(exciting music) - [Narrator] The art of seeing is such an extraordinary sense.

Through the lens we reenvisage our world, (exciting music continues) painting it with light and shadow.

(exciting music continues) Each frame becomes a portal revealing a story, waiting to be told.

(exciting music continues) Colors the story behind the picture.

(exciting music ends) (gentle country music) - [Stephen] The location in Bristol, it's really the spearhead of the state of Tennessee.

(gentle music continues) - The scenery's beautiful.

I think we live in one of the most beautiful areas of the country.

(gentle music continues) - The lakes, the mountains, just the Appalachian spirit is, you know, it's a beautiful place and I think it's a hidden gem, and often really overlooked.

- I love the people in Bristol, I love the downtown area, and I really just love all the variety of things that we have to do here.

- Hiking, mountain biking, a lot of things outdoors, music.

That's what I really love about Bristol.

(gentle music continues) - You know, obviously as the Scotch Irish came over, we brought the culture, which is music.

We made our whiskey and then we created NASCAR.

(care engines revving) (gentle music continues) - State Street is this dividing line between Tennessee and Virginia, and I don't know of another city where that exists.

- I think there's just such a rich history with the music.

It's a great place to play music.

It's a great place, you know, to be.

- I really get a lot of inspiration by coming here and there's just a really wonderful vibe to me about Bristol.

(upbeat guitar music) (upbeat guitar fades) (upbeat blues music) - I am originally from Bristol.

I've lived here my whole life and Bristol is home to me.

I had thought that I wanted to be a graphic designer, but when I got my first camera in 2008, my parents gifted it to me for Christmas.

I really also found a love for photography.

It really changed the trajectory of my career path.

But I started selling my work at a gallery in downtown Bristol in 2010, and I started doing work with local brands in 2012.

So I do lifestyle photography for small businesses to mid-size businesses that are local to the Appalachian Highlands region.

(upbeat blues music) - I have known Briana for maybe four or five years now.

I met her through other local artists and photographers and we connected online at first, but we...

I've actually done some work for her.

I've done some portraits for her and we just keep in touch and kind of talk about our mediums and share insights and talk about business and things, and she's so sweet and so wonderful.

(gentle music) - I really have two photographs that I would consider iconic.

The first one is called Pick Me, and it was actually my bread and butter through college.

I was selling it at the local artist cooperative and I would sell multiple prints a month of this photograph.

And what the subject was, is a neck of the guitar with a red pick.

(gentle music) That photograph has sold, I'm gonna say thousands.

(gentle music continues) It was just such a surprise that that photograph did so well.

(upbeat music) - I picked up a camera in high school.

I used to draw as a kid.

That was my main thing.

And then I sort of figured out that cameras did what I was doing but quicker.

(upbeat music continues) Ended up gonna school in Bristol at Virginia Intermont College.

Got a degree in photography after going to school in Bristol, I basically put roots here and have stayed in this area and done a lot of work in Bristol and Abingdon.

(upbeat music continues) I would say my style definitely marries my fine art background with commercial and like the technical side of photography, and I do primarily lifestyle and branding related to tourism, but a little bit of everything.

(upbeat music continues) - Billie Wheeler is an artist through and through.

She is such a sweet person.

She's very quiet and reserved, but she's so curious and I think that curiosity is really what makes her work so different.

She's not afraid to try new things and experiment in her photos.

(upbeat music continues) - I had say some of my more iconic images are some of my self portraits that I've actually done for my personal work.

That's the kind of stuff I show outside of my commercial world.

(upbeat music continues) I have this one of me where my eyes are eggs that are, that yolks are running, like, it's like they're crying.

That one I've gotten to a bunch of shows.

(pensive country music) - Bristol definitely has a special place in my heart.

I lived here for, yeah, 10 to 15 years.

This is where we came after we left New Zealand.

Initially it was a bit of a culture shock.

I think this area's grown on me, you know, the lakes, the mountains, just the Appalachian spirit, you know, it's a beautiful place and I think it's a hidden gem.

(upbeat folk music) I really enjoy the process of trying to create a fine art image and just, you know, an image that is really compelling and unique.

(upbeat folk music continues) Some of my most iconic photographs are usually ones that have been most unique and there was one actually in Bristol.

A few years ago we had a snow and all the snow stuck to the trees, which is a pretty rare.

A road going right through the middle and then you had this, the sky in the background, it was just fiery red and the image was actually called Fire and Ice.

(upbeat folk music continues) - Well I actually met Jared for the first time earlier today.

I had known of his work for a couple years though previously.

