Audubon Everglades Presents
America’s Everglades: Through the Lens of Clyde Butcher”
Presented by Clyde Butcher
Tuesday, March 8, 2022 at 7PM
Zoom-Hosted Presentation (advance registration required)
6:45-7:00PM Social time with fellow members and presenters
In “America’s Everglades: Through the Lens of Clyde Butcher”, Clyde Butcher will tell us about his passion for this sub-tropical wilderness and his long-standing commitment to conservation. He has been exploring and documenting the Everglades for more than three decades, using a century-old camera and taking large-format black-and-white photographs that capture this delicate ecosystem with its sweeping landscapes and rare botanical specimens. Through his exquisite photographs, Mr. Butcher will help us understand how the Everglades is part of our national heritage and why the environmental issues that surround its restoration need to be in the forefront of public consciousness.
Photography and Honors
Ten Thousand Islands, Florida
I had seen this old mangrove, which survived Hurricane Donna in the 1960’s, several times while taking photographs in the Ten Thousand Islands. It expresses the lonely, primeval feeling that I love to experience in the wilderness. I had been stuck by this mangrove’s sculptural beautfy before, but the light had not be right for me to take a photograph. Finally, one summer morning, everything came together and I was able to take this photograph. Unfortuanely, when Hurricane Andrew hit south Florida in 1992, this mangrove was distroyed.
Clyde Butcher, recognized both nationally and internationally, is regarded as Florida’s finest landscape photographer. He has been preserving the untouched areas of the landscape on film for more than thirty-five years. His black and white images are created using an 8″x10″, 11″x14″, or 12″x20″ view camera. Clyde prints his images in his own darkroom on fiber based paper in a limited edition. The photographs are selenium toned, then mounted and matted to current archival standards. His images come in sizes from 8″x10″ inches to5’x8′ feet. His love of art and nature is seen in the exceptional detail and more subtle textures of his photography
Clyde has been honored by the State of Florida with the highest award that can be given a private citizen: the Artist Hall of Fame Award. He was also chosen as “Person of the Week” on the ABC Peter Jennings TV evening news program, and he has received the Heartland Community Service Award from Florida Governor Chiles for educating the people of Florida about the beauty of their state. He has also been honored with the Conservation Colleague Award, given to him by The Nature Conservancy. The Sierra Club has awarded him the Ansel Adams Conservation Award, which is given to a photographer who shows excellence in photography and has contributed to the public awareness of the environment.
A collection of his work can be seen in his books: America the Beautiful, Cuba – The Natural Beauty, National Parks, Clyde Butcher – Visions of Dali’s Spain, and his newest legacy book The Everglades – Clyde Butcher.
A large selection of Clyde’s photography can be seen at his Venice Gallery & Studio in Venice, Florida, and at his Big Cypress Gallery, which is located on thirteen acres in the center of the Everglades, mid-way between Naples and Miami on the Tamiami Trail (Hwy. 41), in the Big Cypress National Preserve. The gallery is surrounded by more than a million acres of National Park wetlands and cypress strands of wild Florida.
Big Cypress Gallery, 52388 Tamiami Trail, Ochopee, FL 34141 (239) 695-2428
Venice Gallery Studio, 237 Warfield Ave., Venice, FL 34285 (941) 486-0811
Comments are closed