Professional Quality Images On Time And On Budget

Hurricane Katrina is Mississippi's tsunami. A storm surge of 35 feet in some areas pushs water through second floor bedrooms and reduces wood frame houses to matchsticks. The dead toll is expected to rise for several more weeks and search and recovery teams sift mounds of debris looking for remains.

Conditions for news gathering were as bad as any place I have ever been. The 100 plus mile per hour winds shredded the communications network. Even SAT phones had difficulty getting out of the area. Photographers at the Clarion-Ledger make images from dawn to dusk and then travel to Hattiesburg, Miss., to transmit their images back to the newspaper in Jackson, 85 miles away. The lack of fuel had photographers ration their drives carefully. Even in Hattiesburg the effects of the hurricane are severe. There are reports writers and photgraphers making their way to assignments on bikes.

As I travel from Pass Christian to Moss Point, Miss., I find a defined difference in damage. The small town of Waveland (pop. 7,000) is cleaned from the map. A small mosaic on the steps of City Hall is the only thing remaining in the downtown area. Every house, business and dog house is completely destroyed. There are no sounds of animals...no bird calls or dogs barking. In the more populated Gulfport/Biloxi area buildings that survived Camille are now gone. The monster barges that floated Mississippi newest economic engine, casino gaming, now rest across Hwy. 90 like beached whales.

I'm sure I'll be returning to the coast for several years to photograph the recovery of the area. I look forward to seeing it rebuild.