I've seen his stuff through Explore Bristol and other landscape work around, and I think his work is so beautiful and I've been following him online for a long time.

- Jared Kreiss is extremely talented but he's very humble.

Just when you think that he can't get any better, he creates some masterpiece that is better than anything he's ever paid before.

(upbeat folk music continues) - [Jared] If I had to describe my style of photography, I would say it's a bit nostalgic, dreamy, ethereal, but also very realistic.

You know, I've always been inspired by nature and my surroundings in general, and I think just having the ability to use my lens to share the beauty with others so they can also feel that connection and appreciate it as well.

(upbeat folk music continues) I think I've done a little of everything just to try and keep my head above water and you know, keep the dream alive, and I think that's what it's all about and I don't think I'll have it any other way.

(upbeat folk music fades) (upbeat guitar music) - Since I'm trying to kind of capture the essence of Bristol and in this space, in this context, my thought is to sort of approach it almost like a renaissance-type painting where there's just a lot going on, a lot of details, props, people, expressions, all happening in one frame to sort of tell a fuller story.

(upbeat music) - My style of photography is typically pretty authentic.

I do like vibrancy, so I wanna make sure that the photos are authentic to the subject but also intriguing and interesting.

I also want to reflect the personalities of the two musicians that we have invited to be a part of the shoot, Jim Lauderdale and Martha Spencer.

And they are just incredibly gifted, not only musicians but storytellers.

So I wanna make sure that we can showcase their personalities, and the personality of Bristol all in one photograph.

(upbeat music) - The owner of Tennessee Hills Distillery reached out to me, you know, he's big in capturing the spirit of Appalachia.

Reached out to me, invited me over to his place just to come and hang out with his employees and have a good time.

(upbeat music ends) (bright music) - One of our missions as a company is to really capture the spirit of Appalachia in a bottle.

The people, the culture, made by Tennesseans for Tennesseans, but actually the world is the way I like to say it.

And I think Tennessee is, once they hear that, they're very proud of what we do and it's just a great feeling.

(upbeat music continues) In our business, which is very experiential tourism and you know, having the exposure right beside the interstate and being on top of the hill with all the mountain views.

It just made a lot of sense for us to plant our roots in Bristol and really kind of continue our march, you know, into northeast Tennessee.

(upbeat music ends) - So, you know, one of the biggest things that inspired what we do at Tennessee Hills is the beauty of the mountains, the streams, the rivers, the lakes, and everything in between.

- The nature in this area just speaks for itself and inspires me directly, and honestly one of my favorite perspectives of this area is from above.

- I'm gonna take care of you.

- Oh yeah?

- Yeah.

Big surprise.

- All right, man.

(upbeat country music) He had a little treat for me, took me up in the helicopter and we got to fly over Boone Lake in Bristol and take some photos.

(upbeat country music) It's incredible to see it from above and probably one of my favorite moments.

I didn't think it could get any better, but we ended up going to Carver's Gap, Warren Mountain, which is one of my favorite areas in the whole region.

(gentle music) I love this location 'cause you get 360 degree panorama views, just rolling hills and mountains.

It's the diverse vegetation.

The flowers are out right now, got the rhododendrons and the flame azaleas.

It's just a beautiful place.

It's where I find my peace and a lot of inspiration.

Can almost have every season in a day.

Fog rolls in, the rain comes, the storm, the mist in the valley.

So it's just an incredible opportunity for photography all around.

For a second I thought we might get fogged out and it'd be tricky to get some shots up there, but it rolled away within like 20 or 30 minutes of being up there and the, the light came through, and was actually made for one of my favorite photos that I've taken up there.

(upbeat bluegrass music) We've got mountain layers showing right now and my idea is to get a nice sweeping mountain layer shot and really show just, like, everything that Appalachia encompasses.

(upbeat bluegrass music continues) The time of year was just incredible as well.

All the flowers were blooming.

It was just like the whole day was one of my favorite moments in photography.

(upbeat bluegrass music continues) (upbeat bluegrass music fades) (upbeat rock music) (engine revving) (tires squealing) (upbeat rock music) - The history of bootlegging and NASCAR, really goes hand in glove obviously with moonshining in the area.

Essentially bootleggers would haul the spirits between locations for the moonshiners.

They built these cars to, one, to be able to handle the load and then they wanted to be able to outrun the law.

(upbeat rock music) NASCAR kind of stemmed out of that because they realized, "Hey man, we could build these fast cars and then all of a sudden, you put them on tracks, and then you know, we could go and hang out at the racetrack and drink our product."

