THE STUDIO: A teen photographer captures our wildest residents.

WADING IN:THE STUDIO

FLORIDA ARTIST PROFILES

By Natalia Galicza • Photos by Luca Martinez

YOUNG & Wild

A teenage photographer captures the life force of Florida with a goal of preservation and protection.

Above, clockwise: A barred owl takes flight in the Everglades; A field of muhly grass; Luca Martinez wades into the water.

The first time Luca Martinez photographed Everglades National Park, he arrived in a shroud of darkness. All the 15-year-old could make out was 10 feet of pavement ahead of him, illuminated by the halo of his father’s headlights. But even if out of sight, the swamp was far from still. Cicadas screeched, pig frogs croaked and barred owls called out in a symphony of hoots.

“It was like nature in full surround sound,” Martinez says.

Then, the sun rose. Suddenly, tens of thousands of islands appeared on a river of swaying sawgrass. Cypress trees rose triumphantly out of the earth. The view overwhelmed him. How could such a crowded environment camouflage so easily? What else was there to be found?

“This is the Everglades: so simple from the outside, so misunderstood,” Martinez says. “It’s a different kind of wild. It’s not like Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon that’s in front of you, screaming out at you. It requires you to be present, and it requires a closer look.”

In the two years since his first visit, he’s sought to pull back the veil on this stretch of untamed wilderness. The self-taught teenage photographer, now 17, has trudged through waist-deep waters in freshwater sloughs and ventured into hidden cypress domes to help people fall in love with the uniquely Floridian landscape—just as he has.

Much of what Martinez captures isn’t visible from the national park’s trails. Rare ghost orchids

hover on tree branches in the heart of cypress swamps. Muhly grasses blush pink in the fall. White-tailed deer graze on prairies. Alligators bask on floating bark. And below it all is a world of unexpected stillness.

An underwater camera rig allows Martinez to submerge himself and share a complete story of the swamp, one that is inclusive of wildlife that can’t be captured with a single glance.

“It didn’t take long for me to realize that the world beneath the surface in the Everglades is just as beautiful as its dry reflection,” he says. “That abject quiet of the water, it’s nothing like a reef; it’s completely silent. And that stillness, you only get that in these remote waters of the wetlands.”

One of his favorite underwater photos is of an alligator only a few feet in front of his lens. The animal, perched atop pebbles and facing Martinez’s camera, is motionless. There’s an unlikely tranquility in the image. A creature that is normally photographed while ferociously feasting on fish or baring razorsharp teeth is calm, even with a human nearby. That dichotomy is what defines the Everglades and what Martinez aims to showcase. That there are brutes in nature, but there’s also a softer, more forgiving form of beauty.

Martinez, born and raised in Miami, once thought that Florida could be defined by its beaches and backyards. He’d watch cardinals

Above: A wood stork eyes the camera. Below: An alligator rests on the swamp floor.

nest behind his grandfather’s Kendall home as a child and observe osprey hunt over the Atlantic Ocean. But when he thought of the Everglades, which he now dubs the life force of Florida, he thought of touristy airboat rides and dangerous waters that were not—could never be—suitable for human enjoyment. He was not alone in that misconception.

Since freelancing photo assignments with the Everglades Foundation for six months and pursuing two years-worth of his own passion projects, he’s worked to dispel the myth that the Everglades is monotonous or inaccessible.

His social media presence has introduced the Everglades to native South Floridians and others from around the world. He’s cultivated a following of more than 184,000 on Instagram and he says he receives hundreds of messages a day in response to his photographs.

Most messages come from those who were unaware such a biodiverse and expansive domain existed in Florida. Many are witnessing the Everglades for the first time through his photos. And that, Martinez believes, is the first step in conservation.

“You realize that the biggest threat to the place is how disconnected we are from it,” he says. “Before we can talk about how to protect it, you have to get people to fall in love with it.”

Martinez is entering his senior year of high school at Palmer Trinity School in Palmetto Bay. He doesn’t have any concrete college plans, but he hopes to continue studying conservation. He knows he wants to help protect the Everglades—even with all the uncertainty that comes with his age.

He has presented his work at a birding festival in St. Augustine, a world-class photography conference in Chicago and an Everglades Foundation teacher symposium.

And when he presents, he often shares his first time witnessing the Everglades on that winter morning two years ago. How something seemingly ordinary and hidden can reveal a treasure trove of nuance and life. How something like that is worth capturing and saving.

Swept Away with Artist Andrea Kowch

Escape to the mysterious Midwestern world at the Museum of Art - Deland’s winter exhibition.

ANDREA KOWCH spent her childhood in an imaginary world full of mystery, nostalgia and the occasional Midwest twister. For many years, she ran along the autumnal hills of Michigan, exploring abandoned farmhouses and observing the native wildlife with a keen eye. With each make-believe adventure she embarked on, a painting bloomed in her mind—something melancholic, detailed and, to some, perhaps a bit unsettling. Now, in her mid-thirties, Kowch finds her passion is transferring her stories onto a canvas with nothing but her adventurous mind and ambitious paintbrush. The paintings of internal woes and bygone America are inspired by her own journeys and surroundings. Even though the Southeast peninsula is nowhere near the heartland, Floridians can take in the loneliness of sweeping plains and the complexity

of human emotion at Kowch’s exhibition, “Andrea Kowch: Mysterious Realms,” at the Museum of Art - DeLand. Kowch’s paintings depict women deep in thought while the world around them begins to unravel in disarray. Kowch is known for her use of landscape and wildlife as a conduit of inner turmoil while the faces of her characters look detached and serene. One of her most revered paintings, The Courtiers, will be on display at the MuseThe emotions and um of Art - DeLand feelings I evoke this winter. The Courtiers portrays a woman through my imagery in an exposed field are a universal sort. amid dozens of sandhill cranes. Each of —ANDREA KOWCH Kowch’s women have tousled, wild—and almost sentient—hair that matches the surrounding animals and weather. Much like the stormy skies in The Courtiers, her other paintings include devastating natural forces such as wind, fire and tornadoes. Along with her juxtaposition of people and nature, Kowch’s commitment to detail and somber color palette creates a rare three-dimensional effect on her audience. Pattie Pardee, the executive director at the Museum of Art - DeLand, is thrilled to display Kowch’s artwork this upcoming winter. She hopes that bringing young and talented artists to DeLand will expand the artistic horizons of the community. “Our purpose is to inspire people and spark their imaginations,” Pardee said. Even though Kowch’s haunting surrealism is inspired by the Midwest, there is still so much for Floridians—or anyone—to connect with. Among the wild weather and untamed animals, there is a larger connection in her work: universal emotion. “The emotions and feelings I evoke through my imagery are a universal sort, where every viewer—of all ages and from all walks of life—can find equal acknowledgement, solace, wonder and meaning in my world,” said Kowch. Get swept away into the world of Andrea Kowch in her exhibition at the Museum of Art -DeLand, running Jan. 14 through April 9. For more information visit, moartdeland.org

THIS PAGE FROM LEFT: ANDREA KOWCH, THE COURTIERS, 2016, ACRYLIC ON CANVAS, 36 X 60 IN; ANDREA KOWCH, PECKING ORDER, 2014, ACRYLIC ON CANVAS, 20 X 16 IN