This river is the pride of the community of Jupiter on the east coast of Florida. It is a wild and scenic river that runs through town, but when you are canoeing on it you’d never know you were a step away from a busy community.
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.
The Loxahatchee River is one of two designated wild and scenic rivers in Florida.
The South Florida Water Management District asked me to photograph this river in order to make a poster for their tenth anniversary of the “Save our Rivers” campaign. I told them I would be glad to try, but the outcome would all depend on how mother nature behaved. Fortunately, they gave me three years to do the project. I visited the river several times each year. I would take a few pictures but not many would come out the way I visualized the river. It wasn’t until 1990 that I was given the gift of one perfect day.
The problem with photographing under the canopy of trees is that the sunlight can create hot spots on the film causing the final image to look splotchy. On my perfect day, a tropical depression moved in giving me overcast conditions for even lighting. The overcast lighting also made the canopy very dark which meant I needed to take long exposures. Since there was no wind I was able to accomplish the long exposures with very little problem.
I began my photographic journey down the river in my canoe. After the first couple of shots, I decided not to get back into the canoe but to float down the river instead while pulling the canoe behind me. It seemed every corner I turned was a new and beautiful scene. This was truly a perfect day that I will never forget.
This particular area along the river is unique because it shows how clear the water is. The apparent look of the water is dark because of the tannic acid from decomposing plant life. However, the water is shallow enough in this one location for me to be able to showcase the clearness of the water.
Loxahatchee River 10 was taken with a 5×7″ camera on T-Max 100 film. This photograph was taken in 1990 but the first time it was printed was in 1992 for my exhibit at the Loxahatchee River Historical Museum in Jupiter, Florida. This photograph is hand-printed in my darkroom on fiber-based paper, selenium toned, then mounted and matted to current archival standards. The photograph is printed in a limited edition and signed.
Camera settings: f/45 | 75mm lens | 6 minutes | no filter
Disclaimer – Cropping, contrast, and image density may vary. To learn more about the darkroom printing process, click
here.
The Loxahatchee River is one of only two of Florida’s designated wild and scenic rivers. When the Water Management District of Florida asked me to photograph it for the 10th Anniversary of the Save Our Rivers Program, I was excited for the opportunity. It took me three years of photographing the river before I felt like I had captured the essence of the Loxahatchee. A turning point happened when, one day, I made the decision to step out of my canoe and walk down the river instead of paddling. In harmonious connection with the river, photographic opportunities revealed themselves everywhere I looked. It was a wonderful and exhilarating day. Among the images I captured, The Water Management District selected Loxahatchee River 1 for their poster celebrating the Save Our Rivers program. I took this photograph while my tripod and I were stuck deep in the mud. Because it was a six-minute exposure, I had to stand very still; any movement, no matter how slight, would cause the tripod to shift, and the image would have blurred.
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.
We spent the summer of 1993 building our gallery in the Big Cypress National Preserve. The following summer, we had time to explore our “backyard” for the first time. Niki and I discovered that beneath the waters of this cypress swamp lie several feet of thick, rich muck—up to 80 inches deep in places. We learned the hard way how deep the mud was in this area of the Everglades. I made several attempts to get this photograph! Day after day, I set up my camera and then developed the film, only to find that the camera had moved during the exposure. In an attempt to stabilize the camera, I weighted my tripod with concrete blocks, letting it sink and settle in the muck for days, to no avail. After two weeks of trial and error, I realized it wasn’t the motion of the water moving the camera but my movements in the muck! Solving the mystery, I swam to the camera, clicked the shutter, and floated upon the water during the six-minute exposure.
Loosescrew Swamp | Wet Season
Florida’s seasons revolve on the presence and absence of one precious resource—water. Throughout the Everglades, the amount of surface water determines the season. The summer is wet due to the return of seasonal rains, hurricanes, and tropical depressions flooding the landscape. Seasonal rains typically occur daily and drop a fraction of an inch to several inches regularly. However, storms are capable of transforming a dry landscape into a shallow sea of freshwater that extends for miles overnight. The saturation and flooding that is characteristic during this time of year allow this marvelous system to regenerate its primary food sources. These food sources include periphyton (vital blue-green algae), fish, frogs, and other invertebrates that will eventually become food for the larger animals that call this part of Florida home.
Loosescrew Swamp Sanctuary 2 was taken with a Deardorff 8×10 camera 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 | 72mm Schneider Super-Angulon XL lens | 6 minutes
Disclaimer – Cropping, contrast, and image density may vary. To learn more about the darkroom printing process, click
here.
