Middle Tennessee State University senior Dawn Fós grew up carrying around a camera. She received her first camera at age 12, and from then on, her love for photography has blossomed into her current project: photographing all of Tennessee’s native trees.

Drawing inspiration from Richard Powers’ book The Overstory, which she read during winter break last year, Fós knew she wanted to create work that went beyond herself.

“The book is all about trees and humans and how we relate through stories about trees,” she explained. “Tennessee, as we know, has a lot of great trees, so I really wanted to highlight that, like a little love note to Tennessee.”

A biochemistry and studio art double-major, Fós displayed her work at her B.F.A. senior show in Todd Art Gallery Nov. 17 through Dec. 3, which included many of the photographs from her Tennessee tree project.

Fós began conceptualizing the project in January, applied for an Undergraduate Research Experience and Creativity Activity grant through the university, and then got to work on photographing the more than 120 trees native to Tennessee.

“From the east to the west and north to the south, I wanted to document those trees through alternative process,” she explained of her project, called “Chlorophyll and Silver: Documenting Tennessee Native Trees Through Alternative Process Photography.”

A transfer student originally from Nashville, Fós said even though she isn’t a photography major she was able to get permission from the art department’s chair to take alternative process photography last fall. Fós worked with associate photography professor Jonathan Trundle in the Department of Media Arts for support and guidance during the course of her project.

“The connection and rapport I had formed with Jonathan is what really provided me with the opportunity to apply, obtain and complete the URECA,” Fós said.

“I’ve taken thousands of photos,” she explained.

Trundle, who has worked with Fós nearly every step of the way, said this project has really been an experience.

“For Dawn, this is a journey; this is her path in trying to find a voice and something that she’s really passionate about and loves,” he said. “You meet a student like Dawn, and the curiosity and the imagination are the main sort of driving force behind her work . . . . . A lot of it came from her own curiosity and her passion and love for the media. That’s the kind of thing that you can’t teach.”

Fós said her photography is really an extension of studying and learning chemistry.

“Everything for me is chemistry. I think that the play between science and nature and humanity and nature is just so inspiring to me,” she said.

“While people may not see the relation of my biochemistry with this project, the prints themselves [are] made with chemical solutions that are handmade emulsions (a light-sensitive coating that’s coated onto film), and they’re all reacting with the water and the light. It’s an echoing of photosynthesis,” Fós explained.

Fós said Trundle has encouraged and mentored her all along the way.

“Jonathan has been great. I had this crazy, wild, hare-brained idea, and he’s like, ‘Yes, let’s do it. Let’s go give it a try,’” she said. “Early on, there were a few really hard moments, when he and I thought this project was failing, but we went back and forth troubleshooting and we worked it out.”

When thinking about her favorite tree, Fós said she loves them all in their own ways, but her favorite leaf is an American sweet gum.

“They’re so beautiful and they’re everywhere,” Fós said of the leaf. “The sweetgum is star-shaped and has spiky seedpods. They’re so pretty.”

Fós said the Fraser fir—which is endangered and can only be found in the Great Smoky Mountains—and the particularly hard-to-find American Chestnut are among her favorite trees.

“We have to take care of the Fraser fir. There are only around 600 remaining in the natural environment, so they are endangered,” she explained. “The American Chestnut is another one. It’s very elusive, functionally extinct. There are a few scattered here and there throughout Middle Tennessee. Those three trees are pretty important to me.”

Fós graduates in December. She hopes to get into a Master of Fine Arts interdisciplinary program and work in sculpture and photography.

She also plans to compile all her photographs in this project into a photo book, and maybe even a guide for Tennessee trees.

“I’ve recorded little snippets about what the trees are and field observations that I made while shooting the trees,” she said.