Lee is a native of Buffalo, NY, earning his BFA in Design from SUNY at Buffalo, with concentrations in typography and photography. After graduation in 1983, he began a career in the printing industry working as a pressman.
A desire for expression led him to pick up the camera again, starting Pugbully Studio in 2015. He quickly gained a following in his hometown of Lockport, NY, with images from the famous Flight of Five locks as it undergoes a historic restoration. Lee has found a shared interest with patrons in subjects such as aviation, architecture and nature.
In 2024, Lee was chosen by the Roycrofters-at-Large Association in East Aurora, NY as one of four 2024 Emerging Artist Cohorts. In early 2025, he was granted the use of the Roycroft Renaissance mark as an Artisan in Photography, then changing the business name to IronOak Images. He is currently a member at several area galleries including Buffalo’s Hallwalls and Lockport’s Kenan Gallery. As an exhibiting member of the Buffalo Society of Artists, his work has shown in esteemed spaces including the Castellani Art Museum. His solo show ‘Lit Buffalo’ at Flight Gallery in Larkenville was well received. His prints of the canal hang in the courtroom in the City of Lockport. Lee’s clients have included Bank on Buffalo and Catholic Health Fund.
He will be showing and selling his work each June, during the Roycroft Summer Festival, alongside Roycroft Master artisans from across the United States.
Artist Statement
Photography, for me, is a quiet way of listening. It is how I notice the rhythm in a row of windows, the dignity in an old machine, or the moment when clouds arrange themselves into brief, unrepeatable patterns.
My background in graphic design and printing taught me to see structure and balance, but photography gave me permission to let go, to follow light instead of layout, and curiosity instead of rules. I am drawn to subjects that carry history or texture: architecture weathered by time, trees that lean into the wind, fragments of nature that echo human design.
Each image is an exploration of how order and chaos meet, how geometry lives inside a leaf or a shadow finds its way across steel. Over the past decade, I’ve shared my work in local art shows and exhibitions, grateful when others see what I see: that beauty often hides in plain sight, waiting for someone to pause long enough to notice.
Exhibited in:
The Comma-East Aurora ~ Carnegie Art Center-N.Tonawanda
Kenan Gallery-Lockport ~ WNY Artist Gallery-Buffalo ~ FlightGalleryBflo
Castellani Art Museum w/BSA-Niagara Falls
“ I am drawn to the beauty of our landscapes and the history that we have inherited. Being able
to find interesting details in a larger composition stirs up a passion toward creating a final piece
to print and share.”
“Thank you for your interest.
Please feel free to leave a comment and/or contact me regarding prints or commissions."
Lee Williams; Locking Westward from Kenan Center on Vimeo.
Lee Williams 2022