Tom Baril (b. 1952) is an accomplished contemporary American photographer known for his evocative Polaroid and wet-collodion prints of flowers, landscapes, and architectural subjects. Born in Putnam, Connecticut, Baril earned his BFA in photography from the School of Visual Arts in 1980, where he developed a strong foundation in both traditional and experimental photographic processes that would prove essential to his mature practice.

During his final year of study, Baril began working as a printer for the celebrated photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, mastering the demanding technical skills that would inform his own subsequent work. While he has deliberately distanced himself from Mapplethorpe's stylistic approach in his own photography, Baril has continued to serve as a printer for the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation over the years, sustaining a professional connection to the iconic photographer's legacy.

Baril's work is distinguished by its emphasis on the delicate interplay of light, texture, and materiality, whether the subject is the fragile petals of a flower, the geometric rhythms of a building, or the atmospheric quality of a landscape. His preference for Polaroid and wet-collodion techniques allows for a distinctive immediacy and depth in each image, and it places his practice at the meeting point of contemporary vision and historical photographic method. The tactile richness of these processes gives his prints a physical presence that sets them apart within contemporary photography.

Baril's photographs are held in prominent collections including the Brooklyn Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, among others. He continues to live and work in New York, where he remains devoted to exploring the expressive possibilities of photographic media and maintaining a distinctive voice within contemporary American photography.