Sunset over the marshland in Southwest Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana.
A flag over the American Legion Hall in Montegut, Louisiana. Seen through the trees, and the eyes of disgruntled American Legion Hall members, who didn’t appreciate their flag being depicted in this way.
It’s hard to comprehend the enormity of Terrebonne’s flood-protection needs until you see the barge floodgate under construction at Bollinger Marine Fabrication’s yard in Amelia. The structure sits four-stories high and will grow even taller after a 13-foot floodwall is added to the top. It will be as long as a football field when finished.
This is what will be required to close off the Houma Navigation Canal during a powerful storm surge.
Read more in the article Nikki Buskey.
The Naquin family was extremely kind to me, allowing me to photograph their dinner together. This story by Nikki Buskey details how the number of individuals on food stamps has increased in the state of Louisiana, but I wanted to provide a photo that could communicate something besides the sterile reality of unemployment numbers and “entitlement” programs.
Nearly one in five Louisiana residents, or 380,835 people, depend on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, to supplement their monthly food budgets. Read more at Houmatoday.com
The subtitle of the educational film on Alcatraz reads: “It was a wakeup call.”
Today’s sunset will bring an end to what many fishermen have called the worst fall white-shrimp season in recent memory.
State biologists say there’s no official data yet on how bad the season was or what may have caused it. Many shrimpers remain worried that the oil spill and chemicals related to the cleanup caused low shrimp catches, though there’s no official evidence to back that up.
There’s no doubt, however, that the slump comes at a bad time for shrimpers, who have battled low prices for their catch, competition from imported seafood, high fuel prices and multiple disasters, including hurricanes and the BP oil spill.
more from article by Nikki Buskey
Terrebonne councilman Alvin Tillman asked the Parish Council to pass a law banning all colors except white in Terrebonne’s public cemeteries.
Read more in the article by Robert Zullo.
Students at Terrebonne Career and Technical High School were asked, “What are you looking forward to doing after graduation?”
Kevin Billiot, 17, of Houma, Diesel Technology
“I’m looking to go into the Marine corps and being a diesel mechanic for the Marines. I just want to help someone out by doing what I do.”
After I took the photo, I asked him if the breaker bar he was holding was intended to make him look tough. He smiled, telling me, “This ain’t nothin. Some of the wrenches they use offshore take ten men to operate.”
When I hear the phrase “pain at the pump” story, I cringe a little bit. I doubt it’s possible for a single article to sift through the information about what controls oil prices: from European debt negotiations, to oil speculation on Wall St., peaking domestic production and growing demand in developing countries, to name a few subjects that I am certainly not expert in.
I thought about how little the average consumer knows about this kind of thing, and I thought the best way to show this was to take the assigned photograph at night time. I feel this communicates this idea only after explanation… so most likely this is a first step in the direction I want to go.
I completed my first self-assigned video project for the Oakland Tribune.
Working on this project not only allowed me to consider the technical aspects of video, but also the storytelling aspects. Without a strict narrative to follow (I wanted to keep the time to two minutes, and not report on the game action) I was left to define what a “more honest game” was, to show the heart and feelings behind why all these grown men were dressed in 19th century costumes, playing sports.
I found the team to be really fun to work with, and welcoming to my occasional requests for things like video portraits that I never even used in the final cut. You can tell that these men are passionate about their sport, and are happy to share it with others in any form.
“Chops,” the captain of the team who was interviewed first in the video, mentioned that he’d like to see vintage base ball grow over the years like women’s roller derby has. This is the kind of sport I can see friends and family going for the sheer novelty, but it could easily have the homegrown appeal of other local sports teams. It’s a relaxing, entertaining thing to a Sunday afternoon, and it definitely has a lot to teach in terms of sportsmanship and athleticism.
All seven of my multimedia hats are off to these guys. Huzzah, Colonels!
