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Crescent
Rivers
Waterways
of Florida's Big Bend
by Todd Bertolaet
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this Book now
The Big Bend is a crescent-shaped coastline where the peninsula
of Florida merges with the underbelly of the southeastern states.
From Tampa Bay to the Ochlockonee River, the land meets the sea
in an ecologically abundant system of swamps, salt marshes, and
wet cabbage-palm forests. For more than a decade, Todd Bertolaet
has hiked, paddled, and waded through the region to capture these
panoramic images that convey its botanical richness, primordial
environs, and changing waterways.
As Ansel Adams and others used wide-angle photography to present
the magical play of light and shadow in the American West,
Bertolaet uses a panoramic camera to document this vastly
different landscape. Where the western images delight by their
grand scale and sweep, these resonate by capturing the subtle
intimacy of the landscape, as well as sensual illumination and
shading across water and vegetation.
Bertolaet’s subjects are dark, blackwater rivers like the
Sopchoppy and Econfina, crystal spring-fed streams such as the
Wakulla and Wacissa, and the marshes, hammocks, and swamps
through which they meander to the sea. The book’s 55 duotone
images offer those familiar with the area a reminder of the
pleasures of a recent canoe trip, day hike, or a birding or
fishing expedition. For newcomers, these pictures are wide-open
windows onto one of the last pristine areas of the state.
Todd Bertolaet is professor of photography and
the photography program coordinator at Florida A&M University
in Tallahassee. His work has been included in nearly 100 juried,
solo, and invitational exhibitions and published in numerous
magazines.
1998. 80
pp. 11 X 8½.
55
b&w panoramic photos.
ISBN
0-8130-1614-2
Cloth, $29.95
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"These are moody, haunting images of a part of Florida that actually appears not to have suffered from the bootprint of civilization." --
Photographer's Forum
"Bertolaet has created a collection of images that demonstrate the visually distinctive Big Bend region by capturing the light and 'feeling of excitement that one experiences' on the waterway; - all reproduced in a stunning coffee table book." --
Coast Line
"The images have an ethereal,
mystical, somewhat surreal quality that transcends the
environment. They take you on a journey along with the
photographer through a peaceful, seemingly untouched part of
Florida."--Denis Defibaugh, Rochester Institute of
Technology
"Bertolaet has captured some of the mood, the subtle
majesty--the feeling--of blackwater rivers, spring-runs, and
marshes of the Big Bend in his superb black and white panoramas.
. . . It's the next best thing to being there."--D.
Bruce Means, President and Executive Director, Coastal Plains
Institute and Land Conservancy
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