Back From New Orleans

I've been back for a little over a month now. I printed my essay today and I proof read my Essay introduction. I can't believe that it's been a month already. This trip was amazing and I will never forget the things I saw, the people I met, and the good times we had. The trip was not only amazing, but afterwords my work has been shown in a gallory, library,presented, and soon showing at west photo. I am so proud of my work that came out of the trip. I now am thinking of when I can go back. I miss it. I liked the city and how live it was. I will be going back and helping through my pictures and someday by picking up a hammer as well. So much thanks to all who made it happen, those who supported all of us at our show, and those who made it the best time of my life.

Day 6

Saturday was our last day in New Orleans. We had so much fun on saturday. We started our day out by going to a swamp tour and saw an alligator eat marsh mellows and we were going to feed it Rich Ryan, but we didn't. We also saw some houses that were damaged and left by Katrina. It was alot of fun. We then went to a tree planting site in the upper 9th ward. Later we went to the lower 9th ward and walked around and Rich made jess cry. The cool thing was we saw this dog house that said FEMA on it. We met a local and later on went to dinner one last time in the french quarter. We had a lot of fun on the trip and it went by so fast. We did so much planning for it and it's already over.

Day 5

Friday was day 5 of our trip. I went with the Rich Ryan's class in the morning to a cemetery where the voodoo queen's grave was. It was really interesting because the grave yards are so much different from here. We then took the St. Charles street car to the park to have a picnic with everyone. It was 80 degrees and very nice out. After the park me and maria braved the street car by our selves and met some ladies who were art teachers down in New Orleans for a convention. That was really cool. That night some of us girls went shopping in the French Quarter. We laster went to dinner as a group. That day was mostly enjoying the city.

Day 4

Today was day four of our trip and I started my day at 6:45 with the Editorial class. They were shooting in an area called the holly cross neighborhood and I wanted to shoot in that area again. I got some good pictures there. Around 8:00 I went with Brett and Jorie to the lower 9th word again. I already shot there twise this week, but didn't hit every thing I wanted to. I found some pretty amazing as well as sad houses over there today. One was a house that was seemed to be moved by water and the back end was completley gone. The cool thing was some one painted what looked like band-aid on the house and that was interesting. I also found a trailer that was completley moved and sitting on a fience. I talked to three locals today that were effected by katrina and the first person was Sydney Davis and he said he was went from the living room with no water and walked back to the kitchen and was in water up to his knees. He waited out the storm in the atche. His house will be ready to move in two weeks. He said he can't wait to get out of the trailer. The other person was an 87 year old lady who was very sweet. She just moved into here new home yesterday. She said she had to clim out here window into a boat and then she went to missouri where here son lived to find that he was deid. She lost three people in that year. And she has the biggest heart. Later on a few of us decided to go to a park to take a little break from distruction and that was relaxing. We finished the day by going out for pizza. Here are some of the images from today.

Day 2 1st day of shooting

Today is our second day here first day of shooting. I woke up to shoot at 6:30am today in the lower 9th ward and the lighting from the sun rise was amazing. It was so hard becuase all though I was getting some amazing shots of damage with amazing sun light I couldn't help, but think how it may seem so amazing untill I really relazied what I was shooting. The damage here is more than I had thought it would be. I knew they were still strugling to re-build, but little did I know how much still needs to be touched. There are so many buildings and houses with markings and haven't been touched, but there sitting next to a newly built house or buisness. It's hard to imagine the troubles people went through and still are going through. The best part about this city is that they still make it lively even though the city itself is in a sad state. Well that's all for now more shooting tonight.

Day Three

Today was day three of our trip. Today was warmer so it was really nice to be out side all day. I started my day today at 6:30am shooting with Colleen and Jorie while the sun was comming up. I got some good shots in the upper 9th ward. We found this really cool artist gallery in the upper 9th. There is three houses this artist bought after the storm and made them into art pieces representing the artist thoughts and feelings of the storm through art. They were really interesting. We also stoped by the habitat for humanity site and there was a live band we got to listen to. We then critique for the second time today and that was really helpful we had a guest come and look at our work. Today was Colleens last day so some of us went to eat at a sea food restaurant she likes and I HATE sea food, but I figured I'm only in New Orleans for a few days I may as well try something new. So I tryed oysters and they were really gross I probably will never have it again. Today was overall really good day and a lot of fun. Here are some images I took today.

My Essay For New Orleans

I decided that going down to New Orleans was Finlay my chance to show the horrible damage that still remains almost three years after Katrina hit. It was and still is a very damaged area and it's sad to know that people are still trying to get back there lives after Katrina. I hope to show through my images the damage that is still an issue after three years. So many people lost everything and are still struggling to make ends meet and rebuild there homes at the same time. I want my essay to show more than just the images we have all seen so many times of the painting of X's on houses and water lines. This trip is going to be a life memory I will never forget and I am very proud to be apart of it.