Four years after Katrina
I was in New Orleans earlier this month to celebrate a milestone with my now-fiancée. She has done a great deal of work in the Gulf Coast region helping rebuild from the disaster that was Hurricane Katrina. We went to the Lower Ninth Ward so I could see firsthand some of what she has been up against. It was a sobering sight, to say the least. The above photo was taken inside an abandoned home in the Lower Ninth, which apparently had not been touched at all by any of the cleanup or recovery efforts (here is another view). Keep in mind: this happened more than four years ago. It’s pretty unbelievable. I did not touch anything in the above photo; that mug was just sitting there, and I used my pop-up flash to cast a little light on it.
I am currently planning a trip to do some photography of a disaster site of a different nature: the areas of the Ecuadorian Amazon polluted by Texaco oil exploration starting around 1970. I leave Friday. Some of what I get will appear here, no doubt. In the meantime, here are the rest of my shots from New Orleans - most of them of a much happier nature than the above.
December 1st, 2009 at 4:52 pm
I had no idea you were down there then…I was just down there the week before!!
While, yes, you are correct, there are lots of places not touched by recovery. But it’s important to keep a couple things in mind: many of those places that haven’t been touched may fall into that group of places that have to be released first by the owners, many who never returned. As well, there are areas are making incredible recovery inroads (like Brad Pitt’s group for instance: http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/11/29/travel/29cultured.html?hpw. Though i gotta admit, they are uggggllly, the neighborhood association signed off on them so…)
I was thiiis close to buying a “Brad Pitt for Mayor” t just b/c…how funny is that?