Local resident creates the 'Doors of Putnam County'

Rachel Curtis poses with her photographic poster, "The Doors of Putnam County," which was selected as the People's Choice award winner at the Putnam County Fair.

A lot of buzz has been created around town over this year's Putnam County Fair People's Choice award winner, Rachel Curtis.

Curtis recently created a photographic poster, "The Doors of Putnam County," which includes 100 photographs of doors from all over the county.

Curtis took interest in photography by taking pictures of her children's various activities. That progressed into scrapbooking, and soon after taking senior portraits for her children's friends.

She came up with the idea for the poster after being selected as one of seven "Through the Lens" contestants, a contest created by the Putnam County Museum along with a DePauw University senior.

The main idea was to show what daily life was like through the lens of each of the contestants. Each contestant was given a simple Canon point-and-shoot camera and sent on his or her way.

Although, many of the contestants chose to take photographs of their family, Curtis on the other hand, chose to take pictures of doors, the things people see and pass through every day but may not think about.

Curtis, a resident of Putnam County for the past 10 years, wanted to portray the county in the best light, through its doors.

"I started with the door at St. Andrew's Church," explained Curtis. "I just took a picture of that door and then looked for doors with a similar arch. It just led from one to another."

Curtis believes that the poster is getting such positive feedback because it displays what Putnam County is about. Each door on the poster is a public door. The idea of doors caught her attention due to the fact that everyone can recognize certain doors.

"They can put themselves on the map with this," Curtis said. "Any person can say, 'Well, I know what that door is.'"

Not only do the doors represent the community but also they give a sense of history. It shows the past as well as the future. Each door is unique in the fact that Curtis made sure to pick doors that were identifiable. No door looks like any other.

"The poster means something different to everyone who looks at it," explained Curtis.

The poster took about two weeks to create. Curtis' hope for this project was for people to open their eyes and to take a closer look at what's around them.

"This represents the county and the people behind the doors," said Curtis. "It shows the county's strength."

It is Curtis' plan to continue doing photography as well as creating more projects just like the poster.

She is currently selling copies of "The Doors of Putnam County" for $20. To obtain one, persons may contact Curtis by email at Rachel.curtis@airhop.com or pick one up at the Putnam County Museum.