TAMPA, Fla. — We've all heard the phrase a picture is worth a thousand words. But is it worth, say, a thousand acres? With his latest exhibit, a local conservation photographer is proving that it is.
Carlton Ward, Jr. hopes to show the world that Florida is so much more than just beaches and sunshine.
Ward spent the better part of his career as a National Geographic photographer using his photos to help preserve some of the most beautiful parts of our state. Most recently by telling the story of the path of the endangered Florida panther.
"It's an amazing comeback story," Ward said. "There were fewer than 20 in the 1970s and 80s and then nearly 200 today, but without the conservation of the Florida wildlife corridor there's no hope for recovery because we need to have 3 or 4 times as many panthers to have a genetically viable population."
Ward was on assignment in 2006 when he began his mission to help create a wildlife corridor in Florida, by using pictures to tell the story of how our land is truly connected and why it needs to stay that way.
"That's the state park, the National Wildlife Refuge, the cattle ranch, the timber farm," Ward explained as he showed pictures. "It's that connected green space and the panther, there's no better character to invite us into that story and to show us literally by their movements and their needs what we need to do to save wild Florida."
And little by little the photos are working, helping to protect and preserve nearly 10 million acres of wild Florida.
"People are going to protect what they love and they're not going to love what they can't see."
And it's hard not to be inspired by these beautiful animals, that people rarely see in the wild.
"She's the hero of the story. She's the hero of the Path of the Panther film and this real emblem of hope for the recovery of her species and the Florida wildlife corridor."
In fact, just getting enough photos for this exhibit took years of hard work and special cameras set up in strategic places.
"It's a professional camera in a waterproof box with strobe lights and an infrared trigger where you set it up on a trail to help the panther walk through and take its own picture."
Ward's exhibit is more than just panthers, it's the people, the places, and the projects all coming together to tell a much bigger story about the land that gives us life.
"As a conservation photographer, I want to show the beauty and the hope and I want to show the reality and concern so we can understand the story and understand what steps we can take to make it better."
You can see the Path of the Panther exhibit right now at the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts in Ybor City. There's also a documentary film and a book featuring the story behind the pictures.