At first glance Louisiana isn’t always known for its landscapes. Most people first go to the rich cultural imagery of historic cities like New Orleans when Louisiana is brought up in conversation. While these cultural and urban scenes are definitely famous for a reason, the natural landscapes of Louisiana have a long history of photographic documentary. The landscapes of Louisiana’s bayous, forests, marshes, and waterways are at times a more treacherous and hard to navigate area for photographers than classic American landscapes like the deserts and mountains of the west. Louisiana landscape photographers hold a unique niche in the broader world of landscape photography. Only recently have images of swamps, bayous, and boggy Louisiana southern scenes come into the limelight of the modern landscape community. Here we look at the early innovators of this genre, and follow the timeline of key photographers spanning into the current day of landscape photography in Louisiana.
The early era
Fonville Winan
Fonville Winan (1911-1992) was known for his early black and white film photographs of Louisiana’s people and landscapes. More than just a landscape photographer he documented his travels and encounters throughout Louisiana. He documented his voyages on boats and cultural happenings throughout cities like New Orleans and off the beaten path Louisiana back country. Images of fishing communities and how those people survived were often part of his photographic documentation. He documented places like Angola prison, small town festivals, Mardi Gras and even sporting events. While he was more than just a landscape photographer, his images were some of the first of Louisiana’s landscapes seen by the public. He produced numerous books that are still available today.
https://fonvillewinansphotography.com/collections/
Greg Guirard
Greg Guirard was the Atchafalaya king. He was an early environmentalist inspired by people like John Muir and Henry Thoreau. The Atchafalaya Basin was his home, a way of life, and the photography was a way of sharing this with others. Showing the beauty and environmental importance of these areas, his color photographs showed many people a side of Louisiana they would have never seen. Known as well for being a cypress furniture maker, he knew the Atchafalaya inside and out. He had one of the largest collections of old sunken cypress timber in the state. He was a proponent of preventing the issues of modern logging and deforestation and planted thousands of trees to help reforest the swamp. His book ‘Atchafalaya Autumn’ along with other publications show the musings of a local cajun naturalist in his home environment and is a must for any collection.
‘Atchafalaya Autumn’
Connecting the early and modern era
C.C. Lockwood
C.C. Lockwood is probably Louisiana’s most recognized landscape photographer. A prolific shooter, he has been documenting Louisiana with his camera and publishing books since the early 1980s. His National Geographic publications from the late 1970s and early 80s helped put the unique biodiversity of Louisiana wetlands on the map of the global population. His film ‘Atchafalaya: America’s largest River Swamp’ which documented daily life on a river houseboat in the Atchafalaya basin received much recognition and showed not only the diverse swamp ecosystems but how some locals still lived off of these productive wetlands.
https://cclockwood.com/
Julia Simms
Julia Simms was most active photographing the Louisiana swamp during the 1980s and 90s. During this time her deep connection with the Manchac Swamp, a huge flooded cypress forest just outside of New Orleans, led her to produce one of the greatest photography books of Louisiana scenery ever produced. Her book ‘Manchac Swamp - Louisiana’s Undiscovered Wilderness’ is a treasure trove of beautiful Louisiana swamp scenery. The book looks at the Manchac Swamp through all four seasons and features many of the local trappers and hunters in the area. This book was the first to display the beauty of Manchac Swamp to the world and showed many local New Orleanians how much natural beauty was right outside of its urban area.
‘Manchac Swamp - Louisiana’s Undiscovered Wilderness’
The Modern Era
David Chauvin
In the early 2000s when digital photography was becoming the new medium for many photographers, David Chauvin’s photographs from the swamp began to make waves online. His clean style and ability to capture fleeting moments of light gave a fresh and artistic look to the swamp imagery that was previously unseen. With long exposures, wildlife, and fresh compositions he brought swamp scenes into the eye of the budding online digital photographic community. To this day his portfolio stands as one of the most interesting and unique of the Louisiana landscape community.
https://www.davidchauvin.com/
Fred Cox
Fred Cox has been active in the photo community for many years. Starting in the film days and spanning into the current modern era of digital photography, his images span a diverse area of Louisiana landscapes. He was integral in putting new photo locations on the map by finding unique areas that were previously not photographed. His portfolio is rich in north Louisiana swamp imagery, while beforehand south Louisiana got most of the photographic attention for its bayous and waterways. His photographs have been featured on numerous platforms and he is still active shooting new imagery.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/99261796@N08/
Joshua Hermann
Joshua Hermann is a native to New Orleans and has been actively shooting Louisiana landscapes since the early 2000s. His Louisiana landscapes are known for their moody and ethereal quality, by shooting on the fringes of the day for fleeting light and utilizing long exposures and unique angles. He gained international acclaim with his panoramic swamp imagery that won the Epson Pano Awards in 2021. His work has been featured in books and magazines and he is known for guiding photographers by kayak and boat in the swamps of Louisiana. His goal is to share the fascinating beauty of the swamp and other southern ecosystems in the hope that they can be protected for years to come. He is currently working on a book , ‘Louisiana: Ecoregions Of The Bayou State’, that wood encompass the ecosystems of Louisiana as a whole from top to bottom of the state.
