While doing research for a new project, I re-discovered Sunny Land, by Michael Carlebach.
He was a staff photographer for the Miami Herald, The Village Post in Coconut Grove and taught photography at the University of Miami from 1978 to 2005.
Sunny Land is a photo book that documents South Florida’s bygone era. The photographs were taken over three decades and they talk about a local place, within each frame. The sequence has no particular structure other than a great showcase of South Florida’s culture and historical uniqueness. It sometimes feels like an amazing photo album, kind of memoir, filled with great photographs that showcase Carlebach’s curious eye and sense of humor.
Sunny Land was published in 2010 and has a great introduction by journalist Meg Laughlin. Carlebach moved out of the state later in life and died in 2023.
If you are interested in his work, his entire photo archive lives at the University of Miami’s special collection where he donated over 5000 photographs.
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”I look for meaning at the edges of things,” Carlebach said on his personal website “avoiding the incendiary characters who bully their way into our lives whether we like it or not ... to see and appreciate what is subtle, funny or poignant right in front of us. That’s my job.