 Lyons was also a curator of photography and an associate director at the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York and, in 1969, founded the independent Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester, which established a course of study relating to the history and practice of the photographic art form and curatorial studies specifically pertaining to the medium of photography.He started the Society for Photographic Education, becoming its first chairman.He was involved with various magazines, being assistant editor of "Image," regional editor of "Aperture," and founder of "Afterimage."