And goes really hand in glove with, you know, the country music museum in downtown Bristol and then of course Tennessee whiskey.

(upbeat rock music ends) (gentle country music) - We started off this morning by driving out to Storm Brew Farm and that was the first time I had actually met Chef T in person and we had a really fun car ride.

We got to know one another a little bit.

I've worked in the service industry as well, so we had some stuff to talk about and the farm itself was beautiful.

And it's always fun to see the local produce go into the actual hands that are gonna make that food for you and feed it to you.

- This is actually my first time meeting Billie, Billie is native, from what I understand, to the area and we have a lot more in common than I realize.

But it's crazy how food has this amazing ability to connect people and you know, I'm just, I'm looking forward to beyond this, you know, cultivating a friendship with her.

- My approach this morning is a little bit different than how I'll be approaching everything this evening.

I kind of took my more candid approach how I usually approach a lot of commercial things I shoot and just kind of capture them in their element.

- This is a new field for us.

We put in like 400 different squash and pumpkin plants.

- Today I came out to the farm because we're having an amazing dinner at Union tonight, so I wanted to get some table flowers.

We wanted to get some squash, garlic, fresh herbs.

- Got a couple in there.

- Yeah, these look good.

- Yeah, these are ready for cooking.

- Yeah and we got with the blooms on them, just like that.

- These are beautiful.

- Absolutely.

- How small you want?

- Oh yeah, those, yeah those are, those are perfect.

- Yeah.

- Look at that.

- Yeah, those are perfect.

Events is kind of like our thing.

We're constantly trying to be dynamic in Southwest Virginia and offer an experience from a culinary perspective that is unique.

We are creating an experience called Dining in the Dark.

The idea is to basically take away the thing that creates prejudice.

So if you take away the sight, let everyone know that you're on the same playing field, but we're using food as the medium of approachability.

Portions of the meal will be blindfolded.

So it is a sensory experience that we're very excited for people to engage in.

One of the backbones of Appalachia squash, right?

- Yeah, absolutely.

- Squash, greens, and beans.

I've already got my proteins in so I have the proteins nailed down, but- - All right.

- Yeah.

- Just playing with the vegetables.

- Yeah, just playing with the vegetables.

The goal of this menu is to really take these singular ingredients.

So like on the menu, the title is watermelon and then basically create an elevated profile of the dish behind it.

But we're gonna highlight the Midland rice.

One of our items we're highlighting is rum.

So it all tells a story that dates back to incorporate my heritage, but also pay homage to Appalachia and where we're going.

So we'll have some oxtails, we have a curried goat.

We'll have a good time.

Yeah, I'll take some of the purples and I definitely the yellow ones.

- Okay.

- And orange.

- You got it.

A lot of saturation this time of year as far as the flowers in the field.

(bright bluegrass music) - Union 41 is my baby.

Literally my life's work.

This is a restaurant where I have felt like I've paid so much dues in this industry that I can now put my cuisine on a plate.

Hi, so good to see you again.

Ah, good!

Thank you for coming.

We purposefully made it an open kitchen.

We want people to understand where their food comes from, but also to see the dynamic that happens in the back of the house.

Let's go ahead and chop this down and put it back into the pot, and we'll add a little bit of chicken demi to it please.

When there's this dance that is happening, it is like truly magical.

It blows my mind every single day.

Every time I step into that kitchen, it's like you're on a stage.

(upbeat music) That's what you do when you go to carnival.

That's a fet!

(upbeat music fades) (gentle music) Welcome guys.

I am Chef T. Tonight we are going to embark on a multisensory culinary experience and I'm gonna tell you guys, each one of you around this table have impacted my life since I've moved to Southwest Virginia.

This experience is gonna be unlike something you've had before, and I really want you to kind of like dive in and sink in and really kind of like embrace it and also when you come out of it, realize that you just had this experience in Southwest Virginia.

And then I want you to share it and tell everyone because this place is awesome.

This place does deserve to have these things because it is uniquely beautiful.

- For the presentation of the dinner itself.

The guests will be blindfolded, the reveal of the blindfold taking off so they can actually see what they're going to be eating is the big moment for me, visually, so I can get those expressions and see, you know, if they're shocked, happy.

Chef T will also be in the image obviously, and the food as well.

(gentle music fades) (gentle country music) My overall experience working with Chef was really positive.

She's so full of energy and knows her stuff.

You can just see she keeps calm when she's working with her team.

She just gets stuff out, knows what she's doing.

Really entertaining to watch, really entertaining to talk to.

