OCHOPEE © 1986

Western Everglades

The Everglades is a place where I sought beauty and solace. Its wild, diverse landscape offered refuge and a source of healing for me after losing my son. This iconic image of the Everglades was the second photograph I took after I decided to photograph solely in black and white. Being from California and relatively new to Florida, I had just started learning about the Everglades ecosystem. This view called to me with its vast wilderness and mountainous clouds. Cattails: Warning from the Swamp The Everglades is known for its marshy expanses of grasses and aquatic plants, creating dotted blankets of vegetation across the landscape. However, this image also shows the effect of a disturbance on the ecosystem. Although cattails are native to the Everglades, their proliferation in this small area indicates higher than normal levels of fertilizer have fueled their growth. Ochopee was taken with a Deardorff 8×10 camera on Tri-X film. This photograph is hand-printed in Clyde’s darkroom on fiber-based paper, selenium toned, then mounted and matted to current archival standards. The photograph is a limited edition and signed by Clyde. Camera settings  f/45 | 121mm Schneider Super-Angulon lens | orange filter | 1/4 second. Disclaimer – Cropping, contrast, and image density may vary. To learn more about the darkroom printing process, click here.