- [Narrator] People are surprised or they're like, "aren't you the news lady?"

(lighthearted piano music) I'm Erika Lathon.

I'm a former reporter, journalist.

I will always be, it's hard to say former cause I still feel like I very much am a storyteller but in a much different way these days.

I have a little project that I started called, A Block Photos.

That consists of photo tiles, that kind of document the places that I've been and the things that I've seen around Nashville and beyond over the last probably decade or more really.

In the news business, the newscast is divided up into various blocks.

The A block is that first segment of the news before a commercial break.

And that is where all of the most important stories are.

These are my very best photos, so they are my A block photos.

I think it's the juxtaposition between being a journalist and seeing so much negativity.

We would meet people on their worst days and their best days.

And it's a front seat to life.

The good, the bad, and a lot of the ugly, unfortunately.

After so many years of covering the news, there was an incident where I became the news in December of 2012.

I was at an ATM and I was shot and robbed.

So I think my outlet against that was looking for the beauty in things, looking for those special moments the grace, something that's wonderful, something that's out of the ordinary or spectacular.

Just looking for beauty and peace I think is what drives me to take pictures.

My challenge is always to get a great photo with the camera that you have, which is always your cell phone.

I've been doing little markets here and there, the East Nashville market, the Nashville Black Market, and some other little festivals where people can just come and see my work and talk to me about it cause I love sharing the stories and I'm so passionate about what I do and about the, the photos and the stories behind them because there's just a richness there.

And there's a richness in the city of Nashville and in the world.

And I think I've captured a lot of that.

- This NPT Arts Break is made possible by the generous support of the Martha Rivers Ingram Advised Fund of The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee.