An Unflinching Look

Benjamin Dimmitt is a photographic artist and educator. He is the son of a native Floridian and an artist from New York. A graduate of Eckerd College, Dimmitt was born and raised on the Gulf Coast of Florida. He continued his studies at the International Center of Photography in New York City and taught there for twelve years. His photographs have been exhibited in museums, galleries, and festivals internationally and are held in multiple major museums and private collections. Susan Cerulean—the author of several books about Florida’s natural environment—provides a foreword that tackles loss and the complicated water and environmental issues raised by the rising sea levels at Chassahowitzka. Matthew McCarthy—a graduate of the University of South Florida College of Marine Science and currently a research scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory—offers a scientific meditation on deforestation along Florida’s Gulf Coast using aerial photography to document the increasing saltwater intrusion over a seven-year period. Alison Nördstrom—an independent photography curator, scholar, and writer—offers her expert take on the photographic context for Dimmitt's breathtaking images. And Alexa Dilworth—a native Floridian who was the publishing director and senior editor at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University for more than twenty years—pens an afterword to the book, exploring her experience of natural Florida, the degradation of the state’s environment, and Dimmitt's photography. Additionally, distinguished photographer Emmet Gowin contributes a reflection on what is required of a photographer when photographing damaged landscapes.