Last year, I went to a photography exhibit that really inspired my interest in cameras and taking photos. In a way, I would not be doing this photo blog if I had not gone to this exhibit. I went to see the photography of Clyde Butcher.
Clyde specializes in large-format photography of America's unique natural environments...from the western mountains and forests to the "sea of grass" of the Everglades. Clyde makes his home in Florida and has a gallery on US 41 in the Everglades. After I attended that first gallery show, my friend Ana told me she and her family would be going down to the Butcher gallery to partake in an annual event called the "Muck-About." Each year, the Butchers open their property around the gallery to the public and engage local guides to give people in-depth tours of the swamp.
Now, many people would not even go near a swamp, and most of my life I've been one of those people, so when Ana encouraged me to do it, I demurred, saying I had something else going on for Labor Day, which was true! But she returned and described the experience in glowing terms, so I said that I would join her next year.
So, fast-forward a year to my nephew's wedding in July. I was sitting next to my sister-in-law, saying that I really was enjoying photography and that I was very inspired by Butcher's work. Lo and behold, she said, "I actually own two of his signed prints." Wha?? We started talking and she told me that a woman in an old junk shop had made her an amazing deal for these prints without any of them knowing that they were worth 10 times what she bought them for. Amazing! So I talked about possibly going to do the Muck-About, and she said she would go with me. Bang!! Awesome!!
Tiny fast-forward to today, where my SIL and I got up early, made a picnic, loaded our car with a change of clothes, bug spray, hats, towels and everything we would need to both walk in the swamp and recover from walking in the swamp. We drove down to the gallery, registered and, dressed in our old sneakers and jeans and t-shirts, we headed to the swamp entrance.
Then we joined our guide...Bob. Hi, Bob.
Bob is a botanist and specializes in the plant ecosystems of my fine state. What he doesn't know about the plants and life in the Everglades probably ain't worth knowing. Bob gave us the ins and outs about our tour, showed us to use our walking sticks in front of us to feel our way in the water, and then promptly jumped in and encouraged us to come, too.
The rest of the trip had us seeing this swamp from every angle, and considering how much each plant and animal depended on the others. We saw the very high...
And the lowest of the low...
We saw the flora...
And a tiny bit of fauna...(which was plenty, in this case)
At the end we dragged ourselves out of this beautiful, silent and watery world...
But even though we were tired after 2 hours of climbing and slogging, we were proud of ourselves, and felt ourselves simultaneously "masters of all we surveyed" and humbled by the knowledge that we're just a small part of this world. So, if someone ever asks you to get in a swamp, don't think twice. Jump in.
awesome shots! and so many questions like, you didn't wear waders over your pants? and were there areas where shorter people were up to their crotches or waists? weren't there leeches or other blood sucking things that tried to get up your pant legs? and also, can i come do this?
ReplyDeleteNo, I didn't wear waders, and no one else did either. You could if you wanted to though. You just wear old clothes and shoes. I ended up throwing my shoes and socks away because they were going to go in the trash anyway. They have changing rooms for the men and women so you just bring your clothes and at the end you hose off and change into new clothes. At the deepest place, I was up to my waist. There were no leeches or anything like that here. I don't know if they exist but no one reported leeches. And yes, you can do this but only if you come between Labor Day and March. They kick off on Labor Day, then they do it every Saturday through March. Come do it. I'll go!
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