ENTRY DESCRIPTION
1991
Jonathan Dickinson State Park, FL USA
5"x7" Deardorff View Camera
Kodak TMAX 100 film

The Loxahatchee River is one of only two designated wild and scenic rivers in Florida. I was asked by the Water Management District of Florida to photograph it for the 10th Anniversary of the Save Our Rivers program and I was excited to experience the river. I was awed by its primeval feeling. I was certain I would see Tequesta Indians peaking out from behind the trees…it is truly a beautiful place, and one of the many treasures of Florida. I spent three years photographing the river before I felt like I had captured the essence of the Loxahatchee. On one particular day two things happened; first, the light was right, and second, I got out of my canoe and walked it down the river, rather than paddling it. I became one with the river, and it seemed like I saw perfect subjects for photographs everywhere I looked. It was a wonderful and exciting day, resulting in the capturing of many images. The Water Management District chose Loxahatchee River #1 as the image to use on their poster to celebrate the Save Our Rivers program. I shot that image while my tripod and I were deep in mud. Since this was a six-minute exposure, I had to stand very still. The slightest movement, even the movement of my toes in the mud, would have caused the tripod to shift and blur the image.

AUTHOR
Wilderness, to me, is a spiritual necessity. When my son was killed by a drunken driver, it was to the wilderness that I fled in hopes of regaining my serenity and equilibrium. The mysterious spiritual experience of being close to nature helped restore my soul. It was during that time I discovered the intimate beauty of the environment.
My experience reinforced my sense of dedication to use my art form, photography, to show people that there is a unity between all undisturbed natural places, whether a peak of a renowned mountain range or a stream-bed in an urban watershed. My hope is to educate…to let people know our land is a special place and to inspire others to work together to save nature’s places of spiritual sanctuary for future generations.
-Clyde Butcher

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