Legendary photographer and national treasure
Following the footsteps of
‘The Ansel Adams
of the
Everglades’
By Sue Erwin • Photos by Dusty Hopkins, H Wetzel and Clyde Butcher
Photographer Clyde Butcher fi rst learned to appreciate nature when his parents took him on a tour of
national parks on the west coast. He realized that movement and light had tremendous effects on
landscape, and ultimately, on photographs.
58 GASPARILLA MAGAZINE November/December 2019
Decades later he would become a
legendary photographer. His appreciation
of the Everglades brought him to Florida
in 1986. He would then travel out west
for a while, but his adoration of Florida
brought him back.
Over the past several decades, Clyde
has been honored with numerous awards.
In 1977, he was revered by Al Gore for
his efforts to help save the Everglades.
In 2000, he was given the Ansel Adams
Award for Conservation Photography by
the Sierra Club for his use of still photography
to further a conservation cause.
Clyde also received the Distinguished
Artist Award from the Florida House Embassy
in Washington, D.C, in 2011. These
are just a few items listed in his summary
of achievements.
Gasparilla Island Magazine Publishers
Dusty Hopkins and Cheryl Schum and
their daughter Elizabeth recently took a
trip with H Wetzel and his wife, Gail, to
Ochopee, where they experienced the
primordial beauty of Clyde Butcher’s
world.