Loriene Perera

Loriene Perera is a Singapore-born photographer and filmmaker working across documentary photography and nonfiction film. Her work focuses on community, labor, and the evolving social landscape of Southeast Ohio, where she builds long-term relationships with the people and places she documents.

She began her career at Reuters, where she spent over a decade on the Global Pictures Desk. There, she edited breaking and enterprise coverage across major world events, including U.S. presidential elections, the Olympics, and the COVID-19 pandemic. This experience shaped her editorial judgment, visual precision, and commitment to accuracy under pressure.

Working across photography and film, Loriene approaches storytelling with an emphasis on authenticity and presence. Her practice is grounded in trust, often developed through sustained engagement with her subjects. She prioritizes clarity at the moment of capture, using post-production to refine rather than construct meaning.

Her recent work centers on Southeast Ohio. Her documentary project From Diner to Destination examines the role of a small-town diner in sustaining local economies and community identity.

Loriene holds an MFA focused on photography and documentary filmmaking. Her work has been recognized by the National Press Photographers Foundation, including the Sony Photojournalism Scholarship, Canon Picture Editing Scholarship, and Paul Martin Lester Scholarship. She is a two-time recipient of the ONPA Chuck Scott Student Photographer of the Year award, and From Diner to Destination received the James R. Gordon Ohio Understanding Award. Her work has also been honored at the WideOpen: Excellence in Photography exhibition.

She is an FAA Part 107 Certified Remote Pilot and incorporates aerial photography into selected editorial, documentary, real estate, and commercial assignments.

Much of her work is made possible through the trust and continued support of the communities she works within, which remain central to her practice.