by jon bosworth jaxvillain@yahoo.com
Clyde Butcher lives on 13 acres in the middle of the Everglades and has been taking pictures of Florida Landscapes for more than 23 years. His work is often compared to Ansel Adams, although he feels his photographs are more intimate portraits of the grandeur of natural landscapes. His “Visions of Florida” show is currently on display at the Thrasher-Horne gallery at the St Johns River Community College in Orange Park. The focus of his pictures is not wildlife, but Florida’s natural landscape.
“When I first came to Florida, everyone was shooting birds and deer, but I thought there was more to Florida than birds and deer, there’s where they live.”
Butcher has seen a direct decline in Florida’s landscapes and natural habitats since he’s been photographing it. Places where he once captured beautiful images of indigenous vegetations and bodies of water are now developments and retail stores.
“The decline of landscapes in Florida is tremendous. It’s worse than the Amazon. Every Wal-Mart or Home Depot is another 50 acres gone. We’re constructing ourselves to death.”
Butcher gave up photographing in color back in 1986 because color tends to separate water and trees, although in reality they are part of the same environment.
“Color is too confusing. You can’t see the forest for the color. It’s so green you can’t even see what’s happening. If you look at it as an environmental thing, color distinguishes different aspects nature, but black and white makes it one. Nature is different parts of one whole.”
Toting his 60 pound, large-format camera through the waterways and deep into Florida’s natural landscapes is cumbersome, and since the camera takes six minutes to capture the image, the process takes a sufficient amount of patience, not to mention the wherewithal to carry the camera in a waterproof backpack on a canoe and into muddy terrain. But Butcher persists because he is not only a photographer, but a conservationist, and by photographing the Everglades he has been able to show politicians and locals alike that the Everglades are not just wasted swamplands, but a beautiful river of life. When asked how his photography helps preserve the environment, Butcher chuckles about the complexity of an accurate answer.
“They just committed to building three more power plants that will cut down more trees and add to global warming. Will I stop that? I don’t think so.”
But by displaying the beauty, Butcher hopes he can inspire more people to do their part to preserve it.
In addition to his work in Florida, Butcher is currently working on a project that highlights natural landscapes around the country. The project is titled “America the Beautiful” and will be on display at Williams and Mary College. Included in that exhibit are pictures of Yosemite, the Tetons, the Delaware Gap between Pennsylvania and New Jersey, the Badlands, and many more pieces that highlight the variety of natural scenes in the various parts of our country.
“The Redwoods in Northern California are probably my favorite to photograph. I’ve been photographing them since the 70s. It has a similar feeling to Big Cypress.”
Learn more about Butcher’s work on his website, www.clydebutcher.com, or visit one of his many galleries in the state.
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