A singular pairing: John Brady's large-format photos and Alva's historic library museum

"Love comes in at the eye," wrote William Butler Yeats, and if the poet is right, Collier County photographer John Brady is raising an army.

Brady beckons viewers into Florida's deepest, wildest swamps, stands them before laced tangles of ancient oaks, sweeps them across sunlit, cattle-specked prairies, invites them to splendidly isolated beaches. He'll do that December 9 at the Alva Museum's exhibit of his large-format photographs in their historic 1909 library building. (Note: Amy Bennett Williams is a volunteer trustee for the nonprofit museum.

Then, if all goes according to plan, faced with such glories, they'll fall in love. If they do, Brady's recruitment strategy has another win. Because beyond their sheer beauty, Brady's wilderness portraits have a purpose: "It is my hope that by sharing the beauty of this fragile region others will become passionate about this beautiful resource (and) and help fight to protect it."

That's why his images make sense for a show at the museum, which endeavors to preserve the town's past as well as its traditional rural character, says Alva native son James Kennedy, one of its volunteer trustees.

"I love Florida and Lee County," Kennedy says. "I am particularly fond Alva. In my searches for pictures of Florida’s history and the unspoiled and sometimes hidden gems that make Florida beautiful and unique, I came across one of John’s stunning images of Telegraph Creek. This meandering stream was captured as it might have been seen by the indigenous tribes, cracker cowboys and pioneers that came before us. This window to the past made a huge impression on me."

Sharing the seldom-seen real Florida

"At a time when so much of what makes Florida, well, Florida, is under assault from a seemingly omnipresent flood of concrete and asphalt," Kennedy says, "it’s more important than ever to share this side of our beautiful state. The large format and crispness of John’s photography is a great way to share the other Florida with people."

As for the marriage of place and pieces, "I felt that his work would be a good fit for display at the Alva Museum, since the mission of the museum is to preserve and share Alva’s history, and by extension Florida’s."

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That's congruent with Brady's. "What I try to do is draw attention to these places so hopefully people will understand the need to protect and cherish them."

The Detroit-born Brady started shooting at 12, and before long, had the run of his school's darkroom. "They would let me go in early before school opened," he recalls, and a lifelong love was born.

Eventually, other pursuits put photography on the back burner until a motorcycle crash when he was 40 snapped everything back into perspective. Brady took up photography again, and now has a darkroom of his own in his Golden Gate Estates home.

Brady's artistic heroes include Ansel Adams and Clyde Butcher, who he counts as a mentor. He's flexible, shooting both digital and film, black and white and color. He also relishes working with images once they've been shot, using darkroom techniques and digital tools to tease forward what he wants viewers to see.

Paraphrasing Adams, he likens the negative to a musical score and the print as the performance.

"A lot of people look at post-production (work) as a negative, but you can bring out a lot of what's already in the image," he says.

Even for those who simply appreciate the photographer's craft, Brady's work is a feast, one best lingered over.

Its scope is architectural - revealing forest structure from roots to canopy - yet exquisitely detailed, bringing bark whorls and dropleted fronds into luminous focus.

Kennedy appreciates its power. "And as I looked at more of his work, I developed a joyful appreciation, not only of the quality of the work," he says, "but the invaluable preservative nature of his images."

If you go

John Brady's large-format Florida photos will be on display from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 9 at the Alva Museum, 21420 East Pearl Street, Alva. From Fort Myers, take Palm Beach Boulevard (SR 80) about 15 miles east to Alva. Turn left at Broadway and head north over the bridge. Turn right on Pearl Street. The museum is on the right.

The show is free but donations are welcome.

About the Alva Museum

Built on a corner across from the Caloosahatchee riverfront town’s historic Methodist Church, the 1909 Alva Library stands on land donated by town founder, Captain Peter Nelson

Nowadays, fewer than a few hundred live in “downtown” Alva, with the remaining 2,000 or so scattered nearby.

Early settlers, some of whose descendants still serve on the board, started a book club and raised the building, which the nonprofit Alva Library Association has owned continuously ever since. The building is now part of the museum, along with the 1901 Owanita chapel, which once stood on a Caloosahatchee oxbow but was moved inland after the hurricane of 1926. The nonprofit owns it and works to restore the buildings and riverfront property

The museum welcomes visitors by appointment and between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturdays. Learn more: http://www.alvaflmuseum.com/index.html

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This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Photographer works to share the need to protect, cherish wild Florida