Art Brokerage: Clyde Butcher (born 1942) is an American photographer known for wilderness photography of the Florida landscape. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Clyde Butcher led a nomadic lifestyle with his parents until eventually settling in Southern California and attending California Polytechnic University in 1960, where he studied architecture. In 1963, he was impressed by Ansel Adams' work on display at Yosemite National Park. During Butcher's senior year of college he married his wife, Niki. During college, rather than use drawings, Butcher presented his architecture projects by creating and photographing miniature scale models set next to small plants and trees to make them look real. After college, Butcher began a career in architecture, and was responsible for a portion of the design of the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco, California. After losing his job, Butcher began showing his work at local street art festivals. He soon realized that he could make more money in photography than he was making in architecture. By 1970, he left architecture for landscape photography. Butcher ended up in a partnership and a business that sold his images to the wall décor departments of Sears, Wards, Pennys, etc. He eventually accrued around 200 employees and an office in Akron, Ohio and one in southern California. In order to increase sales, Butcher added color photography to his repertoire. The bulk of his photography, during this time took place west of the Rocky Mountains and in the Pacific Northwest. This chapter of Butcher's life was filled with strife and stress; so much that he moved onto a sailboat along with his wife. For seven years Butcher, Niki, and their two children lived on the sailboat moored in the harbor of Newport Beach, California. The boat had no electricity, TV or refrigeration. This experience gave the family a sense of peace and solitude while still being surrounded by the metropolitan city. Butcher's love for boating and the television program Flipper, eventually brought him to Florida. Butcher sold his business in California, moved permanently to Florida and returned to selling his art in street festivals. Shock grasped the Butcher lives in 1986 when Clyde's son was killed in a car collision with a drunk driver. Butcher retreated to the wilderness for solace and restoration. He put aside his color photography and became a black-and-white landscape photographer. Butcher creates his images with large-format cameras ranging from 4x5" up to 12x20" creating images in sizes from 8x10 inches to 5x9 feet. |
