Local photographer, educator to open new Caddo Lake inspired exhibit at ArtSpace

Meredith G. White, Shreveport Times
·2 min read

Veteran photographer and former educator Bennie Dotie is bringing his "Caddo Lake, Texas's Style" photography exhibit to ArtSpace beginning Thursday, July 21.

Dotie was born in Longwood, Louisiana and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography from Louisiana Tech University. He studied abroad in Rome and continued his education at the Nikon School of Photography in Addison, Texas.

Dotie spent over 30 years as a staff photographer for Louisiana's oldest Black owned newspaper, The Shreveport Sun and served as a "stringer photographer" for the Johnson Publishing Company. He retired in 2021 after teaching photography for 12 years in the Caddo Parish School system.

Bennie Dotie worked for The Shreveport Sun newspaper for 40 years. His exhibition, "Reflections," opening at Southern University Museum of Art for Black History Month will feature photographs showing historic and memorable moments in African American life in Shreveport.
Bennie Dotie worked for The Shreveport Sun newspaper for 40 years. His exhibition, "Reflections," opening at Southern University Museum of Art for Black History Month will feature photographs showing historic and memorable moments in African American life in Shreveport.

"I've always been fascinated by pictures and images," said Dotie. "I started as a child trying to be an artist by drawing images and pictures and I found I wasn't very good at that, so I started fiddling with the camera."

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Caddo Lake is named after the Southeastern culture of Native Americans called Caddoans or Caddo and is considered to be the only natural lake in Texas. The Caddo legend credits the formation of the lake to an earthquake and this nearly 40 square mile lake is known for its abundance of cypress trees sitting on the Texas-Louisiana border.

On the Texas half in the right season and at the right time and location, the cypress trees create reflections in the water. If you don't carefully look at some of these images, you might think the picture is upside down.

Bennie Dotie worked for The Shreveport Sun newspaper for 40 years. His exhibition, "Reflections," opening at Southern University Museum of Art for Black History Month will feature photographs showing historic and memorable moments in African American life in Shreveport.
Bennie Dotie worked for The Shreveport Sun newspaper for 40 years. His exhibition, "Reflections," opening at Southern University Museum of Art for Black History Month will feature photographs showing historic and memorable moments in African American life in Shreveport.

"As I held my camera looking through the viewfinder, I admired the reflections of the cypress tress on the calm lake," explained Dotie. "It was very difficult for me to remove my finger from the shutter button because of the magnificence of those reflections."

The opening reception for "Caddo Lake, Texas's Style" will be Thursday at 5 p.m. at Central Artstation located at 801 Crockett St. in downtown Shreveport. This free and open to the public exhibit will run through Friday, August 19.

Meredith G. White is the arts and culture reporter for the Shreveport Times. You can find her on Facebook as Meredith G. White, on Instagram and Twitter as @meredithgwhite, and email her at mgwhite@gannett.com. 

This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: Caddo Parish photographer opens new Caddo Lake photography exhibit