Official press release: Keith Dotson publishes book about abandoned places

Local fine art photographer publishes first photo book about abandoned buildings

Nashville, Tenn -- Local photographer Keith Dotson has published a book featuring photographs and vignettes about abandoned houses, schools, churches, barns, storefronts, and entire abandoned towns.

Titled Unloved and Forgotten: Fine Art Photographs of Abandoned Places, the 48-page softcover book includes photographs taken mostly across the American south, including some Tennessee locations. The published photographs represent a culmination of ten years of travel and exploration for Dotson, who also makes landscape photographs.

Why the fascination with decaying buildings and deserted towns?
Abandoned buildings and ghost towns are having a moment in the US. From popular television shows like American Pickers to countless YouTube channels devoted to the exploration of derelict structures, many people are fascinated by the topic.

Dotson says this about photographing abandoned places: "There's an interest in old buildings because of their history and their beautiful architectural styles. But, there's also the mystery and curiosity about the people who lived or worked there. These places were once vital and thriving. Now many of them are quickly decaying and I feel that my photographs may be their only preserved memory in many cases. When you see them in such a ghostly state of emptiness, it reminds you that nothing lasts forever. It makes a little bell go off in your mind — carpe diem."

Locations covered in the book include: 

• Adams, Tennessee
• Cahawba, Alabama
• Cairo, Illinois
• Kentucky (Louisville, Paducah, Hopkinsville, and more)
• Memphis, Tennessee
• Mississippi Delta (Clarksdale, Greenwood, Yazoo City)
• Rush, Arkansas
• St. Augustine, Florida

Dotson wrote, designed, and published the book himself. Copies are available on Amazon.

About Keith Dotson
Keith Dotson is a fine art photographer based in the Nashville metro area, who specializes in black and white photographs of landscapes, cityscapes, architecture, and abstractions from nature. Dotson’s photographs can be seen regularly as wall decor in numerous episodes of Grey's Anatomy, and have appeared in two major motion pictures. His work has been exhibited in Los Angeles, New York, Nashville, Minneapolis, Toronto, Madison (WI), and Knoxville. Photographs by Keith Dotson can be found on the walls of major hotels, financial services firms, high tech companies, universities, and fine restaurants. Among his collectors are celebrities from Nashville and Hollywood, a renowned author, and a high-profile owner of a legendary US professional sports team.

Attachments:

Book cover photo: The cover features a photograph of an abandoned farmhouse on the Kansas prairie.

Book spread photo: Photographs of downtown Adams, Tennessee

Portrait of the author: Photographer Keith Dotson pictured with his his new book, Unloved and Forgotten: Fine Art Photographs of Abandoned Places.

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