CARLTON WARD JR.:
Florida Wild
Blue Crabs.
Blue crabs fill a basket after
Captain Gus Muench
collected them from his traps
in eastern Tampa Bay near
his home on the Little
Manatee River. The blue crab
fishery depends on the
health of Tampa Bay, which
requires high quality fresh
water flowing from the rivers
into the estuary.
inspire hearts and minds. He
sees cultural heritage and the
natural environment as two
of society’s greatest yet most
threatened resources. Through
his photographs, he aims to
promote conservation of natural environments and cultural
legacies. At home and abroad,
he seeks stories where he can
use photographs to make a
difference.
Carlton’s passion for nature
was born from the Florida
landscape, where eight generations of family history have
anchored his perspective. He
began his career with six expe-
ditions to the Congo rainforests
of Gabon with the Smithsonian Institution, resulting in his
award-winning book, The Edge
of Africa, and exhibit with the
United Nations in New York.
For the book, Carlton spent
eight months in the tropical
rain forests of Gabon, documenting the unseen wonders
of life at the edge of the African continent. He participated
in five different multi-taxa
bio-diversity research expeditions with the Smithsonian
Institution—the most intensive bio-diversity research
yet conducted for Gabon.