Because it's all around and everywhere you look, anyone can appreciate the beauty of Lititz. But Tom Roe perceives it in a much different way - through the lens of a camera.

Roe, a local professional photographer, is a self-professed visual storyteller. And of all the subjects he captures, one of his favorites to portray is his adopted hometown of Lititz.

"Essentially, Lititz is very photogenic," said Roe. "But what separates the work I do from taking pictures with a cellphone is planning and execution. I want to show off the beauty of Lititz in the best possible way. Yes, Lititz is a beautiful town, but that makes it even more important to capture it in the right way. You've got to give it the respect it deserves."

Through his photography, Roe has engrained himself in the Lititz community.

Roe works closely with the tourism-oriented organization Venture Lititz and helps promote local businesses and people through his commercial photography. He estimated that 80% of his paid work originates from the Warwick and Ephrata areas.

Recently, he published the "Tom Roe Photography Presents 2023 Lititz Community Choice Calendar," which features familiar shots of the town presented in a uniquely artistic fashion.

"Since I moved here in 2018, it's been my main focus, the town," said Roe, a graduate of Solanco High School. "Photography is an art. You can't learn to be an artist. You can learn the art. Learning how to be a photographer from an artistic point of view was what I was missing."

It was that evolution as an artist that allowed Roe to become a professional. After 20 years of honing his craft, Roe ditched his job in retail and took the full-time leap into the world of professional photography - products, portraits and promotions.

"It's my profession. It's what I do," said Roe. "It's more work than people think. What I do is very complicated. Every single photo I approach, 98% of the work is done before I take the shot. It's the execution that's important. It's a long process and every step is connected."

Roe has learned a lot on the job through repetition and trial and error, building on his education at Hallmark Institute of Photography in Massachusetts. However, his photography education began long before that, as he grew up around the art form.

"When I was a kid, we'd go on camping trips, and I was always the first one to grab the disposable cameras," said Roe. "My mom would always bring three or four cameras along, and she'd have to hide them from me. At one point, I was like, 'You mean you can do this for a living?' I set my mind to it. I decided to go to school for it and I've been doing it ever since."