ATBI Conference Photographic Workshop - Stories Behind the Scenes

This workshop will focus on the ATBI Project.  I will show some presentations about the project here in the Smokies and also in other Parks across country and how these Parks are addressing biodiversity though photography.  I will show how we use scan and use auto-montage technology.  Bobby Martin of Martin Microscope Company will be on hand to demonstrate this system. Then we will have Clay Bolt of "Meet Your Neighbours" (www.meetyourneighbours.net) join us to introduce us to this photographic initiative that reveals the wildlife living amongst us in an extraordinary way. These creatures and plants are vital to people: they represent the first, and for some, the only contact with wild nature many have. Yet often they are overlooked and undervalued. Clay and I will demonstrate its features.

Kevin Fitz Patrick has worked with environmental visual and audio recording for several decades. He is a member of the International League of Conservation Photographers, NANPA environmental committee member, and a NANPA Fellow.  His awards include the NANPA Outstanding Service Award and Russ Kinne Award.  He is owner of “All Species Photography and Sound”, and is currently the photographic coordinator of the program “All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory Great Smoky Mountains National Park”.  He is working with the National Geographic BioBlitz study of the National Parks.
Kevin’s intent is to provide a resource for people and organizations involved in biodiversity studies or who are concerned with educating the public about biodiversity’s importance.

   Bob Martin’s son and only child Robert H. Martin, Jr. (Bobby) worked in the family business most summers since he was 12, cleaning and organizing, and learning to service classic old microscopes under the expertise of J. Vernon Piephoff, Bob Martin's childhood friend and later microscope service man.  Bobby joined the firm full time in 1988 fresh out of Presbyterian College and began the task of bringing the company into the computer age.  Lately this has meant spending too much time working on this website!

Clay Bolt is an award-winning natural history and conservation photographer whose work has been featured by The Nature Conservancy, Scientific American, Outdoor Photographer, Outdoor Photography and Digital Photographer among others. In addition to being a member of the International League of Conservation Photographers (iLCP), Clay co-founded the Meet Your Neighbours project in 2009. MYN is an internationally focused environmental photography project, developed to encourage an appreciation of the wildlife within our own communities. Currently, the project is represented in 18 countries around the world. Visit Clay’s website at www.claybolt.com for more information.