Chuck Sutherland

I have been taking my interested in photography seriously for the past 15 years, during which I have shared approximately 13,000 photos online , and captured at least ten times more (excluding time-lapse videos ). I have invested significant effort into organizing and describing my extensive collection, with a focus on photographing a region of the country that has largely been overlooked by previous generations of photographers. I specialize in capturing landscapes that feature various natural elements, including caves, waterfalls, natural arches, rivers, and other natural features, as well as historical and prehistoric cultural sites.. My objective is not to become an influencer, but rather to earn respect in the field of photography, use it to make the world a better place, and if I am very fortunate, earn enough revenue to support my hobby. From this journey, I have learned a few lessons that may be beneficial for individuals embarking on their own photography career. Some of m...

The dashboard below is dynamic, and part of a larger tracking system I've created to allow me to organize my caving trips. Within the ESRI's Survey123 framework, I include date, who I was with, and links to external references like Flickr, or Facebook, and other data. Many old time cavers have journals, this is the same practice, modernized with some benefits and some losses. I provide this data publicly to encourage other cavers to better catalog their own trips, provide myself with a better mechanism to track my own caving activies, and to grow my ArcGIS Online skills. View the dashboard fullscreen .

This time of year I get excited for the emergence of native wildflowers. I enjoy using iNaturalist to aid in documenting what I find, and I especially enjoy the technical aspects of macro photography (which I am admittedly not really great at). Here are a few photos that I've taken in the last few weeks that I thought others may enjoy.

Putnam County, Tennessee is located approximately equidistant between Nashville and Knoxville along Interstate 40. It's the hub of the Upper Cumberland region. Due to misinformation being proliferated on social media , I am providing this public dataset in a digestible format. Trends within the data show Tennessee Tech University (TTU) as having a very small per capita report crime rate, where Cookeville tends to have the highest crime rate. Small municipalities show broad variations in annual change, which is to be expected with smaller populations. Broadly, the crime rate has been decreasing for the last 20 years. The Tennessee line is a good broad estimate of what the larger regional trend is. The strong drop in Cookeville and Putnam's crime rate at 2020 likely shows the effects of the Coronavirus. The tables above show the data as it was provided from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's database, TIBRS.

As any conservation minded individual will tell you, having a cave location be public knowledge is usually a recipe for disaster. It's a very well documented phenomena that people break cave formations, vandalize caves with spray paint and other mediums, and leave gross amounts of trash behind. Even well meaning hikers and outdoors people may not realize the nuance of landowner relations and by accessing private property may upset relationships that cavers have worked hard to develop so that we may have access to caves. The proliferation of geodata in many accessible forms is eroding the secrecy that the caving community has long used to protect underground resources. Here's a guide with suggestions on how one can protect these sensitive places from occuring on Internet. Jump to... Google Maps OSM - Open Street Map Google Maps The first thing to realize about Google maps is that deleting a feature is nearly impossible. It's possible to "take ownership...

For the purpose of this blog post I will be treating Standing Stone State Park and Standing Stone State Forest as a single entity. However, they are distinct, and are managed by different entities with different objectives. Both the State Park and State Forest are located entirely within Overton County, Tennessee about 10 miles northwest of the city of Livingston. Fullscreen map. Standing Stone State Park Standing Stone State Park is approximately 1000 acres surrounding Standing Stone Lake. It is itself surrounded by 8000 acres of State Forest of the same name. The park is a celebration of the efforts of the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC). The large earthwork dam is made of hewn sandstone. Being a State Park, this area is managed for recreation. Camping there is popular at their rustic cabins. Most people come for hiking trails, fishing, and for paddle boats or kayaking on the small lake. Standing Stone State Forest There seems to be a degree of confusion as to the mea...

Geography Window Cliffs State Natural Area is located on the Eastern Highland Rim of Tennessee . It is a few miles south of Cookeville, and within Putnam County. It is within the Upper Cumberland region of Tennessee, and within Middle Tennessee. Cane Creek flows through the designated natural area before its confluence with the Falling Water River at Center Hill Lake. Botany In the valley alongside Cane Creek one can find abundant flowering patches of phacelia, phlox, and trilliums. Along the rocky ledges and cliffs watch for bright red flowers of columbine. In a few places you'll also see usnea clinging to dead trees and be reminded of Spanish moss. Geology Cliffs of Fort Payne Limestone atop steep slopes of Chattanooga Shale are the obvious geology throughout the park. The base of the valleys is Catheys-Leipers Limestone, but doesn't play a large roll in the story that one sees at the Window Cliffs. In the above recreation of a map made by Hugh Mill...