WINNEMUCCA - Never before has Shooting The West featured multi-award winning musicians who are also top-notch photographers.
Al Petteway and Amy White will perform on Friday, March 9, in the West Hall of the Convention Center. Between them this husband and wife team play acoustic guitars, mandolin, Celtic harp, banjo and Appalachian dulcimer, creating an exciting blend of original, traditional, contemporary Celtic and Appalachian influenced music. During their show, "High in the Blue Ridge," they combine live music with stunning photographic images of the natural surroundings near their home in the mountains of western North Carolina.
Petteway and White's music has been used in a number of Ken Burns' documentary films and was featured throughout the soundtrack of the 2009 EMMY-winning documentary, "The National Parks: America's Best Idea."
Before moving from the Washington, D.C., area to the mountains of western North Carolina, the couple won 50 WAMMIE Awards from the Washington Area Music Association. They won an INDIE from The Association for Independent Music, and Petteway won a GRAMMY from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. He was also voted one of the Top 50 Guitarists of all time by the readers of Acoustic Guitar Magazine and in 2008 he won Silver and Bronze medals in the magazine's "Players' Choice Awards." In 2010, their album, "Caledon Wood" was listed as one of the "Essential Albums of the Past 20 Years" in Acoustic Guitar Magazine's 20th anniversary issue.
Petteway learned photography from National Geographic magazine's world famous staff photographers. His work was featured in a multimedia presentation at the National Geographic called "The Waters and the Wild" during which he played original guitar compositions inspired by locations around Chesapeake Bay. After moving to North Carolina in 2002, he and his wife Amy began documenting the natural world around their new home.
This year's Shooting The West program also features Stacy Pearsall, a highly decorated Iraq War military combat photographer. During her 12 years as a military photographer, she traveled to over 41 countries, took over 500,000 photos and endured over 24 medical procedures to repair combat wounds sustained in battle. Her three tours in Iraq earned her the Bronze Star Medal and Commendation with Valor for heroic actions under fire.
On Wednesday, March 7, in a Chautauqua-style performance Doug Mishler will portray the famed World II correspondent Ernie Pyle, bringing to life the tense and uncertain conditions of ordinary GIs. Pyle was an "embedded journalist" of his day, placing himself in the same danger as the troops. His unpretentious pieces about their hardships and sacrifices riveted the attention of millions of readers, and in 1944 he won the Pulitzer Prize for his work. Mishler will perform at 7:30 p.m. in the Old Episcopal Church at the Humboldt Museum.
Among the other presenters on Shooting The West's schedule are Adam Jahiel, well known in Nevada having spent significant lengths of time photographing local buckaroos, ranchers and the sagebrush landscape; and Blair Hunewill, a sixth-generation cattle rancher from Bridgeport, Calif., with a presentation he calls "Ranchin' Roots and Travelin' Boots."
Friday, March 9, and Saturday, March 10, are packed with scheduled programs and presentations. Preceding the main symposium events on Wednesday and Thursday March 7 - 8, Shooting The West organizers have scheduled two days of workshops in which photographers can work intensively with an instructor to gain hands-on skills in a variety of photographic specialties. Perhaps the most exciting workshop features sports and action photographer, Tom Bols, who will do a location shoot on Winnemucca Mountain.
The full schedule of events at Shooting The West is available at www.shootingthewest.org. Those wishing more information may also phone (775) 623-3501.
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