Learn how one photographer uses 19th-century philosophy to capture the "death and life" of middle America and why he refuses to charge for his art.

Lake Markham is a Nashville-based photographer, musician, and writer who spent his childhood in Japan and his early 20s navigating the high-stakes world of upscale kitchens. As the mind behind Pineapple Tours, he balances bartending with deep existential philosophy and a massive personal archive of perspectival photography.

Lake tells the story of eating a chicken-filled "balut" egg in the Philippines and how a college professor’s Thanksgiving invite changed his view on community. He shares the specific moment he realized NFTs were just a marketing gimmick for "tech bros" while sitting at a Nashville coffee shop. The conversation moves from the technical transition from an iPhone 4 to mirrorless cameras to the way Kurt Vonnegut and Kierkegaard shape the way he journals every day.

For those who want to see the world through a lens that values the environment over the subject.