MEET THE ARTISTS OF PRIMITIVE FLORIDA

The artists presented in Primitive Florida have all made it their mission to use their photography as a powerful tool to advocate for the environment and push for change. By creating awareness and connecting the public to nature, they are ensuring a chance of a better tomorrow for us all.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Jennifer adler

Jennifer Adler is a conservation photographer and underwater photojournalist. Her work is informed by her scientific background, and she uses her imagery to communicate science and conservation. She has a degree in marine biology from Brown University and a PhD in interdisciplinary ecology from the University of Florida. She specializes in underwater photography and is a trained freediver and cave diver.

An ongoing theme in her work is the connection between people and water in a changing climate, which began with her photography and research focused on Florida’s freshwater springs and aquifer. Her grant-funded and assignment work has taken her all over the world to document science and conservation, including assignments for The Nature Conservancy and grant-funded projects for National Geographic and the International Women's Media Foundation. Jenny is a freelance photojournalist based in Florida, USA, and is represented by National Geographic Image Collection.

eric clay

From an early age Eric Clay had a deep affinity for the natural world. However, growing up in a suburban Florida community afforded him few opportunities to venture into nature. Instead he spent countless hours reading about and viewing photos of the world at large, dreaming of a day when he could experience it all first hand.

After being drawn to a variety of creative fields throughout his teen years, Eric eventually ended up working full-time in advertising doing web and graphic design. It was here that his work as a photographer began to take shape as a supplement to his design work.  He developed a variety of photographic skills both in and out of a studio encompassing a wide variety of subjects.

In 2008, a transition away from full-time work to freelance allowed Eric to have more time to combine his love of nature and photography and begin travelling around the country shooting landscapes. Today he has built an impressive portfolio of fine art landscape imagery with placement in galleries and exhibitions at juried art shows.

BENJAMIN DIMMITt

Benjamin Dimmitt photographs wetlands and forests using film and a medium format camera. He uses his camera to investigate interdependence, competition, survival and mortality in the natural world.

Benjamin was born and raised on the Gulf Coast of Florida. He graduated from Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, FL and also studied at the International Center of Photography in NYC, NY, Santa Fe Photographic Workshop in Santa Fe, NM, Santa Reparata Graphic Arts Centre in Florence, Italy and City and Guild Arts School in London, England.

He moved to New York City after college and held an adjunct professor position at the International Center of Photography from 2001-2013. He now lives and works in Asheville, NC and teaches workshops throughout the Southeast.

Benjamin’s photographs have been exhibited at Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, School of International Center of Photography, NYC, NY, American Academy of Arts & Letters, NYC, NY, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, LA, Southeast Museum of Photography, Daytona Beach FL, Center for Fine Art Photography, Ft. Collins, CO and Midtown Y Photography Gallery, NYC, NY.

His work is represented by Leslie Curran Gallery, St. Petersburg, FL and is in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts and Eckerd College among many others. Ain’t Bad, Architectural Digest, Black & White, Don't Take Pictures, Lenscratch, Oxford American, Orion, Photo District News, The New Yorker Photo Booth and others have featured Benjamin’s photographs.

He has been a finalist in Photolucida’s Critical Mass Award in 2014 and 2017 and in New Orleans Photo Alliance’s Clarence John Laughlin Award in 2014 and 2015.

PAUL MARCELLINI

Paul Marcellini was born and raised 20 miles from Everglades National Park. Always attracted to the outdoors, it was natural to begin photographing them when he picked up a camera in 2005. Since then, he has gone on to win awards in multiple international competitions and have his imagery shown in Everglades National Park, Biscayne National Park, Miami International Airport, and several museums in South Florida. In 2016 he was chosen to have his Everglades image used for a USPS stamp celebrating 100 years of US National Parks. A self-taught naturalist, he is constantly out to educate the public and create awareness for the vital ecosystems of South Florida.

