The Obsessive Photographer

Indian Key 5, by Clyde Butcher

Clyde Butcher is the preeminent master of Florida landscape photography. He is arguably the best landscape photographer in the country today. His stunning black and white images shot on large format film evoke instant longing to go find a Florida back road and follow it wherever it takes you, just don’t forget your camera.

Thanks to my Father-In-Law, I was not only able to attend a lecture by Clyde and his long time friend and fellow photographer Jeff Ripple tonight…I also got to spend a few moments speaking with him. As I drove down to the event tonight (the opening of their joint showing at Bradenton’s “South Florida Museum”) I wondered what I would ask him if I had the chance.

I met my Father-In-Law at the museum and went in. It was the first time I had been to an actual showing of Butcher’s work in all their enormous glory. Shot in either 8″X10″, 11″X14″ or 12″X20″ formats, his images can be printed from 11″X14″ up to 5′X8′. These big, beautiful images take you right where the shots were taken. Standing in front of these images I can feel the earth beneath my feet, wet or dry. I can smell the air, feel the warmth of the sun, hear the birds call. It’s a visceral experience, a virtual absorption into the mind of the artist.

Clyde is 67 years old. He left his career as a successful architect to be a full time landscape photographer a year before I was born. All of the sudden talking to Clyde felt a little daunting.

Clyde Butcher and Thomas Sabo

I bought “Florida Landscape“, a book of Clyde’s images for him to sign. When I approached him I felt instantly at ease. The term “salt of the earth” comes to mind, a friendly and open man.

We spoke about his passion for photography, his leap from architecture to art, and the risks associated with it. I asked if he had any advice on how to “get there” and he gave me the simplest advice I think I’ve ever been given: “Just keep doing it”.

Sometimes I guess it really is that simple.  “Just keep doing it.”

There was something else I needed to know.  I have a close personal attachment to my photographs.  I can remember every circumstance, every feeling, emotional and physical from every shot.  I needed to know if I was the only one.  With a little more timidity I asked him “Do they call to you?“

He looked up, he had been signing my book when I asked.  “What?” he said.

“Your photos,” I replied “do they call to you?“  Wondering if I was sounding as silly if I felt like I was.  Then an amazing thing happened.  He looked me straight in the eye, with a look of complete understanding and replied with one word.

“Absolutely.”

Nothing more needed to be said.  He understood what I was asking and I had gotten my answer.  It was really a wonderful moment, meeting what surely was a kindred spirit.

We attended the lecture in the planetarium where both Clyde and Jeff spent an hour projecting their images onto the ceiling of the dome and explaining each individual shot.  They were generous with both their knowledge and experiences, sharing both the beauty and the environmental importance of the Florida Everglades.  It was a great lecture and I enjoyed it greatly.  If you ever have the opportunity to view Clyde and Jeff’s work, take it.  If you have an opportunity to hear them speak don’t miss it, you’ll be happy you did.

Clyde Butcher and Thomas Damgaard Sabo

The Art Institute of Tampa  Culinary Team placed Bronze in their very first competition.  According to Chef Fred Lucardi the only thing that kept them from Gold was their speed, the team had the highest score in “Taste” and “Presentation”.  According to Chef Lucardi the Judges had nice things to say about the photography of the dishes (taken at our last shoot) which was a very nice compliment.

The team has updated and refined their dishes and asked me to shoot them again, what can I say…I was hungry for the opportunity (OK, OK, I know that was bad). The blog post for the first shoot is here if you’d like to see the improvement in the plating.

I had to wait for a while to post these photos so I didn’t release their improvements before the next competition. I’ll update this post with the results when I get them.

To inquire about photography services or schedule a food photography session click here. Thanks!

Art Institute Tampa Culinary Team Dish

Art Institute Institute Tampa, Appetizer

Art Institute of Tampa Main Dish

Art Institute Tampa Dessert

Maggie, our Italian Greyhound

It’s official: we have become certifiably insane.  We’ve become “those people” who dote on their dogs like they’re kids.  We’re officially held hostage by an incredibly cute, cuddly, loving, affectionate…damn, there I go again!  We’re being held captive by a vicious animal.

How the heck did this happen?

I guess you could say we are “pet people”.  We have “Kasey” a black cat we got free from a pet store when we moved in together in Nashville 14 years ago.  She’s old, but sturdy…and still plays like a kitten. 

