the ship in one of her photos. Her gorgeous shot of the upbound freighter Federal Mosel notes that its pilot is Alain M. Gindroz.
“It’s pretty unique that we can see freighters so close,” Hannon said. “It’s really special here.”
Hannon teaches art at St. Clair Middle School, which just moved to the campus of St. Clair High School at the start of the fall semester. That means her output of early morning photography increases in the summer months when she is not teaching, and dips slightly during the school year.
“Kids like art,” she told Dingeman. “They might grumble about doing math, but they’re always excited to come to art.”
While her show is in progress in St. Clair, fans may catch Hannon and her work at the Water Street Winery/Brewing Co., 218 Water Street, Marine City, on Sept. 27, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. as part of the event known as Art Drift, which pairs artists and businesses.
She has been focusing her lenses on sunrises and freighters for a decade, growing more serious about the endeavor in the past five years. For her SCAA exhibit, Hannon will have her 2026 calendar, postcards, notecards, magnets, framed prints and canvas prints for sale.
For details, call the art association at 810-329-9576.
Jim Bloch is a freelance writer based in St. Clair, Michigan. Contact him at bloch.jim@gmail.com.
