By Geok Hwa Ventrice

In Singapore, street arts once criminalized as public vandalism were decriminalized as heritage building in the mid-2000s when the city-state was aspired to become a renaissance city. Street artists once marginalized are mainstreamed because their artistic expressions embody the multicultural heritage of 5.8 million people in an island country the size of Clay County Tennessee. Captivated by two heritage murals illustrating the livelihoods of immigrants in detail in Everton Park, the “Barber” and “Provision Shop”, I began heritage mural hunting in three ethnic enclaves.

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By Leann Walker

Volunteering at the Putnam County Fair this year, for the photography contest, helped me realize the passion our community has for photography. It was easy to see an emotional connection each individual had with their photos. An emotional connection to photographs can blind our eyes to technical issues, compositional issues, and missing subjects or storylines. I would like to discuss a snapshot versus a photograph, photographs telling stories, and some free software to help turn snapshots into photographs while correcting some technical issues.

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                By Geok Hwa Ventrice

“May I ask why you are alone?  Where is your friend?”  Asked a mom-and-pop, noodle soup store owner in Tokyo concerned about my safety in the largest city by population in the world.  I was also urged to drink the complimentary buckwheat tea in order to keep the biting Siberian winds at bay.  In Kyoto, by showing a conscientious mom-and-pop, souvenir store owner the measurement of my husband, I reassured him that the extra-large t-shirt I was getting ready to pay was the right size.  Six months ago, I stopped by Japan en route to Singapore. I was excited about the stopover because I hadn’t seen my friends and relatives for more than a decade.

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            By Vicky Ogle

When I was younger, very much younger, I had a difficult time with  reading and hearing.  I often had to stare endlessly at the picture associated with what someone was reading to me or if I was trying to read on my own.  I took in the details of the photo and plugged it in with what I heard.  I often made up my own version of the story.  Over time my reading abilities improved but I still relied on the detail of the pictures to help me comprehend the essence of the story.

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              By Don Hinds

Photoshop is the ubiquitous image editing software program that allows me to make creative images only imagined in my daydreams or nightmares.  I have been asked, what is my favorite feature in Photoshop?  It is definitely LAYERS and LAYER MASK.  I could not make my fine art images without them.  Photoshop was released in 1989.  It wasn’t until 1994 that LAYERS was introduced.  LAYERS allow me to play and experiment.  I can get consumed in my work and ideas; before I realize it, many hours have passed.

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By Rebecca Perron

Five years ago I did not know one thing about photography. I received my first DSLR camera a Christmas gift which I did not even know how to turn on let alone using it. A co-worker introduced me to the Cookeville Camera Club. I began going to the monthly on a regular basis. This started me on my journey into the creative world of photography.

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By Wanda Krack

There are many reasons I enjoy living in Tennessee and one of them is because we have very distinct seasons.

 The spring is a photographers paradise. In spring, we have many “bloomers” of flowers of many kinds, including even the trees!  Take photos of flowers in your yard, or anywhere.

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   By Tom Morack

There is so much to see and do in Nashville. The stores, bars, museums, restaurants, Broadway. These are all great places to visit, but they can be expensive. Is there anything you can do in Nashville that doesn’t cost much, or is even free? Yes there is.

Equipped with just a camera or cell phone, and a few bucks of gas, you can have a blast hunting down and photographing the many wall murals all around the city. They seem to be around every corner in Nashville. Many local artists have spent weeks, even months creating these masterpieces. The art work of these murals is beautifully colorful and amazing. Simply Google “wall murals in Nashville”, to see just where and how many there are. Print out these maps, and start driving around the city. Don’t rely on just one map to find out where they are, because no one map shows them all.

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By Bettye Sue Austin

Photography makes me want to travel.  I want to see beautiful places and photograph them all.  I am always looking for that perfect shot because it makes me appreciate the wondrous world that I live in.

In June of 2018, I went on a 10-day, sea-and-land tour of Alaska with my sister and two friends. As of 2017, Alaska is 663,268 square miles in size with a population of 739,795. It was purchased from the Russian Empire in 1867. You MUST bring a camera with you to Alaska because there is an abundance of flora and fauna for you to photograph besides its beautiful landscapes.

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By Gary Moore

The Grand Teton National Park in northwestern Wyoming lies just south of the more famous Yellowstone Park. It contains the Teton mountains, a spectacular range with snow covered Peaks that dramatically rise above the Jackson Hole Valley. There is a chain of natural, clear water lakes along the east flank of the peaks and beyond the lakes the Snake River flows through grassy plains that host herds of bison and antelope. Any vacation to Yellowstone definitely should include some time in the Tetons. This combination of a majestic

mountain range, beautiful lakes, wildlife and in the spring, an abundance of wildflowers make the Tetons a photographer’s paradise.

The newer cell phones and small “point and shoot” camera are capable of some amazing photographs and may be all you need to capture the beauty of the Park, but remember whether you are using a cell phone or a professional quality camera and lens, it is the person behind the lens holding the camera that creates the really good photos. Continue reading →