Clyde Butcher (born September 6, 1942) is an American large-format camera

photographer A photographer (the Greek language, Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographe ...

known for wilderness

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...

of the

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

landscape. He began his career doing color photography before switching to large-scale black-and-white landscape photography after the death of his son. Butcher is a strong advocate of conservation efforts and uses his work to promote awareness of the beauty of natural places.

Background

Born in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...

, Clyde Butcher led a nomadic childhood with his parents, until they settled in Southern

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

when he was 18. He attended California Polytechnic University in 1960 and graduated in architecture. While visiting

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ar ...

in 1963, he learned about the photography studies of

Ansel Adams Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist known for his black-and-white images of the American West. He helped found Group f/64, an association of photographers advoca ...

. During his senior year of college, Butcher married his college sweetheart Niki.

Beginnings of photography career

During college, Butcher presented his architecture projects by creating and photographing miniature-scale models instead of making drawings. After graduation, Butcher began a career in

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

. He worked with architect William Pereira on such buildings as the Transamerica building in San Francisco and worked for architectural model companies. With the downturn in the economy, Clyde lost his job and began showing his black and white images at local art festivals. He soon realized that he could make more money in

than he was making in architecture. By 1970, he left architecture for

landscape photography Landscape photography shows the spaces within the world, sometimes vast and unending, but other times microscopic. Landscape photographs typically capture the presence of nature but can also focus on man-made features or disturbances of landscapes ...

Commercial success

Eventually, Butcher had a partnership that marketed and sold his images to the wall décor departments of

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

Montgomery Ward Montgomery Ward is the name of two successive U.S. retail corporations. The original Montgomery Ward & Co. was a world-pioneering mail-order business and later also a leading department store chain that operated between 1872 and 2001. The curren ...

, and J. C. Penney. He eventually accrued around 200 employees and offices in

Akron, Ohio Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County, Ohio, Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 C ...

and Southern

. In order to increase sales, Butcher started photographing with color film so his images could match the avocado green shag carpets and gold couches. The bulk of his photography during this time took place west of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

and in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...

. To escape some of the stress of the business, he moved onto a sailboat with his wife where he lived for seven years, moored in the harbor of

Newport Beach, California Newport Beach is a coastal city in South Orange County, California. Newport Beach is known for swimming and sandy beaches. Newport Harbor once supported maritime industries however today, it is used mostly for recreation. Balboa Island, Newport ...

. The boat had no electricity or refrigeration, conditions were spartan. Living without a television on the boat gained the family a sense of peace and solitude while they could take advantage of the city.

Move to Florida

Butcher's love for boating and the television program '' Flipper'' inspired him to explore Florida. Butcher sold his business in California, moved to Florida, and returned to selling art in street festivals. In 1986, the Butchers' son was killed when a drunk driver hit the car in which he was a passenger. Butcher retreated to the wilderness for solace and restoration. He put aside color photography and became a black-and-white landscape photographer using large-format

cameras A camera is an optical instrument that can capture an image. Most cameras can capture 2D images, with some more advanced models being able to capture 3D images. At a basic level, most cameras consist of sealed boxes (the camera body), with a ...

. In 1993, Butcher purchased 14 acres in Big Cypress National Preserve in Southern Florida which is surrounded by over a million acres of wilderness. This is where he built his gallery and home. He then realized that he needed to help the public to understand the beauty of the swamp and began leading guided tours through the swamp behind his gallery in Big Cypress National Preserve. Big Cypress Gallery is open seven days a week from 10:00 - 5:00. In 1997, Butcher began creating very large images up to 5x9' and needed a larger darkroom. He purchased a building in an industrial park in Venice Florida where he also has a gallery. The darkroom is 2000 sq feet. The darkroom is open to the public twice a year for tours. The gallery is open Tuesday - Friday from 10:00-4:00. A third gallery recently opened in the St. Armand's Circle area, off the coast of Sarasota, Florida.

Conservation work

Butcher's deep appreciation for the Everglades inspired him to work for the restoration and preservation of the environment. He has received recognition for his community service as well as his photography. In 1992, PBS aired a documentary about him, ''Visions of Florida,'' which won a Wolfson Award. Butcher and his work have also inspired other artist-conservationists, such as film producer

Elam Stoltzfus Elam S. Stoltzfus (born 1957) is an American environmental documentary filmmaker. Early life Stoltzfus was born into an Amish family of nine in Pennsylvania in 1957. During his later teens Elam left the Amish community, purchased a car and a ca ...

