FL Museum Seeks Images Of Military Life For Upcoming Exhibit

TAMPA, FL — The Florida Museum of Photographic Arts is seeking submissions of original photographs and videos from active-duty service members and veterans and their families that capture their experiences in and sound military life.

The concept was inspired by local businessman Tom Arthur, Alexis Muellner, the museum’s board chair and the exhibit’s co-creator and co-curator, told Patch.

Arthur, a client of Muellner’s wife, a graphic designer, served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War.

During the war, he carried a Kodak Brownie camera in his breast pocket everywhere he went. While Arthur captured stunning images from the war and military bases at the time, the camera also served a dual purpose as an extra layer to protect him if he were shot, Muellner said.

The images inspired the husband-and-wife duo's

us community programs and will end on Veterans Day.

Muellner hopes the exhibition will help viewers “understand what life in the service is like.”

Images submitted so far include everything from soldiers playing cards at an Air Force base in Greenland to the battlefield.

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“It just runs the gamut,” Muellner said.

The museum also is receiving images from a range of time periods - from snapshots from World War II and the Vietnam War to photos from the more recent Afghanistan and Iraq wars.

All submissions, which can be emailed to alexismuellner1@gmail.com, are due by Aug. 15.

The exhibit is especially meaningful to the Tampa Bay community as the area is home to MacDill Air Force Base, he added. “With a community like ours, with MacDill here, there’s some significance … and we hope it helps people understand the whole process of getting into the service, what that life is like and transitioning back.”

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