Photographer Keith Dotson gives presentation to MTSU Alumni Group
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 as part of Middle Tennessee State University’s Summer Alumni College. 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.
Keith’s discussion includes includes 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’m a shy person and 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, all alumni of MTSU, 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..
Note: There may be a fee for travel expenses and to cover my time.
If you’d be interested in inviting me to give this presentation to your group, contact me.
I previously gave a different talk to the Professional Photographers of Middle Tennessee. That presentation can be watched below.