Image courtesy ©John McCall, Sun-Sentinel

Originally a painter, Paul Marcellini made his name with dramatic light. He captures vivid sunsets and great expansive skies, and knows the tricks to make the colors pop. With his painter’s eye, Paul explains that he pays a lot of attention to the composition of his photographs, and he likes “to keep to as natural a rendition of the scene as possible.”

TESSA SKILES

Tessa Skiles is a conservation photographer, explorer, and science storyteller. From a young age, she has been passionate about environmental conservation. Specifically, protecting our world's freshwaters and the unique artesian springs of Florida. Tessa’s hope is to use this platform and her skills in visual arts and communications to connect people with the outdoors, inspire creativity with purpose, and help readers to become the best environmental advocates they can be.

MAC STONE

Mac Stone is a conservation photographer from Gainesville, Florida. Growing up exploring the springs, swamps, and hammocks of North Central Florida, he developed a passion for photography at a young age. 

Over the years his camera has carried him to some of the most remote and imperiled areas this side of the globe. For six months, Stone lived in Ecuador during the presidential overthrow of 2005 and worked with Wildlife Conservation Society biologists in the Amazon rainforest. Soon after, he moved to Honduras and lived in a small village along the Cangrejal River. For two years he taught photography to underprivileged youth as a way to raise environmental awareness in the region. Some of the students have gone on to win international acclaim and start up their own eco-tourism businesses. Through photography, Stone strives to start new conversations and expose the dynamic relationship between mankind and the natural world. 

His work focuses on America's swamps in an attempt to change public opinion towards our country’s wetlands. After spending five years living and working in the Everglades watershed, he released a 304-page coffee table book about the heralded River of Grass. Everglades: America's Wetland, published by University Press of Florida and is now in its second printing. In March of 2015 he delivered his first TED talk, which has now been viewed over 1 million times. Click this link to view.  

Stone is a National Geographic explorer, a senior fellow with the International League of Conservation Photographers, a Sea Legacy fellow, and is also the executive director of Naturaland Trust, a non-profit that permanently protects critical lands in the upstate of South Carolina. 

Presently, he is working with National Geographic exploring the remaining old growth swamps of the United States to understand how the southeast used to look and function.  

CARLTON WARD JR.

Carlton Ward Jr is a conservation photographer from Tampa, Florida. His passion for nature was born from the Florida Landscape, where eight generations of family history have grounded his perspective.

Carlton is a founding fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers (ILCP) and founded the Legacy Institute for Nature & Culture (LINC), a non-profit organization with the purpose of celebrating and protecting Florida’s natural and cultural heritage through art. While completing a Master’s degree in Ecology, Carlton wrote Conservation Photography, the first thesis on the emerging field. His 2009 Book, Florida Cowboys, won a silver medal in the Florida Book Awards and for that work Popular Photography Magazine featured him as one of three photographers working to save vanishing America.

Carlton’s current focus is the Florida Wildlife Corridor, a public awareness initiative he established in 2009. In 2012, he co-led the Florida Wildlife Corridor Expedition - a 100-day, 1000-mile trek that explored the last remaining natural path through the length of the Florida peninsula. Carlton’s book about the trek, Florida Wildlife Corridor Expedition: Everglades to Okefenokee, won a silver medal in the 2014 Florida book awards. In September of 2014, Carlton and the expedition team will embark on another 700 mile trek from the Everglades Headwaters around the Gulf to Alabama.

The expedition’s mission remains the same in 2014. Carlton and the team, which includes the Conservationist, Mallory Lykes Dimmitt, Biologist, Joe Gunthrie, and Videographer, Elam Stolzfus, will be walking, biking and paddling their way through the Florida landscape. Their 2014 journey will begin outside of Orlando, trek to the Gulf Coast then continue up near Tallahasee, and conclude in the Florida Panhandle near Pensacola.

For more information on the Florida Wildlife Corridor journey, please go to the website.

Click here to read a Q&A with Carlton Ward Jr. published by the News Journal.