My art lives in the space between a photograph and a painting — and that’s exactly where I want it.

My medium is digital, but what I make has always felt closer to painting than photography to me. It isn’t quite either, and that in-between space is where the work comes alive for me — images that carry the detail and light of a photograph and the expressive quality of my painter’s hand.

This approach grew naturally from my early training as a painter and more than two decades spent working as a landscape designer and photographer, where close observation and a sensitivity to living things became second nature. As I got deeper into photography, Photoshop became the place where I could bring those instincts together, letting intuition guide me as much as technique.

I’m especially fascinated by the ways animals communicate without words through expression, gesture, and attention. There are rich, subtle conversations happening for those willing to notice. A goat’s sidelong glance. A chicken mid-thought. A horse in a moment of absolute stillness. They’re individuals with inner lives, and I treat them that way.

By highlighting that individuality, I hope my work encourages us to reconsider our relationships with the beings we share this world with — to move toward greater compassion, respect, and understanding for all living things.

Every piece I make is a little bit real, a little bit imagined. Whether animals or plants, they are a synthesis shaped by curiosity, empathy, and a desire to look deeper. My hope is that my images invite you to do the same.

Welcome. Come meet the animals and stroll in the gardens.

  • 2025

    • Conversations - Solo  show - The Lab Gallery - Toronto

    • The Magic of Light - Juried group show - SE Center for Photography -  Greenville, SC

    • Apple Route Studio Tour - Northumberland County

    2024

    • Conversations with Friends - Solo exhibition - Frantic Farms Gallery - Warkworth

    • Textures - Spark Photo Festival - Juried group show - Peterborough

    • Spirit of the Hills - Juried group show - John M. Parrott Art Gallery - Belleville

    • Apple Route Studio Tour - Northumberland County

    2023

    • Making Warkworth - AH! Gallery Invitational group show, Warkworth

    • Conversations - Solo  show - KOK Gallery, Warkworth

    • Buckhorn Fine Art Festival - Juried art festival - Buckhorn

    • Wings - Juried group show - Wild Heart Gallery - Coachella

    • Animals with Attitude - Juried group show - Wild Heart Gallery - Coachella

    2022

    • Buckhorn Fine Art Festival - Juried art festival - Buckhorn

    • Friends - Solo exhibition- The Loft Gallery - Cobourg

    2021

    • Conversations - Red Tower Gallery - Solo Show - Warkworth

    • Nourish - Spark Photo Festival - Juried group show - Peterborough

    • Floral - John B. Aird Gallery - Juried group show - Toronto

    • Transformations 2021- Juried group show - Pennsylvania Center For Photography - Philadelphia

    • Buckhorn Fine Art Festival  - Juried art festival - Buckhorn

    2020

    • Annual Juried group show - Art Gallery of Northumberland - Cobourg

    • Transformations 2020 - Juried Show- Pennsylvania Center For Photography - Pennsylvania

    2019

    • All The Light That… - Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival - AN Gallery, Toronto

    • With Respect - Solo exhibition - SPARK Photo Festival - Piper Creek Studio, Castleton

    • Transformations 2019 - Juried Show- Pennsylvania Center For Photography - Philadelphia

    • Buckhorn Fine Art Festival  - Juried art festival - Buckhorn

    • Spirit of the Hills - Juried group show - John M. Parrott Art Gallery - Belleville

    2018

    • RMG Exposed - Juried group show - Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa

    • 100 Smalls - Juried group show - Visual Arts Centre of Clarington - Clarington

    • Clarington Outdoor Art Festival - Juried art festival- Clarington

    • Buckhorn Fine Art Festival  Buckhorn - Juried art festival- Buckhorn

    • Riverdale ArtWalk 2018, Toronto - Juried art festival - Toronto

    • Warkworth Art in the Park -  Juried art festival- Warkworth

    • Grow Op 2018 - Gladstone Hotel, Toronto - Juried group show

    • A Closer Look - Arts and Heritage Centre, Warkworth - SPARK Photo Festival featured exhibition

    2017

    • Queen St. West Art Crawl - Toronto - Juried art festival

    • Group Show -  Juried group show - Colborne Art Gallery

    • New Art Festival -  Juried art festival - Ottawa, Ontario -

    • All Around Us-  One person show - Capers, Campbellford, Ontario

    • Warkworth Art in the Park -  Juried art festival- Warkworth

    • Berman and Weiland - SPARK Photo Festival, Peterborough and Warkworth

    • Berman and Thorpe - Two person exhibition - Spirit of the Hills - Campbellford,  Ontario

    2016

    • Spirit of the Hills - Juried Group Show - Northumberland Hills Hospital

    • Berman and Weiland - SPARK Photo Festival, Peterborough and Warkworth

    • All that Jazz  - Juried  group show  Port Hope, Ontario

    2015

    • RMG Exposed - Juried group show - Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa

    2008

    • Beautiful, Bountiful Harvest - Solo exhibition - Toronto City Hall, Toronto

    2007

    • Food: Beyond the Plate - Two person exhibition - Toronto City Hall Toronto

    2006

    • Expose Urban Solutions Photo - Juried exhibition -United Nations World Urban Forum in Vancouver

    • In All their Infinite Variety - Solo exhibition - Toronto City Hall, Toronto

    • From Field to Table: FoodShare and the Power of Food -  Solo exhibition -  Harbourfront Centre, Toronto

    • The Seasons of Dufferin Grove - Solo exhibition - Toronto

  • 2024

    • Short listed - International Food Photographer of the Year

    • Honourable Mention - Spark Photo Festival -  Juried group show

    2023

    • Overall winner up - Wings -Wild Heart Gallery - Coachella

    • Overall winner up - Animals with Attitude -Wild Heart Gallery - Coachella

    2021

    • Second Place and Honourable Mention - Spark Photo Festival -  Juried group show

    2016

    • Mayor’s Award - Colborne Art Gallery - Juried group show

    2014

    • Commended - International Garden Photographer of the Year, Kew, UK

    2011

    • Highly Commended - International Garden Photographer of the Year, Kew, UK

    2006

    • Finalist - CBC The Nature of Things Nature in Focus Environmental Photography Competition

    2005

    • Finalist-PhotoLife Image International

    • Devour: Art and Lit Canada -”Laura Berman - The Inner Life of Animals”- November 2018

    • Trent Hills Now:  “Image by Local Photographer Selected for Cover of Royal Horse Show Program: Agricultural Winter Fair” - October 15, 2018

    • Trent Hills Now: “Photographer Laura Berman featured this month in SPARK Festival” - April 21, 2018