Ride Hamilton's Katrina Photography

Katrina

Photographs

Katrina Photos

(Click on each picture or the above text menus for

the photograph galleries)

I live here, in New Orleans. I was in the city and Gulf Coast every single day

from before Katrina, to its landfall, to its aftermath. I lived the months it

was without regular food, water, electricity. I know what we all in the Gulf

Coast survived through.

I have travelled from New Orleans to Mississippi to Texas to Plaquemines

to St. Bernard and Jefferson Parish to cover every aspect of the storm with

tenderness, intimacy, integrity, and honesty.

This is a small sample from 30,000 photographs taken since just before

Katrina made landfall.

I continue to work closely and side-by-side with first responders, residents,

government leaders, and volunteers to capture their stories in photographs

and video. Working alongside the heroes, residents, and people afftected by

Katrina, allows an intimate and detailed portrait to be made. I have been on

body recovery with Urban Search and Rescue, and in the destroyed houses

of victims, and in the morgue with the coroners, and in airplanes and boats

looking over the disappearing wetlands.

Many journalists only spend 15 minutes with a person, often at a distance

and without their consent or permission. They often do not credit or tell the

full story of their subject, and twist words and events around to make it

dramatic enough to sell a million newspapers or make the evening news.

This angers me as a fellow journalist. As I always believe the truth is

dramatic enough, and those directly involved in disasters from first

responders to residents deserve their whole story to be told, with their own

words, with the only agenda being to let the world know who these real

people are - and that they are often heroes, in big ways and small ways,

from rescuing hundreds to helping hammer in a new roof on a new house.

I spend many hours, and sometimes weeks with each person and group, so I

may hear their story, from their mouths, and so the world may know them

as personally as I do - their name, their face, their contribution to the

Katrina story. I do not look for controversial or sensational topics as other

reporters do. I look for who these people are inside, the hard work they do,

how they have suffered yet continue to carry on and help others - be it first

responder or resident.

If they are a firefighter, I ride in the truck with them - if it is a volunteer, I

often put down my camera and help hammer in nails - if it is a resident, I

help them dig through debris looking for cherished items - whoever they

are, whatever it is, I help carry equipment, belongings, tools, and get dirty

with them all. I share lunch and dinner, and even eventually share personal

stories only friends share.

I become friends with all I photograph. This is extremely important to me,

to earn the trust of all involved. Very few photojournalists earn this respect

from their subjects. To me, it is a sign of a job well done. That we can all

agree that the story is told properly. And that the person involved, is proud

to hang the pictures I have taken of them and their job, on their walls at

home.

I live here, and I see the hard work done on all levels from all people, and

the courage so many have inside of them. This is what I capture.

Ride Hamilton

Photojournalist

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What are these interviews used for?

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All materials go to the Louisiana State Museum Archives

Selected materials will be in the 2009 Louisiana State Permanent Katrina Museum in the Cabildo in the French Quarter

Selected materials have/will appear in books and magazines, printed and online

Selected materials have/will appear in documentaries, in theaters, television, online, and DVD

Selected materials have/will appear in museum exhibitions around the world.

Selected stories will comprise a non-fiction screenplay and movie.

Film Agent: Matthew Guma, New York

Publications, Ect.: Anthem Magazine, Consumer Affairs, Ogden Museum, Louisiana State Museum, Texas Lutheran

University, Various Newspapers, Etc.

All work is currently NON-PROFIT. I invest my own personal savings into this work, because I firmly believe in telling the

real and personal stories of the people affected by this tragedy, and receive almost no financial re-imbursement, and

donate much of it to help further the knowledge of what happened during and after Katrina and Rita.