OCHOPEE, Fla. — Scott Randolph is leaning over a camera, prepping for a panoramic picture in the lush, wet wilds of the Everglades.
“But I gotta find the center of where I want to lead the viewer into the photograph,” Randolph explained, gesturing toward the middle of a pond situated a few feet in front of the lens.
He knows how deep the water gets there, as well as how the nearby mother alligator with her new gaggle of baby alligators might react to his movements.
The nature photographer is part of Clyde Butcher’s Big Cypress Gallery in Ochopee.
And he does his work with gratitude and wonder.
“I mean, after all the Everglades system has been through, we’re still able to come out here and take pictures of this really beautiful and pristine area,” Randolph said.
His work transports people to a place they may never go.
His hope is that patrons reflect on the part they play in Everglades conservation.
Reflections have a large presence in his work on the water.
“I don’t know. It puts kind of a magical field on it,” Randolph said.
More than a photographer, Randolph is a witness to environmental history.
“Photographs to me are a documentary of what’s happened in the past and the present — and what can happen in the future,” Randolph said.
Randolph’s inspiration to develop his skills behind the lens comes from Butcher himself. Butcher’s large-scale black and white photographs adorn the walls of the gallery.
“They thought that we were just crazy people to build this in the middle of the Everglades," said Jackie Butcher Obendorf, manager of the gallery. "And it’s amazing to me the amount of people that travel this far to buy a piece of artwork.”
Butcher’s work elevated the conservation efforts of the Everglades.
He is a recipient of numerous awards — for the arts, for his community and for the environment.
Butcher’s been the subject of award-winning documentaries and hung out with presidents.
He believes if people love something, they’ll save it.
Scott Randolph carries forward Butcher’s message in his work — documenting our world for the future generations and carrying forward the message of conservation.