Florida: Carol Highsmith's America

“For 40 years, I’ve gathered images of magnificent America for my Library of Congress collection, now approaching 73,000 images! I am proud to say that it keeps company with those of luminaries such as Civil War master photographer Mathew Brady and Great Depression documentarian Dorothea Lange.

For the past 10 of my years on the road, I’ve explored the nation state-by-state updating our national library’s unparalleled visual archive that, until I came along, was dominated by historically rich but fragile black-and-white images on film. I, too, lugged a 4x5 film camera for years until I switched to digital equipment whose fidelity, speed and flexibility, and storage capability are unmatched.

Most recently, my husband and traveling partner Ted and I completed a long and memorable expedition through Florida – the land of sunshine and theme parks and oranges. Indeed, when many people visualize America, they picture cowboys, skyscrapers, the White House – and people lounging on Miami Beach.

Oh, I caught plenty of sunbathers, from Key Biscayne to Naples to Panama City, not just from the shade of a big umbrella, but from the air. To me, aerial views (I prefer low-cruising helicopters) are an invaluable time stamp of our nation’s dramatic evolution.

Of course I also caught the forbidding Everglades, where panthers, gators, and even pythons prey; plantation architecture; breathtaking art on the edge; and gravity-defying rides you can’t believe.

But I found the remains of “Old Florida” most satisfying: pecan and shell shops and Panhandle crab shacks, parrot performances – and even a mermaid show at wacky Weeki Wachee Park.

To fully appreciate our great and varied land, I think it’s important to create a collection that demonstrates a single “eye” – and I’m honored that, if you explore our national repository known as “America’s Memory,” that eye is mine.” - Carol Highsmith