Michael Wriston captures America’s backroad gospel in bold, sun-bleached signs—part sermon, part spectacle—shouting belief into the roar of passing trucks.
Michael Wriston (b. 1986, Maryland, USA) is a photographer based in Baltimore, Maryland. His work focuses on long-exposure night photography and environmental street portraiture, using available light and spontaneous encounters to explore the visual and emotional texture of Baltimore.
Wriston’s long-exposure work began nearly twenty years ago, influenced by time spent working overnight shifts. Drawn to the way artificial light transforms everyday environments, he photographs Baltimore at night to create images that feel dreamlike, disoriented, and emotionally charged. This body of work emphasizes mood and abstraction over realism, offering a different way of seeing a familiar city.
In contrast, his environmental street portraits are spontaneous and unplanned, made in the moment during everyday encounters. Working directly with Baltimore residents, Wriston approaches each portrait as a collaboration—one that centers presence and individuality without imposing a fixed narrative. The goal is to create space for people to be seen on their own terms, within the context of their daily surroundings.
Outside of his photographic practice, he co-hosts the monthly Baltimore Photo Book Meet-Up and organizes quarterly photography print swaps at the Enoch Pratt Free Library. Both events are designed to build community around photography, encouraging people to engage with images in person—through printed work, shared conversation, and collective discovery. He also writes Ten Minute Exposure, a weekly newsletter about photography, time, and the creative process.
His work has appeared in The Baltimore Sun, The Point Magazine, Immaterial Books, and Subjectively Objective, and has been featured by Float Magazine, Ain’t Bad Magazine, Oxford American, Glass, and Foto.