CHASSAHOWITZKA RIVER | Niki Butcher

Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge © 1990

Photographic Story Our trip to the Chassahowitzka River was wonderful. The river goes from clear clean spring water to the brackish water of the marsh in a very short run. It was interesting to see the changes in the environment in such a short distance. Clyde and I had a great time photographing the area. Every afternoon as we returned to the dock, this blue heron would be standing in this same spot. After the third day, we decided to take advantage of his obvious need to be photographed! The Art of Hand Painting Black and White Photographs Niki prints her images on fiber-base black and white mat surface paper in the darkroom, then using Q-tips and cotton balls, she applies a thin coat of oil paint over the surface allowing the image to gently be seen through the oil paint. Archival Print Making Niki’s open edition gicleé artwork is printed on Sunset Bright Velvet Rag matte finish paper using eight archival inks. A state-of-the-art Epson Stylus Pro printer creates deep, rich dark values that hold subtle detail in the shadows as well as bright vivid colors that are truly tropical.