Photo Journal of Clyde Butcher
Making the Nature Documentary: Producer Elam Stolzfus and Host Clyde Butcher
 |
|
The Big Cypress Swamp is a mysterious and secretive environment. There are not many people who brave the difficult swamps and cypress strands in order to understand the beauty and peace found in more than a million acres of swamps and land located in the Everglades eco-system of South Florida. The natural world of Big Cypress Swamp is a richly diverse wilderness of subtropical flora and fauna found nowhere else in our country. It is this exceptional beauty that Clyde Butchers black and white photographs and Elam Stoltzfus film captures.
One of the intriguing components in several of Elam's projects is his inclusion of other artists showcasing their art. In Big Cypress Swamp: Western Everglades Elam invited fine art photographer Clyde Butcher to host the project and capture Big Cypress Swamp through the lens of his large format camera. The final touch in this stunning documentary is the narration by the golden voice of Peter Thomas who resides in Naples. |
|
" I went to Big Cypress to restore my soul " Clyde Butcher |
|
|
| "Big Cypress and the Everglades have always been at the heart of my photography. My first baptism in swamp-water was in the Big Cypress where I felt a primeval presence I had never felt before. It was as though I was entering a time warp where the beginning and the ending of time were all combined together in the waters of the swamp&a feeling that we humans are part of a greater whole than we could ever imagine." This is the abundant and ethereal world of Clyde Butcher, one of Americas greatest living photographers, who is often compared to the legendary Ansel Adams. In his large-scale, black and white photography, Clyde takes us deep into the Western Everglades and immerses us in his environment - one of the last, great places in the United States. |
 |
|
"It's been a great adventure trekking through the Big Cypress Swamp with fine-art photographer Clyde Butcher. Clyde's backyard is the best outdoor studio you will find in the world. What an honor to capture images of nature, and to share these stories with others" Elam Stoltzfus
Elam Stoltzfus is a nationally acclaimed and award winning filmmaker. He is a master cinematographer whose projects capture the essence and glory of nature. Big Cypress Swamp: Western Everglades is a 56 minute documentary that shares the history of the |
| Western Everglades preservation and showcases Big Cypress as an ever evolving, complex ecosystem. The film reveals the stunning beauty of sawgrass and sunsets in the swamp, as well as highlighting a wide variety of plants and wildlife. The film also includes stories of the tireless efforts to preserve and manage the Big Cypress Swamp region. Viewers will be treated to rare and primeval sights and sounds of swamp expeditions through cypress strands by foot, air boat, swamp buggy and helicopter; in the background there is the "music" of Big Cypress: an ever present orchestra of croaking frogs, wading birds, flowing water, and approaching thunderstorms. |
|
Big Cypress Swamp: The Western Everglades |
|
|
| Today over a million acres of the richly diverse Everglades in Southwest Florida is protected in a variety of public lands. But in the 1960s this land was slated to be drained and developed, just like many areas of Florida had been over the decades. Through the efforts of those who have a deep connection to this land and had a vision of seeing it protected for years to come this unique region of the Greater Everglades remains intact, a natural area where rare plants and animals can be found and where people can recreate, escape the hustle and bustle of congested coastal cities, and enjoy the wilds of natural Florida in the Big Cypress Swamp." The Big Cypress Swamp: Western Everglades" documentary and exhibit is a collection of visual images wrapped around narrative stories of how the Big Cypress Swamp preservation almost didn't happen, how the vast land holdings are currently being managed, an overview of animals behaviors, stunning landscape scenes and a cacophony of sounds blended into a musical score. |
 |
|
Elam Stoltzfus and Clyde Butcher have been working together for the past 20 years on documentaries that have helped educate the public about Florida through the visual arts. With their photographic skills they have collaborated in a collection of award-winning documentaries, Visions of Florida: the Photographic Art of Clyde Butcher, Living Waters: Aquatic Preserves of Florida, Apalachicola River: an American Treasure and now the Big Cypress Swamp: Western Everglades. |
| Elam and Clyde sought out the knowledge of South Florida National Parks Trust, Big Cypress National Preserve, 10,000 Islands National Wildlife Refuge, Rookery Bay National Estuarine Reserve, Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge, Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park,Big Cypress Basin-South Florida Water Management District, |
|
 |
| Corkscrew Swamp Audubon Sanctuary, Okaloacoochee Slough Wildlife Management, and Collier-Seminole State Park in creating this documentary to educate the public about the Big Cypress Swamp: Western Everglades and to help promote the new welcome center. |
 |
|
The visitor center is intended to orient visitors on the Tamiami Trail to the resources of South Florida, the Big Cypress Swamp, and the Greater Everglades Ecosystem. Visitors to the center will be able to plan their tour in the area, and gain a greater appreciation for the purpose and significance of the Everglades ecosystem.
|
|
|
 |
|
