Through This Lens Inc

Lovely but small photography art gallery and framing shop. I’ve only visited the shop for the gallery portion and have yet get to get something framed, but it’s a nice stop during any of Durham’s Spring/​Winter Art Walks or on Third Friday. They usually have several bottles of red and wine wines along with a complimentary cheese/​bread plate for gallery guests during their special events, which is quite nice. The photography is from all over the world, many prints I’d recognize as South East Asia but there are also some lovely local Triangle photos and those for the nature enthusiast. I’d recommend putting Through This Lens on your gallery hopping list if it’s convenient, but it isn’t large enough and, after a handful of visits, I’ve never received a personal greeting to draw me back if it’s out of the way. Through This Lens rents their space from Durham Arts Place, around to the right if you’re facing the entrance and up the stairs.

Fantastic frame job! I went in to get my husband’s diploma framed and was so impressed with the job Roylee did! It was a little on the expensive side, but the finished product was worth it.
Roylee was able to work with me to make sure I got exactly what I wanted and even to cut his lead to in half to fit my schedule! Such a friendly attentive man who clearly takes pride in his work. A+

Wow. As if the available traditional-​medium art in the Triangle is not enough, there’s also a gallery dedicated to electronic-​medium art of the camera.
I thought having books of pictures would be a reasonable facsimile of the seeing the actual photograph. It’s like any art form really, I thought. Through This Lens proved me wrong. Where a book can group places and concepts, a gallery has to be a bit more selective, I think. It has limited space and time to capture and keep your interest as it competes with other medium and distractions. And in downtown Durham, during a weekend festival no less, TTL managed to do it.
TTL has photos from all over the world. All are visually stunning in their own way. Each with a message, sometimes subtle, sometimes not so much. One can see snippets of objects, colors, movement — all moments in time captured by the photographer-​artist. In this one small gallery you can travel the world from the reservations in Arizona to the deserts in Africa. It’s a mini-​vacation.
The owner, Roylee was very helpful in answering my questions and explaining the technique used by a photographer of one particular picture that captured my attention. There was a color photo of a dried well, the tan walls a sharp contrast to the two women in bright saris, there at the bottom of the drying well. The description by the photographer added another layer of awesome. Another photograph, a black and white photo taken at an abandoned church in Georgia, was stunning. I probably spent fifteen minutes staring at it from every angle. It hadn’t yet been hung on the wall so I was able to look at it from all angles as I walked around the table. The lines and shadows just drew me in. There was such an unexpected symmetry in that picture, it was hard to believe it wasn’t computer-​drawn.
And so it went for my entire visit..