Jonathan Herbert is an award-winning writer who grew up in Englewood. His
novels, Banyan Street and Silver King, have won multiple literary awards,
including recognition from the Paris Book Festival. You can follow him on
Twitter @herbertnovels or on the web at herbertnovels.com.
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March/April 2019 GASPARILLA ISLAND 45
It influences him when someone says his photography
has brought them closer to wilderness and
helped uplift them spiritually in their own lives.
“It is a deep and personal honor when another
person says my photographs have brought them
closer to nature, because that is what I set out to
do with my art,” Butcher said. “Nature is healing and
I hope my images help people see beauty in the
world. There is so much tension in the world right
now that we need peace and healing images to get
us through tough times.”
When asked what it means to be compared to
Ansel Adams he said, “I first saw Ansel Adams work
in his Yosemite gallery in 1962. I was majoring as an
architect in college, so when I saw his work I didn’t
know his legacy, but I loved the fact that he
photographed landscapes. Not many people did
that back then. Mostly, photography was used as
advertising and things like weddings. But, I love
nature, so I figured if he could do it, then I could
too. Now, people compare me to Ansel Adams and
I realize how humbling that is. He was an amazing
man and a great artist. Today I hope my work does
what Ansel Adams work did for me … that it
inspires young people to do what I do, but do it
better than I can.”
This second edition is filled with true accounts
and vivid descriptions penned by Clyde and his wife
Niki, and their writing adds something extra to each
photograph. Every photograph stands alone from
the cover to the last one of River Strand 3.
Niki explained, “For about 20 years we lived
surrounded by over a million acres of wilderness
in Big Cypress National Preserve. Our home and
our gallery is located there. As we aged, we moved
to Venice, Florida to be near our daughter and the
darkroom. Our house at our Big Cypress Gallery
is now a cottage vacation rental, with the hope that
whoever stays in the cottage will feel the relaxation
and peace of nature that we enjoyed when we
lived there. The last image of the book was Clyde’s
most recent image of the place we love, where our
hearts are at peace … Big Cypress National
Preserve and the Everglades.
Clyde calls Big Cypress Swamp one of the last
pristine wilderness areas of Florida. Based on recent
experiences and knowledge of South Florida and
our surrounding environments, he is both hopeful
and confident that future generations will be able
to experience and enjoy Big Cypress Swamp as it
is today, “I pray that the people of Florida will never
give up fighting for the environment. I want to think
positive, so I believe it will remain.”
He continued. “Marjory Stoneman Douglas said
that if we save The Everglades, we’ll save the world.
I believe her to be absolutely correct on this. The
Everglades ecosystem is ‘downhill’ from the trash
we humans make. If we keep our water clean to
help the Everglades, it will not only make us healthier,
but teach the world how they too can keep
their water clean. Clean water will give us fish to
eat and healthier plants to eat. If we reduce our
carbon footprint, The Everglades will not sink
beneath the Atlantic Ocean due to global warming.
I think sometimes we humans forget that the earth
is what sustains us and we need to respect it. The
Everglades is the canary in the coal mine.
Butcher has been photographing the Everglades
for about 47 years and loves to share the beauty
of the ecosystem with others.
The “America’s Everglades” exhibit will be at the
Appleton Museum in Ocala, Florida through May
26. The exhibit is filled with very large photographs,
some as large as 5’ x 9’, to allow people to see the
exquisite detail and textures of the Everglades.
Butcher said the images had to be “big enough and
sharp enough that a person could feel like they
were there.”
Below is a quote from Jean-Michel Cousteau
about Butcher’s work that he shared.
“People protect what they love ... but you can’t
protect what you don’t understand,” Cousteau said.
“Clyde Butcher makes us want to understand,
because he touches our hearts and our heads
follow. No one can view Butcher’s remarkable
work without being awestruck by the Everglades
and its embodiment of nature herself.”
You can purchase Big Cypress Swamp, The Western
Everglades Second Edition on his website,
clydebutcher.com, on amazon.com and in bookstores.
/herbertnovels.com
/clydebutcher.com
/amazon.com