Tag Archives: everglades

Florida

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There are aspects to Florida that are impeccable. Then there’s Miami. As long as a person realizes there is no discernible purpose in going to Miami, you’ll be fine. In Miami you are either paying parking or paying a toll. There is also a “Russian roulette” aspect to driving on the roads there (I don’t know how many people I talked to who said, “I’m from Florida and I don’t go to Miami“). I would have liked to go to the Perez Museum and the Bass, but as I was unwilling to either pay $20 for parking (admission was only $16) or parking wasn’t available, I’ll never know what they were like.

Palm Beach is a beautiful city. It also has unforgettable venues like the Norton Museum that I was very glad to have seen. The Keys are a nice area. The Everglades fantastic. Naples not bad. The people who are native to Florida are like most people in the south, the best. The weather is wonderful. In the 70’s and 80’s when the Midwest was experiencing -10 below. Evenings are wonderful at 68 degrees or so. Mosquitoes were almost non-existant. The trick is to avoid Miami. Because the weather is not even worth that.


‘Neapolitan Pie’, oil on canvas – (1963) at the Norton Museum, Palm Beach

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Clyde Butcher

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Gaskin Bay

So I’m driving through the Florida Everglades (Does anyone else have everglades?) and I catch a glimpse of a sign that says something ‘gallery’ at a little hole in the wall pull off on old US Highway 41.  I hit the brakes and backup so I can pull into the parking lot. When I get parked I see the sign said ‘Clyde Butcher Photography Gallery‘.  I go inside and its a very nice gallery 20 minutes or so south of Naples. On the wall are these huge black and white prints. I mean huge as in 3 feet by 5 feet huge or more. How the heck is he getting this incredible tonal range and sharpness? He uses an 8 x 10 inch view camera. He also uses 4 x 5 and a panorama camera with a negative plate somewhere around 10 x 20 inch. Nobody uses film anymore. Except this guy and maybe a handful of others. Traditional film and photo paper are the analog response to digital photography. Kind of like the way vinyl records hold on with audiophiles against the onslaught of compact discs. Analog has a range digital simply can’t match. I don’t know what Clyde has available to him in the way of film,  paper and developers anymore. ASA 32 FX film, HC110 developer and certain Ilford photo papers could produce some awesome results. I have no idea what tools are left to use in this digital world. But its great to see.


Ochopee