I think I got really close to capturing what I envisioned prior to shooting tonight.

Little tweaking here and there, but ultimately I think I'm gonna composite everything and I think I've got a lot to play with.

(gentle music continues) Overall I'll have enough to work with and be able to create the image I had in my head.

(exciting music) (upbeat bluegrass music) - I want this shoot to reflect both my personal connection to Bristol's music history, and the connection that Bristol has with the country music community as a whole.

I also want to reflect the personalities of the two musicians that we have invited to be part of the shoot.

Jim Lauderdale and Martha Spencer.

(bright bluegrass music) ♪ Strutting and swaggering ♪ Zigging and a' zagging ♪ Proud and a' bragging about both sides of Bristol ♪ - I'm originally from a town called Troutman, North Carolina and lived around North Carolina and South Carolina and ended up in Nashville.

My mom was a choir director and chorus teacher and piano teacher and my dad was a minister and he had a great voice.

And so I just listened to so much music in the house and then I really got bitten by the bluegrass bug.

♪ If good times are our mission ♪ ♪ That's what your wishing ♪ This ain't a competition on both sides of Bristol ♪ - I'm from a place called White Top Mountain, which is not so far from here.

It's on the Grayson Highlands.

Sometimes when you somewhere where you feel inspired, and I think, like, if you think of a lot of the Bristol Sessions, you know, the songs came from out of the country.

You know, people that were just people you know that had lived those songs.

And I think you can kind of feel that, you know, that heart in it and like the soul or, you know, and I think you can feel that in this town.

And it all kind of echoes and reverberates.

Like they talk about the vibrations, you know, that's what you're doing when you're recording.

Like back in the day, those vibrations kinda make a stamp and I guess that's what we're doing.

♪ Both sides of Bristol ♪ Both sides of Bristol ♪ A state street whistle on both sides of Bristol ♪ (bluegrass music fades) (upbeat rock music) - I met Martha several years ago and was just so taken with her.

She's so talented and she plays several instruments.

She writes, is a great singer, is a great entertainer.

She really does this area proud.

I first started coming to Bristol for this great festival called Bristol Rhythm and Roots, and it's still going.

They always have some of the artists from the region and playing the music that Bristol's so renowned for.

It's kind of hallowed ground really, because it was so important and the music was so great.

(upbeat country music) - Yeah, I think Jim's songwriting is always just so inspiring, so I would see him at different festivals and so it's just been a pleasure to get to know him, you know, he is just, I guess a legend.

You know, it's a perfect song, really, for Bristol.

So it's, yeah, it's cool to be a part of it.

And like I said, Jim's always got, he's got the energy, he's always writing, always recording, always like just fresh.

He's such a talented person, but also just a beautiful, you know, a beautiful person too.

So... (gentle music fades) - With the set of photographs that we are doing as part of this project, I am really hoping to showcase the duality of Bristol.

That looks great.

That's nice.

Beautiful.

Look at me on this one.

Awesome.

We have this state line that runs down the middle of State Street and within the state line there are these brass markers that have Virginia on one side and Tennessee on the other side.

So you can literally stand in the middle of the street with one foot in Virginia and one foot in Tennessee.

Maybe lean on his shoulder a little bit.

Now look at me.

(train horn blasting) Keep looking at me.

Smile real big.

That's great!

So I would love to showcase that duality in my photos and also showcase our music history.

That looks amazing.

We did two different shots in the middle of State Street, which you see behind us.

And the first set of shots we did a little bit closer to the Bristol sign, which is at the far end of State Street.

And the second set of shots we did, so you could see the iconic Paramount Theater in the background.

- I feel like Briana is very much a planner and very, very organized.

You know, that's part of what she does.

And seeing her piece together this intricate photo on State Street and bring it to life, it was just amazing.

- We were on a really tight timeline for this shoot.

We had police officers from both Virginia and Tennessee blocking off the entire block so we could get these shots and I think we had maybe 15 to 30 minutes to get all of our shots in.

So it was a fun challenge.

But I'm really excited about what we got.

We have some with the state line, with the brass marker that has Virginia and Tennessee on either side.

We have some shots with the Bristol sign in the background, and we have some shots with the Paramount.

(upbeat blues music) (upbeat blues fades) (bright music) - I think the spirit of Appalachia is just the lush green, the rolling hills, the fog, the mist, the pine trees.

The smell, I feel is just clean and fresh.

You know, the nature here is just very inspiring and that's the feeling and spirit of Appalachia to me.

(bright music continues) (bright music continues) (bright music continues) (bright music continues) (bright music fades)