Michael Blades isn’t twins, and he’s adamant that he never got himself cloned. Yet the photographer, literary enthusiast, film buff and environmentalist turns up at virtually every notable Key West event — inspiring the theory that he can’t possibly be just one person.
Blades was headed for law school in Indiana when family friends invited him to spend the summer before his first term at their Key West home. Captivated by the island and its inhabitants, he abandoned plans for law school and changed his life’s course.
He quickly got a job working for Craig and DeeVon Quirolo, founders of the coral reef conservation organization Reef Relief, and remained at Reef Relief for 15 years.
Subsequently he became the logistics director for RPM Nautical Foundation, a marine archaeology enterprise that looks for sunken antiquities in the Mediterranean. RPM also helps recover the remains of service members whose ships and planes have gone down, providing closure for their families.
Blades is a longtime member of the Key West Literary Seminar board of directors and sits on Tropic Cinema’s board as well. In addition, the upbeat and energetic man prioritizes traveling and enjoying life with his wife Katheryn: attending local concerts, theater productions and high school sports events.
While the couple soon will embark on a new life in Colorado, Blades has no intention of giving up his Key West involvements. He’s already planning to return for multiple special events — when, as he explained in a recent conversation with the Keys Weekly, he’ll happily continue chronicling the island in action.
What made you realize Key West was right for you? The ocean and the weather were the two things that initially attracted me, but it was also the people. Working for DeeVon and Craig at Reef Relief, I was meeting the most interesting characters and people. Shel Silverstein used to come into the office all the time, and he wrote a jingle for us for Reef Relief. Jimmy Buffett was friends with DeeVon and Craig and he would do benefit concerts. It was just fascinating — I was in the middle of this wild place and I loved it.
What type of work did you do with Reef Relief? At that time, we were installing and maintaining all the mooring buoys here. We were working with world-renowned scientists on coral reef research — I got to go scuba diving with Sylvia Earle — and we did education projects where we took every fourth-grade student in the Keys on a field trip out to see the reef.
Bob Weir was on our board of directors, and I went on a tour with his band Rat Dog and set up an information table at every concert to talk about Reef Relief. I went from just reading about these things to literally being a part of it. I was living a dream.
How did you get involved with the Key West Literary Seminar? The first time I attended the Literary Seminar was in 1995, and its theme was Literature in the Natural World. It was so intimate and so moving that I was blown away. For the next 13 years, I went every year — and finally they asked if I would be interested in becoming the volunteer coordinator, which meant being on the board.
What’s it like to be a board member for the seminar? I’m just a reader, but suddenly I was on the board with people like Judy Blume and Meg Cabot — people I’ve long admired, and now they’re my friends. I almost have to pinch myself, because in what world does this happen? Only in Key West. It would never have happened if I lived in Indiana still.
You’ve photographed pretty much every Key West event. What compels you to do that? Well, it’s a hobby. I don’t call myself a photographer because we have a lot of wonderful photographers in town, and most of them are my friends. It gets me up close and personal for things, and I’ve gotten to meet wonderful people and photograph stuff that I might not otherwise have access to. I’m very social, and I love interacting with people and being part of something. For example, I think I photographed 36 events during Fantasy Fest this year.
How do you want people to react when they see your photos? I want people to feel the experience — as if they’re part of the event — and to see the creative, wacky Key West that I know and love. I want to document that. Also, there are real people behind those facades, and that’s the part that interests me. I want to capture their humanity and their character. Every event has a story, and there’s an endless supply of material to choose from.
