What began as a man on a mission to photograph the Peach State’s most beautiful places has culminated into a popular television show that will soon premiere its second season.
“We’ve filmed all over the place, and we’re really excited for this season to air,” said Georgia College professor Dr. Chris Greer, who is producer and co-host of GPTV’s “View Finders.”
In addition to his work with GC’s Department of Education, Greer is also a talented photographer who has published two books — “Georgia Discovered” and “Naturally Georgia.” Greer has described “View Finders” as a travel show that encompasses outdoor adventure, education and photography.
The first short season, which premiered last spring, featured five episodes in which Greer and a fellow photographer headed to famous Georgia places like Cumberland Island, Blood Mountain and the Okefenokee Swamp, and they even traced The Chattahoochee River from end to end. Experts were interviewed at each of the locations featured in the show to explain what makes them special and unique.
After a popular response, Greer said season two will feature twice as many episodes — five airing in the Spring and five airing in the Fall. Greer will be joined this season by a new co-host, Paul Daniel, a talented photographer from the Atlanta area. The two will also be joined by a full-time cameraman this season.
“So visually, the show is going to look even better than it did the first season,” Greer said. “[There will be] some really great adventures to some really beautiful places here in Georgia, and we are probably gonna do some things outside of Georgia this season as well.”
Spring airings for the season will see the men travel to places like Amicalola Falls State Park, Cloudland Canyon and the charming city of Savannah, and the season will even feature a two-part series on Georgia’s hidden coast.
“We went to several islands that most people have never been to,” Greer said. “A lot of people haven’t even heard of some of these islands that we went to, so we explored them and photographed them and it was really beautiful.”
Filming for the fall installation of the season will begin this summer, and Greer said those travels will likely take the photographers into the Carolinas in addition to more of Georgia’s treasured spaces.
While his full time job as a professor coupled with filming the show keeps Greer working seven days a week, he said there is certainly overlap between the two, and he sees the show as another powerful educational tool.
“The show by its very nature is educational,” he said. “Every episode we’re going somewhere and bringing experts in, and they’re talking about the historical or ecological significance of that location and sharing things that most people don’t know at all about that location, and so that’s a big part of the show. I work in the College of Education, and so I’m educating a very large audience with every show, so that creates overlap with my job at the university.”
Season 2 of “View Finders” will premiere on GPTV on April 1. Viewers can also stream any past or new episodes on the PBS app.
The second season of the outdoors show “View Finder” airs at 9:30 a.m. with 10 episodes intermittently running into the fall.
