We drifted across the dark water and lush green banks of the Apalachicola River in Elam’s boat. He had turned off the boat engine and the silence surrounding us enveloped our senses. I leaned back and looked up into the blue eternity of the sky to see a dozen swallowtail kites high above us dipping in and out of the treetops as they utilized the lift from the river to soar in the heavens above.”

With prose as beautiful as his renowned photos, Clyde Butcher describes a day spent with friend and cinematographer Elam S. Stoltzfus on one of  Florida’s least known, yet most treasured, bodies of water. Along with a team of fellow photographers and composers, Butcher has embarked on a visual journey along the Apalachicola, culminating in his latest work, Apalachicola River: An American Treasure. The collection of fifty-nine black-and-white photographs highlights the system of creeks, beds, ridges, lakes, and islands that constitute this pristine natural area.

“The beauty of the scene embraced the depth of my soul and brought tears to my eyes,” Butcher writes. And in this collection, he channels those feelings of awe into his photography.

The reader begins with a visit to Cash Creek, where a wide-open expanse of sky and water are grazed with a dusting of rolling clouds. To the left, a forest, thick at first, trickles down to one lone tree, standing proudly in the center of the image. A diverse set of detailed images follows, including several looks at the Dead Lakes, with gigantic trees standing proudly and substantially, their heavy roots like big feet partially visible. In these images, Butcher captures light and shadow in such a way that the darkest areas appear to be the saturated points where root meets water, the place from which each tree ultimately draws its life.

The Dead Lakes are not the only locale where light plays an important role. On the Ocheesee Creek, it gives ancient wood an air of magic and mystery as it shines through open treetops, reflecting in tiny bursts on the creek’s calm surface.

There are images of Means Creek on a dry day with lush plants surrounding the creek bed, almost folding into the path left by the water that frequently flows there. Views of Kelley Creek show where surrounding trees with exposed roots snarl their way around the bank. And there are close-ups, like that of a the cypress stump most likely chosen for its rough surface, pockmarked by natural occurrences during years of life on the river.

With this collection of photographs, Butcher fulfills his self-proclaimed mission. “As an artist, I reach deep within myself,” he writes, “in order to express an image that will touch another. Art is an intimate experience. It is with that intimate experience that I believe the artist has the power to transform, and bring a new insight into life.”

Apalachicola River: An American Treasure is part of an ongoing series of projects devoted to the Apalachicola River basin, spearheaded by Butcher, Stoltzfus, photojournalist Richard Bickel, and musician and composer Sammy Tedder. The projects include a PBS documentary on the region to be aired nationwide, a traveling museum exhibit, a DVD, and a musical CD. For more information on the series, visit www.apalachicolaamericantreasure.com.