Full Speech: Abandoned Places Photography Presented at Middle Tennessee State University (June 25, 2025)

Photographer Keith Dotson speaks about abandoned places photography at MTSU

Video: Watch my full speech given at MTSU on June 25, 2025

I recently had the great honor of speaking to an engaged and curious audience of about 50 people on the campus of Middle Tennessee State University. I was invited to present a photography-based topic as “edutainment” for the group, which was a general interest audience rather than a group of keen enthusiast photographers.

I decided to focus on Tennessee locations and to include history as well as photography.

The title of the presentation was “Shooting History: Abandoned Places Photography in Tennessee.”

It focused not only on various aspects of photography and how I like to work, but also on the histories of endangered places I consider to be important or interesting historically.

The discussion includes included these historic sites:

• Wheland Foundry & U.S. Pipe in Chattanooga
• Old Jefferson
• Adams, Tennessee
• Reliance, Tennessee
• Hamilton-Lay General Store in Union County
• Hollow Rock, Tennessee
• W. Eli Tillman House
• Old Farmhouse and Barn at Henry Horton State Park
• Water Valley, Tennessee
• Old Country Store and Civil War Muster Point near Lynchburg
• Abandoned Car at Tims Ford State Park
• M.E. Trew General Merchandise Store

I rarely speak in public, but I worked hard on this presentation for three months, carefully crafting the slide show, and writing hundreds of speaker notes.

The audience members were kind, attentive, and responsive, making it a fun experience! As I said in the opening of the speech, I’m much more comfortable on a back road or in the woods than in front of an audience.

Would You Like to Invite Keith to Present this Speech to Your Group or Organization?

As I said above, I worked hard for months to build this presentation and I’d be happy to present it again to your Tennessee-based group or organization. It runs about an hour but could be edited to last 30 or 35 minutes plus additional time for Q&A.

If you’d be interested in inviting me to give this presentation to your group, contact me.

Note: There may be a fee for travel expenses and to cover my time.

I previously gave a different talk to the Professional Photographers of Middle Tennessee. That presentation can be watched below.