Rising Stars: Meet Ari Lyon of Mt. Juliet

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ari Lyon.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I started off as a musician (singer/songwriter type thing) and was leaving for a year long tour that would take me around most of the country. After the first couple of weeks I noticed I was finding everything to be beautiful in the strangest, most random parts of the country. I was keeping a journal but knew I would probably never read it back or might just lose it altogether. I lose a lot of things. Wanting to remember everything, I bought a little point and shoot camera and started to document it all myself. After a while I realized I was more interested in taking photos and when it was time to play I was annoyed that I had to put my camera down.
After the tour I ended up in New York where everything is a photograph. I crashed on couches for a while and then headed up to Toronto and got a job at a Media company. I was basically paid with access to not only my own small studio space (where I also slept -perhaps unbeknownst to the boss, perhaps he knew and didn’t care) but also a few cameras and some lights. I spent months as a hermit there reading photography books and fashion books and begging everyone I knew to let me practice lighting techniques on them.
In January of 2020 I headed back to Nashville and photographed whoever would let me and eventually started getting called to come on small tours with bands and then signed on for a year with a major artist. I got my first magazine cover last year and six or seven features pretty soon after and now here I am, busy as hell, broke as hell (film is expensive), and extremely happy. Working on my first few photography series (serieses?) and a couple of short films.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
To be honest, I can’t really tell. I enjoy it all a lot even when I’m miserable. I’ve never created anything I found to be of value when I was in a “smooth sailing” period and I tend to blow up a good spot when it goes on for too long anyway…
There was a period that I spent too much time in bars and not enough time taking pictures, I’ll leave it at that. But I think struggle as a pejorative term is not necessarily accurate if you’re an artist. Getting better IS a struggle and it’s a great one.
If you’re comfortable, you can’t grow.
I’ll say this though, I think a real struggle is constantly feeling like I should be learning what’s new on social media instead of on my camera. I can’t bring myself to care about social media (absolutely to my detriment) because I’m basically living in 1973. I still write everything on a typewriter (shoutout my Remington Quiet-Riter) and keep a pen and notepad in my pocket when I leave the house.
When I get on a computer I tend to get nervous and ramble. Which I’m sure is happening now.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I always say I photograph personalities. I’ve had a few people tell me I took their absolute favorite photo of themself and they feel they’re represented as their truest self in my work and I think that’s a great honor.
I’m not much for setting scenes. A chair and maybe a lamp or some random object now and again are mostly where it ends for me in terms of a set. I think a blank wall and a wood floor is all I really need or want; I don’t like to get too caught up in “what else” is in the photo other than the person.
I also like making people look powerful as they are. I’m not into the submissive, infantilizing bullshit, you know what I mean? I want my subjects to look like they’d put a stiletto heel through your neck if you got too cheeky with them at the bar.

Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
Get a camera, get an instrument, get a paintbrush, get a pen.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.aribenjaminlyon.com
• Instagram: lionlyon