Ten years ago our 90 lb. pure black German Shepard “Max” joined us as a puppy after we rescued him as a stray on the streets of downtown Tampa.  Max truly believes there are flesh-eating zombies roaming the streets of our quiet suburban neighborhood.  I know this because he alerts us to any movement in front of the house with his low “woofs”. These certainly warn us of impending doom, for which we are eternally grateful and reward him with food. 

I can’t leave out Jake, the three foot corn snake Tucker and I found under our boat in our back yard as a baby.  “Let’s keep him for a couple days to check him out” turned into a year and a half and about two feet longer than he was.  In short, we’ve never paid for a pet, they kind of “fall into” our family.

Then there was the fated day a year ago that Maggie came into our lives.  It all started with a casual trip to Petsmart after the three of us had dinner one night.  We were considering getting a kitten to keep Kasey company during the day.  Evidently it wasn’t “kitten season” as we were told, they didn’t have any.  Unfortunately Italian Greyhounds don’t follow the same biological clock. 

We saw the minuscule greyhound playing with her sister in the window and my wife thought we should just play with her for a minute.  I want to make it clear this was my wife’s decision (something she has to be reminded of occasionally now).

A mere 30 minutes later and something like a gazillion dollars on my Amex and we were on the way home with a dog who has more family history than most people I know.  That’s when we all started losing our minds.

Italian Greyhounds need sweaters. Who knew?

If you don’t know much about Italian Greyhounds (I.G.’s or “Iggies” as we have since learned), they are incredibly affectionate, loyal dogs.  They sleep quite a bit, normally burrowed under any available blankets.  If you are available they much prefer to curl up on your lap or beside you on the couch, so close you would think they are an extension of your body.  They wake up occasionally, look up at you with these eyes that could melt the polar ice caps, then nuzzle back down and go directly back to sleep.

I.G.’s use a lot of ingenuity when they want something, and they’re sneaky.  If they can’t get something by stealing it they’ll find a way to get you to get it for them.  Think it’s funny?  Get an I.G. and find out for yourself.  I took this video after finding Maggie outside of the bathroom where we kept her as a puppy.  Everything would be intact, but she was just out.  I set up the video and walked out the front door.  Came back 10 minutes later with her out…the video is priceless.

These dogs have a real personality.  It is said I.G.’s train their owners, not the other way around.  When I first read that I thought it was funny, now I understand.  Maggie is actually more like a cat than a dog.  She doesn’t do anything that isn’t her idea, so it makes getting her to do things a strategic challenge.  The funny thing is she doesn’t refuse defiantly, she does it with almost a comical, mischievous look on her face, tail wagging as if to say “look at the cute human, he wants me to actually give him the remote control I have successfully stolen from the coffee table.  Poor man, he doesn’t understand this is mine now“, just before taking off at roughly the speed of sound.

She loves to be chased, and at a top speed of 27 mph, I’m not catching her.  I recorded this video at 3am Christmas morning after Maggie decided we had been gone too long at my folks house and wanted to play…I had to run some energy out of her before going to bed.

She’s an incredibly smart dog.  She has as many toys as a toddler, and we typically have to pick up after her nightly after she’s taken them out of her toy box (yes, she has a toy box) and spread them around the family room.  When she wants to play she’ll go through her toy box and find just the right toy to play with.  This is a meticulous process that is really funny to watch.  She’ll pick up each toy, put it aside, dig out another one, put it aside, another one…and so on until she finds the one she wants and brings it over, tossing it casually onto your feet then standing there waiting for you to throw it for her.

She has her “bear”, her “flamingo”, her “mouse”, her “glove”, her “lion”, “rope bone”, etc.  We can ask her to bring us any of these and about 90% of the time she gets it right. As long as you’re playing she’s listening.

So, what'd you have for dinner?

She rules the house, no doubt about it.  She simultaneously annoys the heck out of everyone and makes them laugh out loud.  It’s pretty hard to get mad at her, and it doesn’t matter if you do since she won’t stop what she’s doing anyway.  Max is incredibly patient with her for an old dog, and Kasey tolerates her (and then they sleep together with Kim on the couch).

So as you might have gathered we’ve become “those people”.  I guess I have to willingly admit that.  I know I’ll catch some flack from some people for it, but I can’t help it.  I’m secure enough in my manhood to say my dog has me wrapped around her…um…paw?

I’m not alone either, she owns Kim and Tucker too, oh yeah…also my Mom & Dad, everyone else who comes to the house, our entire neighborhood, and one of my co-workers who has threatened to steal her if I turn my back for too long.  What a dog.  My only regret?  I wish we had one more

Maggie in full gallop

"I should get a treat for my patience with this small human"