A Murray State professor’s recently published coffee table book documents a long-term project of his commercial photography business in Nashville, Tennessee.
Ed Rode, instructor of commercial photography and photojournalism, self-published his book “Songwriter Musician” on Aug. 20. It is a curation of Rode’s work in the Nashville music scene from 1990 to 2020. These photographs tell a one-of-a-kind story of Rode’s behind the scenes interview with some of rock & roll and country’s most prolific songwriters.
“If you are a music lover, this is a good book for you,” Rode said.
The idea for this book was inspired by a meeting Rode had early in his career with Chet Atkins, a guitarist and label executive. When Rode shared his goal of making a long-term documentary project, Atkins gave him the idea to concentrate on the songwriters. He said songwriters are the music industry’s backbone that are not as spotlighted as lead singers.
Rode met and photographed a diverse range of big names in the years that followed, from classic country artists like Willie Nelson and The Chicks to modern sensations like Taylor Swift. Many of these artists and more are featured in the pages of “Songwriter Musician.”
Rode said he decided to bring the project to a temporary conclusion when the pandemic hit in 2020. He has spent the last few years piecing a 30-year story together through his photographs and the behind-the-scenes recollections he shares. When none of the proposals from publishing companies fit with the vision he had, Rode took the process into his own hands.
Dave Eaton, dean of the College of Business, is one of many people who have seen Rode hard at work during the publication process.
“I can’t give you an exact start date of when I learned of Ed’s project, but it has been a regular source of conversation over the last few years,” Eaton said. “It is the culmination of a career’s work and has been field tested, if you will, in a number of lectures and exhibits over the years.”
Rode began his journey with photography as a high school junior in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Rode said when he tried out for the varsity basketball team, his coach encouraging him to find a different path was a harsh way to start his year. While watching the games he had hoped to play in, Rode noticed another student taking pictures of the team. He decided to try photography for himself with his father’s camer, and started to work on his school yearbook and newspaper.
Outside of his photography work at school, Rode began working with the staff of Grand Rapids Press. He said the experience working with professional photographers in the field gave him an education he never would have gotten from books alone.
“That gave me the biggest educational boost in my life,” Rode said. “I loved going down to the newspaper not knowing what I’d do that day.”
He continued to freelance for the Grand Rapids Press throughout his time at Aquinas College, where he became the college newspaper’s photo editor. He studied business administration for four years, earned his degree and took his first dip into commercial photography.
Rode said although he was a skilled photographer, he was not ready for the commercial world just yet. He went back to school, attending the University of Ohio’s graduate program to study photo communications. He took on internships around the country before landing in Nashville, Tennessee, where he built up his reputation and started his own commercial photography business.
“When you’re in commercial photography in Nashville, you have to wear a lot of different hats,” Rode said. “I liked trying something different everyday.”
Despite Rode’s adventurous photography career, he decided to take some time and pass on what he’s learned to college students here at the University.
Zackery Claggett, senior television productions major and photography minor, said he has taken a plethora of Rode’s classes including his first GCM250 Introduction to Photojournalism course. This semester, he is taking commercial photography and photojournalism with Rode.
“I believe I learn more in his photography classes, because that’s where he’s the real 100% professional, his niche,” Claggett said. “I take his critiques as a lesson to be learned. He helped me develop my own technique, my own style of photography.”
Eaton said seeing “Songwriter Musician” reminds him that Rode and many other members of the Murray State faculty bring a skilled and experienced quality to the education students are getting.
“The challenge for a photographer isn’t can you find a picture, it’s can you find the picture, and Ed has given us a book full of “the picture” to enjoy, to see the story, and to see the product of the camera in the hands of a skilled artist,” Eaton said.
