Internationally renowned photographer and environmental advocate Clyde Butcher is best known for his incredible black and white landscape photograph’s of Florida’s pristine wild spaces including scenes from deep within the Big Cypress National Preserve, the western Everglades and other natural Florida locations.
He began photographing Florida beaches, in color, back in 1983, but his inspiration for capturing black and white images of the state’s interior didn’t come until a visit to the storied Tom Gaskins’ Cypress Knee Museum and experiencing the beautiful primeval cypress swamp on the property.
In the early 1990s, Clyde and his wife, fellow photographer Niki Butcher purchased a 13-acre property in the middle of the big Cypress National Preserve, which served as their home and the Big Cypress Gallery, which remains in operation today.
Later, they’d open a second gallery and studio space in Venice and now multiple generations of their family are working in the family business. In 2017, Clyde suffered a stroke, but just two months later he was back at it, shooting in Myakka State Park. He credits the healing power of nature for his quick recovery.
He’s been widely hailed as the Ansel Adams of the Everglades. Just this past October he was invited to the White House where he was recognized by President Joe Biden with the National Medal of Arts, which is the highest award given to artists and arts patrons by the federal government.
His newest book titled “Clyde Butcher: Lifeworks in Photography” serves as a retrospective collection of his entire body of work, along with stories from his life. The book coincides with travelling retrospective exhibition of the same name that includes photographs taken over half a century from locations in Florida, and across the U.S., Cuba, Spain and the Czech Republic.
Last month, WGCU’s Tara Calligan sat down for a long talk with Butcher at his Venice Gallery and Studio for an in-depth conversation about his life, work, legacy, and enduring passion for environmental conservation and preservation.
