Standing in front of a Clyde Butcher photograph is like standing in front of a window onto the most glorious landscape, rich in detail, expansive in scope.

The summer season at College of the Atlantic's Ethel H. Blum Gallery opens with an exhibit of Butcher's large-scale photographs entitled, "America's National Parks: A Monumental Vision." The exhibit, which is being co-hosted by Friends of Acadia and College of the Atlantic, opens on July 6 with a book signing in the gallery at 6:30 pm and a public lecture by Butcher at 7 pm at COA's Gates Community Center. The show continues through July 31. After leaving the Blum Gallery, the exhibit will travel the country to other national park friends groups and museums, beginning with Shelburne Farms in Shelburne, Vermont.

Butcher has been photographing America's most beautiful and complex ecosystems for over 30 years. His outsize enlargements and rich giclee prints offer the viewer the sense of entering the image, becoming part of his diorama-like spaces. Butcher's technique relies on huge, cumbersome cameras large enough to create a colossal 20-by-24-inch negative, the better to record every nuance and detail of a scene. The task of hauling this equipment into the wilderness is truly Herculean.

Unfortunately, it was tragedy that increased the photographer's reverence for nature. In 1986, Butcher's teenage son Ted was killed when a drunken driver crashed into a car in which the boy was riding. The photographer and his wife sought refuge in the pristine beauty of the remote Florida Everglades. Butcher emerged with the mission of creating something positive out of this tragedy. Realizing that development was encroaching into the sanctuary that meant so much to him, Butcher began using his photographs to help people realize the danger of losing our magnificent and fragile environments.

 "Wilderness, to me, is a spiritual necessity," he writes. "The mysterious spiritual experience of being close to nature helped restore my soul."

Working only in black and white, Butcher, a purist, insists, "Only in black and white can I see the design and textures. I don't consider color photography art. Black and white is an interpretation. Color is a duplication."

Like other contemporary photographers, Butcher is inclined to let nature speak for itself. His wide-angle lens places the landscape right in front of the viewer, in raw, intimate terms. "My desire to share images of our great country," he writes, "comes from the need to inspire a sentiment of humble gratitude for the environment that has made our country so great, with the hope that our generation will also leave a legacy of beauty and abundance for future generations to enjoy."

"There is no better time to celebrate the work of Clyde Butcher than now, as we approach the centennial anniversaries of Acadia National Park and the National Park Service in 2016," says Marla O'Byrne, president of Friends of Acadia. "Clyde's monumental vision behind his camera captures, in sharp detail, the very essence of what conservation protects for all to enjoy."

Butcher is the recipient of numerous awards including the Lifetime Achievement Award from the North American Nature Photography Association, and the Ansel Adams Conservation Award from the Sierra Club.

The Blum Gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday, 11 am to 4 pm. For more information, call College of the Atlantic at 207-288-5015 ext. 318.