This foggy photograph of Big Talbot Island was taken in the summer. The temperature was in the 90s and the humidity was unbearable. I had a very difficult time focusing the camera because my glasses would fog up, then my lens would fog, then my ground focusing glass would fog and by the time I finished wiping one clear, another would fog up! I finally had to guess at the focus and just take the picture and hope it would work. The island of Big Talbot is a state park located in the northeast corner of Florida near the Georgia border.
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.
Disclaimer – Cropping, contrast, and image density may vary. To learn more about the darkroom printing process, click
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Visitors to my gallery often ask where a good place to photograph is in the Everglades. When I reply, “My parking lot,” some folks are flabbergasted and don’t seem to believe me. This image was taken from the parking lot in front of our gallery. It is a good reminder that beauty is everywhere; sometimes, we just need to slow down to see it.
Bald Cypress
The bald cypress of these endangered wetlands stands as a monument to endurance and fortitude. This lumber, prized in the mid-twentieth century for rot-resistant wood, was harvested by loggers who removed almost all of the old-growth bald cypress trees. With a loss of its protective canopy, swamp regions struggled to support the once-abundant variety of tropical ferns, orchids, and bromeliads. Under today’s protections of state and national preserves, the cypress giants are making a comeback. Their positive effect on the Everglades’ environment is evident by the returning wildlife and plants drawn to the refuge the trees offer.
Big Cypress Gallery 14 was taken with a Deardorff 8×10 on T-Max 100 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 | 120mm Nikkor SW lens | orange filter | 1 second
Disclaimer – Cropping, contrast, and image density may vary. To learn more about the darkroom printing process, click
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Big Cypress National Preserve, Florida – Our morning out in Big Cypress National Preserve was beautiful. As Niki I and hiked around looking for photographs my flower-loving wife found this flower: an Alligator Lily, and asked me to photograph it for her. I don’t normally do flowers, but since I was shooting with my Sony camera I thought I’d take a try at it. I had to get down on my belly to photograph the flower, which is something else I don’t do. It was all very awkward, but I did get the photograph.
This photograph is printed on a large format Epson printer using genuine Epson ink and archival Harman Hahnemuhle paper. Each photograph is digitally signed, then mounted and matted to current archival standards. This is a limited edition series and each photograph is numbered.
Canoeing along the Wilderness Waterway near Sanibel Island is a great adventure. When the water smoothed out so the clouds were reflecting in it, I took the picture.
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.
Disclaimer – Cropping, contrast, and image density may vary. To learn more about the darkroom printing process, click
here.
Washington Oaks Gardens State Park, Florida – I had been told there were rocks on the beaches in North Eastern Florida that made the beaches look like the west coast of the United States. I found that hard to believe. Every beach I had seen in Florida was simply white sand. I decided to check out Washington Oaks and see for myself. Sure enough, the beach had wonderful configurations of rocks scattered around it. The scene took me back to what it was like when I lived in California, except the water is warmer! I had a wonderful time photographing.
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.
Disclaimer – Cropping, contrast, and image density may vary. To learn more about the darkroom printing process, click
here.
For several years I wanted to photograph the Turner River at low tide. I felt compelled to capture an image of the mangrove legs arching down into the shallow water with the branches of mangroves overhead and bromeliads hanging from the trees, creating a tunnel filled with mystery and beauty.
Mangrove Tunnels
If there are any landscapes in Florida that seem untouched by the hand of man, the mangrove tunnels of the Turner River would rank among the highest. With water levels influenced by the changing tides of the Gulf of Mexico and the flush of fresh water from the rains of spring and summer that drain from the wetlands of the Big Cypress National Preserve, this mostly gentle flowing river is a visual delight. Within the narrow channels of the tightly growing mangrove trees, the clear shallow waters are stained translucent vermillion. Rare and endangered bromeliads such as the soft-leaved wild pine, tillandsia variables, and the giant air plant (tillandsia utriculata) find refuge among the sturdy arching and densely growing branches of the red mangrove. The light that makes its way through this living organic tunnel illuminates this sacred space and cause many small, fragile plants to faintly glow with soft shades of light pink, purple, and green. These unique waterways of the Greater Everglades ecosystem have long sheltered man, birds, reptiles, fish, and epiphytes from the harsh effects of the sun and the lashing of stormy winds.
Turner River 5 was taken with a Clyde-O-Wide 4×5 (hand-built by Clyde) on T-Max 100 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/22 | 47mm Schneider Super-Angulon XL lens | 30 seconds
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This is a small creek that runs into the Apalachicola River near the Panhandle. It didn’t have a name on any chart I could find, so because it smelled so sweetly of Tupelo, I called it Tupelo Creek.
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.
Disclaimer – Cropping, contrast, and image density may vary. To learn more about the darkroom printing process, click
here.
Jonathan Dickinson State Park, Florida – As I stood in the water, waiting for the right light to take this photograph, I was suddenly petrified to see what looked like a torpedo coming toward me! I thought a gator was heading, full speed, toward me and I wondered what I could do. When the wake finally reached me, it turned out to be a playful otter! Boy, was I relieved! He swam around me in a curious fashion, and then went on his way.
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.
Disclaimer – Cropping, contrast, and image density may vary. To learn more about the darkroom printing process, click
here.
Totch Brown was a fourth-generation cracker from the islands of South Florida. The stories of his life were so interesting that books and TV shows have been made about him. He was a great man. When he passed away, I went out to his writing camp on Chokoloskee Island and photographed it.
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.
Disclaimer – Cropping, contrast, and image density may vary. To learn more about the darkroom printing process, click
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I was first introduced to the beauty of the interior of Florida at Tom Gaskins’ property along Highway 27 in Central Florida. After visiting with Tom at his Cypress Knee Museum, he invited Niki and me to explore the boardwalk on the back of his property. We didn’t expect our path to be a catwalk of two-by-four boards nailed to a tree. We were literally walking on a board over the swampland.
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.
Disclaimer – Cropping, contrast, and image density may vary. To learn more about the darkroom printing process, click
here.
