Florida’s Northwest is a photography book that reads like a cautionary tale.
The pet project of two Northwest Florida environmental activists, the book celebrates the beauty of the region’s white sandy beaches, old growth forests and pristine waterways while exploring the challenges posed by the area’s unprecedented growth.
Photographer Michael O’Donovan has witnessed first-hand the detrimental effects of environmentally irresponsible development in his native Pensacola.
Currently only one to two percent of the Pensacola Bay is open to oystering as a result of poor growth planning, and bad air quality has threatened the respiratory health of Pensacola residents.
“Pensacola has the dirtiest air in Florida and one of the dirtiest power plants in the country,” said O’Donovan, who is currently a board member of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, a group that focuses on preserving air quality in the Southeast.
O’Donovan said he was compelled to do the project out of concern for the area that his family has called home for four generations.
In telling the area’s story, the photographer found a likeminded partner in Northwest Florida newcomer, Robin Rowan, a travel writer and fellow environmental activist.
The book’s images are not digitally enhanced, and its environmental message is not diluted. O’Donovan calls the work “a coffee table book with an edge.”
In words and pictures, Rowan and O’Donovan tell the story of a still pristine area that will require the vigilance of its residents to keep it that way.
Himself a former builder of custom homes, O’Donovan see growth as inevitable.
Among his photographs of the area’s natural wonders are the pastel-hued Seaside community and the St. Joe Company community, WaterColor.
The book describes St. Joe Company as “the flagship leading the development flotilla” and pnders the future of the 1.1 million acres of land held by Florida’s largest landowner.
O’Donovan calls St. Joe Company “the 800 pound gorilla here in Northwest Florida,” but has hopes that the gorilla can be tamed by a responsive citizenry.
“The biggest think is staying on top of St. Joe,” said O’Donovan, who believes residents should make their voices heard in the visioning phase of new developments.
O’Donovan noted that St. Joe Company has, in the past, been responsive to community input.
“For the most part, they’ve listened as much as big companies can and have made considerations and compromises,” he said.
When O’Donovan is not acting as a watchdog for responsible development, he is basking in the beauty of his home state.
He first became enamored with the Northwest Florida landscape over 30 years ago as an amateur photographer, and with time, his love for the area deepened.
While living on Santa Rosa Island, O’Donovan decided to quit his job as a builder and pursue photography full time. Nice years ago, he completed a photography book featuring images of Santa Rosa, which he named The Island.
The photographs in O’Donovan’s new book capture his recent travels through Northwest Florida, with a few sentimental shots of his wife, Kate, strolling outside an Apalachicola shop and stepson, Matt, whose silhouetted image leaps from a dune at the close of the book.
O’Donovan’s photographs celebrate the area’s contrasts. The book gives equal space to fishermen plying their solitary trade as it does to a sea filled with recreational boats.
Florida’s Northwest does not include photographs of rundown buildings and common eye sores. O’Donovan is the first to admit that his work is not documentary realism.
“Every photograph is a subjective portrayal – it’s through my eyes,” said O’Donovan, who hopes that he has provided a glimpse at an area whose natural beauty is worth preserving.
“As you would a portrait of someone, you try to look for the best sides,” said O’Donovan. “I was taking a portrait of our area.”
