KAYAKING THE RIVERS AND WATERWAYS OF FLORIDA
Black & White and Color Digital Photographs
Black & White and Color Digital Photographs
It is truly difficult for me to describe the images in this series, mainly because they are the result of what one man taught me many years ago, when he took me on his boat for the first time into the immensity of the Florida Everglades back in 1997. His name was Oscar Thompson and he was a true native Floridian photographer. He showed me how to look at the River of Grass in a different way. He gave me the gift of the “Swamp’s magic”. And I will thank him for that for the rest of my life. I dedicate this work to his memory. I miss you my friend!
Oscar Thompson was a fifth-generation Floridian, born in Ft. Myers and reared in Everglades City and Immokalee. At the time of his death in December of 2002, his photography was emerging as a major force in Florida nature photography, a distinction that was undoubtedly the result of his rich life as a native Floridian. Both his father and grandfather were guides in Southwest Florida. While other youngsters were trooping off to camp in the mid-1950's, young Thompson was spending summers with the Seminole Indians, gaining an appreciation for Florida's wildlife and natural habitats.
During the last few years of his life, Thompson devoted his time to capturing the images of the vanishing natural world of his youth, the Florida Everglades and Ten Thousand Islands. He lived primarily in the Big Cypress Swamp, leading visitors on nature hikes, mounting shows of his work and lecturing on the natural environment. Oscar Thompson’s brilliant body of work is a rare testament to the natural beauty of South Florida’s wilderness—and an even greater testament to one man’s love of it.
Oscar Thompson died of natural causes on December 15th of 2002, at the age of 59.
Oscar Thompson was a fifth-generation Floridian, born in Ft. Myers and reared in Everglades City and Immokalee. At the time of his death in December of 2002, his photography was emerging as a major force in Florida nature photography, a distinction that was undoubtedly the result of his rich life as a native Floridian. Both his father and grandfather were guides in Southwest Florida. While other youngsters were trooping off to camp in the mid-1950's, young Thompson was spending summers with the Seminole Indians, gaining an appreciation for Florida's wildlife and natural habitats.
During the last few years of his life, Thompson devoted his time to capturing the images of the vanishing natural world of his youth, the Florida Everglades and Ten Thousand Islands. He lived primarily in the Big Cypress Swamp, leading visitors on nature hikes, mounting shows of his work and lecturing on the natural environment. Oscar Thompson’s brilliant body of work is a rare testament to the natural beauty of South Florida’s wilderness—and an even greater testament to one man’s love of it.
Oscar Thompson died of natural causes on December 15th of 2002, at the age of 59.