Every year when native orchids bloom in the pond behind the Big Cypress Gallery, I go out to explore. Often, I don’t start off knowing the specifics of the plants I photograph. The flowers’ innate beauty is what attracts me. As I fell in love with the intricacies of the Everglades, I learned more about the ecosystem and shared with others my newfound knowledge through my images. Over the years, I have come to know many biological details of the Everglades by traveling to the interior with naturalists, park rangers, and lifelong residents. This orchid’s name is the dingy-flowered star orchid (epidendrum amphistomum).
Diversity Within the Swamp
At first glance, the swamp can seem visually chaotic and confusing. However, if you slow down for a look, the treasure of biodiversity emerges. The feathery fronds of an indigenous sword fern are distinguished from the broad, arching, leathery leaves of a native orchid as both cling side-by-side to the tree bark that supports them. Diminutive pale-orange blossoms hang in small clusters from a bare stem of this native orchid, camouflaged to most. Groupings of longer, lance-shaped leaves of air plants are often mistaken for bird nests as they too are supported above the water by the trees.
Loosescrew Orchid was taken with a Deardorff 8×10 camera 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 | 30 seconds
Disclaimer – Cropping, contrast, and image density may vary. To learn more about the darkroom printing process, click
here.
This tree in our backyard has become known as the “deer bed” tree because we once found tufts of deer hair in the nook of the tree where a deer had curled up to sleep. I had tried to photograph this area several times, but the light was never good and I wasn’t satisfied with the image. Finally, after several years of trying, I was fortunate to be out in the swamp with my 5×7” view camera when the light was right.
Resilient Trees of the Everglades
Well into the dry season, when much of the water has receded, the pond apple trees’ large, gently twisting buttresses lay exposed, showing marks of the past high-water wet season. Their roots dig into a rich, black muck made of partially decomposed plant debris, often several feet thick, until they reach the limestone below. Where waters tend to be deeper and the cypress trees more widely scattered, pop ash and pond apple trees thrive.
Loosescrew Deer Bed was taken with a Deardorff 5×7 camera 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 | 72mm Schneider Super-Angulon XL lens | 30 seconds
Disclaimer – Cropping, contrast, and image density may vary. To learn more about the darkroom printing process, click
here.
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.
I was totally consumed by the drama of this storm, which moved in fast and low, so low that it seemed as though I could almost touch the clouds. As I stood in the water taking this photograph, I suddenly felt a stinging sensation on my legs. I looked down and saw they were completely covered with mosquitoes. That’s life in the Everglades!
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.
I enjoyed photographing Little Butternut several years ago, so when I had the opportunity to visit the Florida Bay again, I couldn’t resist. It was interesting to see how the island had changed. The sand spit had shifted after both a hurricane and a tropical storm hit the area. However, it was still a beautiful island, deserving of many photographs!
Loss of Seagrass in the Florida Bay
At the southernmost aspect of the Everglades lies a multitude of mangrove islands surrounded by shallow, clear lagoon waters. Known as Florida Bay, this coastal region’s water teems with small sea life—hatchlings and young crabs, fish, shrimp, lobster, oysters, seahorses, sponges, and corals hide in the thick blades of its seagrass meadows. However, the bay, with its shallow average depth of three to five feet, is extremely susceptible to outside pollutants, such as nitrogen and phosphorus from fertilizers. Vast tracts of seagrass are continually lost due to a disruption in the natural saline balance.
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.
If you want to grasp the power of nature, watch the energy of a cloud as it builds into a thunderstorm on a Florida summer afternoon. I spent a week photographing the upper Florida Bay, near Key Largo, capturing the most southern portion of the Everglades. This photo was taken as a storm approached. The sandbar made the perfect foreground for the dynamic scene as the storm clouds formed over Florida Bay. The Chamber of Commerce for the Florida Keys fell in love with this image and chose to use it for advertising the Keys. I donated the image, the Chamber of Commerce created a poster using my image, and together, we donated all the funds from the sale of the posters to the Artists Environmental Foundation of the Florida Keys.
Everglades Estuary: Where the River Meets the Sea
Bounded by Everglades National Park to the north and the Florida Keys to the southeast, Florida Bay is considered the endpoint of the Everglades ecosystem. Here, life abounds. Fresh rainwater meets the salty waters of the Gulf, after flowing hundreds of miles across prairies and swamps, creating some of the most productive estuaries in the world. Within these brackish habitats, the shelter and food offered by mangroves, seagrass meadows, and saltwater marshes make this final stage of the Everglades a prime fish nursery. The bay fuels both the commercial and recreational fishing industry and also sustains diverse sea life, attracting tourists who enjoy boating, snorkeling, and scuba diving.
Little Butternut Key 1 was taken with a Deardorff 8×10 camera 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
here.
