The National Park Service is turning 100 this year. To celebrate, the Postal Service created a set of Forever Stamps showcasing 16 national parks. One of them is Everglades National Park.
The photographer of the Everglades stamp is Miami native Paul Marcellini. We spoke with Marcellini about the immortalization of his photograph.
Can you tell me about your history with the Everglades?
I started going to the Everglades as early as I could remember. I had a birthday party out there when I was like 10. I grew up in the Redlands about 20 minutes from the entrance down by Florida City. I photographed it a little bit in high school, mainly as reference work for paintings. Then in college I switched over to photography. After I graduated I moved back to Miami and just started going out to the Everglades two or three nights a week. I was learning about photography and getting better at that. At the same time I was exploring more and more of the Everglades.
Where did you go to school?
I went to Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee. I got an environmental science degree.
So you're no stranger to the environment, other than photography?
No, I've always been attracted to the outdoors and after I graduated I moved back and worked for the county as a naturalist part-time for a couple of years. That allowed me the freedom to photograph a lot more. Full-time never worked out so I just kind of pursued photography full-time.
Did you photograph while in college, living away from South Florida?
A little bit. I had just bought my first camera in college, mainly because it was an easier artistic outlet than painting in the dorm rooms. So I did a little bit of nature photography. I had a group of friends I'd go camping with and we'd go propelling and kayaking and things. So I was taking a little bit of those adventure-type photos. But once I moved back to Miami, I just started going to the Everglades and really focused mainly on landscapes with a little wildlife thrown in.
What do you like about photographing the Everglades?
It's home. It's familiar. I takes more work than say, photographing Utah or the Rockies. Those are stunning scenes in any situation, whereas the Everglades on the wrong time of day or year are not visually as engaging. From a naturalist standpoint, it can be a lot more interesting. But visually, the landscape itself can take a little work at times to really engage someone. I think the Everglades is the first national park that was actually created to preserve the biodiversity, the plants and animals, as opposed to the scenery like somewhere like Yosemite.
What's really important about the Everglades is how unique of an ecosystem it is, how it's a mesh of tropical plants coming up at their northern limit, mixed with some temperate trees and just the blend of habitats. Everyone thinks the Everglades is just a swamp or miles of water and sawgrass. And that's why I was happy this image was picked to represent the Everglades because it's the uplands, the pine rocklands. They're actually a globally imperiled habitat.
Do you remember the story behind that particular day? Do you remember taking that shot?
Yeah, it was back in December 2012. I had just been kind of roaming this one area of the pines. I typically like to shoot after the sun's gone down. Hopefully the clouds are starting to get some color, some pinks and whatnot.
I just decided to shoot a few shots like that with the sun still above the horizon, thinking this would be the safety shot in case the sunset didn't pan out. And I actually really liked it, the way the light just kind of followed the foreground. So I titled it "Path of Light." It just seems like the light leads you right back through the image.
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