, who was struck by Clyde's art. The pair have formed a friendship over the years and have collaborated on several multimedia projects together as a result. Butcher hosted the documentaries "Big Cypress Swamp: The Western Everglades" and "Kissimmee Basin: The Northern Everglades," sister films that highlighted the importance of conservation and art in the state of Florida. Clyde Butcher's photographs have been exhibited in many museums across the country including: * Museum of Florida History - Tallahassee, FL * Museum of Fine Arts - St. Petersburg, FL * National Gallery of Art - Prague, Czech Republic * South Florida Museum - Bradenton, FL * Museum of the Rockies - Bozeman, MT * Museum of Discovery and Science - Ft. Lauderdale, FL * Gallery of Classic Photography (group exhibit) - Moscow, Russia * Annenberg Space for Photography (group exhibit) - Los Angeles, CA * Orlando Museum of Art - Orlando, FL * Boca Raton Museum of Art - Boca Raton, Florida * Fernbank Museum of Natural History - Atlanta, GA *

Muscarelle Museum of Art The Muscarelle Museum of Art is a university museum affiliated with the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. While the Museum only dates to 1983, the university art collection has been in existence since its first gift – a portr ...

, College of William and Mary - Williamsburg, VA * Jacksonville Museum of Modern Art - Jacksonville, FL * Dbuque Museum of Art - Dubuque, IA * Bergstorm-Mahler Museum - Neenah, WI * Ringling Museum of Art (in conjunction with Ansel Adams) - Sarasota, FL * Ft. Lauderdale Museum of Art - Ft. Lauderdale, FL * Lowe Art Museum -Miami, Florida * Appleton Museum - Ocala, FL * Museum of Art (in conjunction with Ansel Adams) - Ft. Lauderdale, FL

Legacy and awards

Photography

* 1998, Florida Artist Hall of Fame Awar

* 2000, Ansel Adams Award for Conservation Photography, Ansel Adams Award from the

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* 2003, ''Florida Monthly Magazine'' - Best Florida Artist * 2005, North American Nature Photography Association, Lifetime Achievement Award in Nature Photograph

* 2006, Best Florida Artist

''Florida Magazine'' Best of Florida 2006 * 2004, Best Art museum">gallery Gallery or The Gallery may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Art gallery ** Contemporary art gallery Music * Gallery (band), an American soft rock band of the 1970s Albums * ''Gallery'' (Elaiza album), 2014 album * ''Gallery'' (Gr ...

in Florida * 2005, Stars in the Arts Award * 2005, North American Nature Photography Association Lifetime Achievement Award 200

Community service

* 1996, Heartland

Community Service Community service is unpaid work performed by a person or group of people for the benefit and betterment of their community without any form of compensation. Community service can be distinct from volunteering, since it is not always performed ...

Award * 1997,

Everglades The Everglades is a natural region of tropical climate, tropical wetlands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large drainage basin within the Neotropical realm. The system begins near Orland ...

Coalition Award * 1997, "Person of the Week", presented by

Peter Jennings Peter Charles Archibald Ewart Jennings (July 29, 1938August 7, 2005) was a Canadian-born American television journalist who served as the sole anchor of ''ABC World News Tonight'' from 1983 until his death from lung cancer in 2005. He dropped o ...

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

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* 1997,

American Planning Association The American Planning Association (APA) is a professional organization representing the field of urban planning in the United States. APA was formed in 1978, when two separate professional planning organizations, the American Institute of Pla ...

- Florida Chapter Service Award * 1998, South Eastern Region

Nature Conservancy The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a global environmental organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. it works via affiliates or branches in 79 countries and territories, as well as across every state in the US. Founded in 1951, The Natu ...

Conservation Colleague Award * 1999, Keeping

Beautiful - Adopt-A-Highway

Public Service A public service is any service intended to address specific needs pertaining to the aggregate members of a community. Public services are available to people within a government jurisdiction as provided directly through public sector agencies ...

Award * 2000, Ansel Adams,

conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and managem ...

award * 2004, Wolfsom Telly Award * 2004, Top 100 Most Influential People in

* 2005,

Florida International University Florida International University (FIU) is a public university, public research university with its main campus in Miami-Dade County. Founded in 1965, the school opened its doors to students in 1972. FIU has grown to become the third-largest uni ...

Humanitarian Humanitarianism is an active belief in the value of human life, whereby humans practice benevolent treatment and provide assistance to other humans to reduce suffering and improve the conditions of humanity for moral, altruistic, and emotional ...

of the Year Award * 2005, Lifetime Achievement Award - North American Nature Photography Association * 2006, Conservancy Eagle Award - Conservancy of South West Florida * 2008, Estuary Guardian of the Year Award - Estuary Conservation Association * 2008, Stars Arts Award - Paradise Coast * 2010, Crystal Vision Award - League of Environmental Educators of Florida * 2011, ''Gulf Shore Life Magazine'' - Man of the Year * 2011, Distinguished Artist Award - From Florida House Embassy Washington, DC * 2012, Biff Lampton Conservation Communicator of the Year Award - Florida Wildlife Federation * 2013, Voice of the Arts Award - Naples International Film Festival * 2016, Brush of Excellence Award - Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation

References

External links

Clyde Butcher's website

Florida Department of Environmental Protection
"Clyde Butcher, A Photographer In The Heart Of The Everglades"
''Shutterbug'', February 2004

C. Butcher, Clyde on Indexmod Encyclopedia of Art and Fashion
{{DEFAULTSORT:Butcher, Clyde 1942 births Living people Artists from Kansas City, Missouri American photographers American environmentalists Photographers from Florida Sierra Club awardees