Clyde Butcher

Clyde Butcher is an American landscape Photographer. He was born in Kansas City, MO to a steelworker. Having scrap metal around him gave the artist the perfect environment to design and create little boats out of sheet metal. When Butcher was at California Polytechnic State University working on his degree in architecture he discovered photography to better present his models. 

Butcher was exposed to an Ansel Adams photography exhibition in 1963. This led Butcher to experiment with black and white landscape photography. In 1970 Butcher left his career in architecture to start showing his photography at art festivals. He then started a multimillion dollar company that sold photographs to department stores. When the stress became too much in 1977 he sold the company.

In 1983 the photographer’s son was killed by a drunk driver. He spent a lot of time in the in the wilderness of the Big Cypress National Preserve. It became a refuge and also a spiritual experience for him. While in the nature of the preserve Butcher decided to only work in black and white photography. He went out and purchased a 8x10 view finder camera.

I love the eery beauty of nature in his photographs. It is very dramatic. I also like that Butcher chose to use black and white. He knew that his landscapes did not need color to be effective. That color took away from structure of the trees and plants. This is a decision I too have struggled with. I get so much inspiration from Butcher’s work.