Images from the Ninth Ward

[fivecats]

Ninth Ward #1
June 2006 New Orleans, LA
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At noon Carlos and I left the air conditioned comfort of the hotel for the cluttered car of a friend of his, an author he’s edited and published in the past. I had been warned that if I got him talking about New Orleans at all he’d likely tell us about the city in a wide geo-political, racial and historical perspective.

That was, of course, exactly what I wanted to hear.




Ninth Ward #3
June 2006 New Orleans, LA
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For an hour we were given what amounted to a fascinating lecture on New Orleans political and racial history, all in the context of what’s happening to the African Amerian community today and the all-but transparent attempts at the city government to assure the poor blacks who were shipped out of town do not return. Ever.




Ninth Ward #13
June 2006 New Orleans, LA
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A couple of words about these images:

All of them were taken from the inside of a car as we were being driven around some of the most damaged areas of New Orleans. As a result, they were all taken with a minimum of preparation and composition. Many were taken with a scatter-shot approach, hoping that I’d at least get something useful out of the many, many shots that I took.




Ninth Ward #14
June 2006 New Orleans, LA
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For instance, the picture above has a very clear “ghost” image of the top of the car’s dashboard where the defrost vents are. One works with what one has to work with.




Ninth Ward #17
June 2006 New Orleans, LA
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The other thing that struck me when I was post-processing these images this afternoon was how they all looked like the kind of isolated events seen in the [Bad username or site: ”ruralruin” @ livejournal.com] (Rural Ruin) LJ Community.

Individual homes falling in on themselves, slowly going to seed, is really nothing new.

This wasn’t like that, though. These houses were one after the other after the other after the other.




Ninth Ward #2
June 2006 New Orleans, LA
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All of these shots were in the same neighborhood. All were about a block or two away from the sight of the levee break that flooded the Ninth Ward.

It’s fairly safe to say that all of these houses were at least mostly submerged by the waters flowing into the bowl of the Ward build in the long, heavy shadow of Lake Ponchartrain.

Our driver told us about a friend of his wife who had a home in these blocks. When she finally came back to see what was left of her house, she found nothing. No debris, nothing.

Until she started walking around the neighborhood. She finally found her house – three blocks away and sitting atop another house.




Ninth Ward #7
June 2006 New Orleans, LA
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My one regret with these images is that, for me, they lack the power I sorely wish they had. I had wanted to go to the Ninth Ward to report and to document. I know I’m too tired to do the former and I had only one chance to do the latter and I don’t feel I succeeded very well.

Throughout the afternoon I took over 250 images from a number of different neighborhoods. I’ll see about posting more of them if there’s any interest.

Here are a few other images to last you through the rest of the weekend. I’m heading off to bed.

‘night all.





Ninth Ward #9
June 2006 New Orleans, LA
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Ninth Ward #5
June 2006 New Orleans, LA
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Ninth Ward #15
June 2006 New Orleans, LA
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Ninth Ward #12
June 2006 New Orleans, LA
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Ninth Ward #10
June 2006 New Orleans, LA
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Ninth Ward #12
June 2006 New Orleans, LA
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