Larry St. Pierre: From Food To Photography

Mystic Photographer and Photojournalist Larry St. Pierre departed Mystic a chef, traveled the world and returned to the area a photographer.

One of six children, St. Pierre grew up in North Stonington surrounded by a lush woodland wonderland. Often he and his siblings got lost playing in the woods for hours or followed a trodden logging trail, which led to a massive abandoned charcoal factory just past the Kingswood development. St. Pierre has fond memories of building forts and playing in the oversized cinderblock structures as if it were their own private village. 

While at Wheeler High School, St. Pierre worked as a line cook at the Mystic Hilton moving up the ranks until he decided to leave the country with his best friend to explore Europe. A Swiss restaurant outside of Berlin became his first European job and later he moved to Switzerland to continue his travels and deepen his culinary skills. It was there a fascination for photography emerged and in 1991, St. Pierre purchased his first SLR camera. 

“On days off, I would pack 8 x 12 prints of Switzerland,” St. Pierre said. “I would run into tourists and sell photos on the train.” 

According to St. Pierre, it took a while for the scale to tip from cooking to photography according, but he felt the shift happening. 

Cooking was the vehicle that carried St. Pierre through Thailand and Australia. New Zealand was next on the itinerary until he had a change of heart.

“I made the decision to finish my travels to focus on photography,” said St. Pierre. “So I came back to Mystic in 1996 to get myself situated and tried to make my break in photography.” 

With an internship at The Westerly Sun and a line-up of friends interested in utilizing his sills, St. Pierre made it happen. His big break occurred when he happened upon Walter Cronkite relaxing on the river one day in Mystic. Cronkite granted him an interview and photos, which St. Pierre took straight to The Westerly Sun. He was offered a part-time position at the paper and in 2005 started St. Pierre Photography Studio in downtown Mystic.

St. Pierre still has a passion for food and enjoys photographing much of the local fare from Azu and Bravo Bravo to Daniel Packer Inne and Margaritas. He often shoots commercial work and weddings and can be seen photographing the area’s local events, benefits and parades.

“Photography is my life—it’s who I am,” he said. "People ask me about my job and I describe it as the best hobby you can get paid to do.”

Family and community are crucial components to his success, keeping St. Pierre rooted in the area. With a tightly knit family, St. Pierre said in his spare time when he’s not photographing nature and insects, he connects often with his friends and family. 

“Some people might see the culture here as clicky, but for me it’s such a close community,” he said, pivoting around to point out George the UPS guy and Nate the FedEx guy by name."  He continued, “That’s the kind of place it is and that’s what I love about Mystic.”