Thursday, October 2, 2008

Time stood still

Thursday- Today we went to Baton Rouge to meet Thomas Neff. It was a nice drive and such a nice day. We got to hear about what he did when the storm hit, and we looked at his silver prints. We went to a near by po'y boy place to eat lunch and then we all went to Barns and Noble and supported him by buying his book. After we got back Becky, Ryan, Keith, and I went back to Lakeview to give Chuck some images and say thank you for being so generous. We then went to this abandoned Elementary School. It was sad and creepy in a way. It was as if the momment in time was frozen. There were projects still hung on the walls and the water lines were still along the walls of the school. We met a local that came in and said that the Lakeview area was once the more populated area and only 33% came back after the storm. It was sad to think these kids left thinking they would be back in a few days and never came back. Some may have moved to a new city, others are probably in a new area of the city, and others could have lost their lives.

The best experience for any photo journalist




Wednesday- We meet Robert who lost is mother and grand daughter in the storm. He has met everyone you can think of because he was one of the first to come back and live in his trailer in the lower 9th ward. He will be receiving one of Brad Pitts make it right houses. Hopefully by the next time I come to see him he will be in his house. He is one who deserves it the most. We had one of the best experiences we could have yesterday. We got to meet some of the Times Picayune photographers and ride with them on there assignments for the day. It was so cool. I went with Jennifer Zdon and got to hear what it's like being a woman in the field and her sad Katrina stories. After words she looked at my images and we all got the Katrina book filled with all of the images they took over the last few years. This book is filled of amazing photos of all the people we meet and more. After the Times we went to the Chalmette Battle field. It was a fun relaxing sunset walk. At one point Antonio had a bright idea to go over the open in the fence from the cemetery to the walk way. So Becky, Ashley, and I followed and as soon as we all got two feet over we realized we were walking in a big grass puddle. It was pretty funny.