Five Years Later

Five years ago I was not on the sidelines photographing the New Orleans Saints, courtside at a New Orleans Hornets game or on the sideline of Tiger Stadium for LSU football, I was a fan of all the above but was not covering college or professional sports anymore. Five years and a day ago I said ‘It was nice working with all of you.” to my co-workers at the Hunt Petroleum office in Port Sulfur as we shut in the field in preparation for an incoming a storm, one I knew I would not return home following.

Five years ago I was an oil field dispatcher, I dabbled and played around with photography in college and had been on the sidelines years ago, through several media ventures but I was no professional then I always had a dream to cover sports either through the written word which I did as a beat writer for a New Orleans Saints related website and as a photographer and I did, but I didn’t consider myself as a professional then.

But,what happened five years ago is what led me to where I am today, a Hurricane called Katrina placed a bulls eye on where I worked and lived almost my entire life. Katrina would turn my life upside down, I would lose most everything I owned, but for me I took it as an opportunity to press the reset button on my life and pursue my hobby into a new career.

It was the photos I took of my hometown of Buras, La and the surrounding areas that caused me to consider pursuing photography, it was comments left by strangers on a photo board about my photos that led to me try and make a living at photography. Today, five years after my path and outlook in life changed I thought it would be a good time to go deep into my archives and share some of what I saw when I returned home after evacuating from Katrina. A town in shambles and the photos that led me to where I am today.

The water tower from Buras on the ground following the devastation left in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina that flooded the small city of Buras, Louisiana in Plaquemines Parish on August 29, 2005. (Mandatory Credit: Photo by Derick E. Hingle)

The photo above is a reminder of a fallen town, my home town of Buras, I lived there for the better part of 29-years except for my time spent away in college. A wall of water believed to be 18-20 feet tall swept through the area as the eye of the storm struck just miles north in the town of empire.

Heading down home for the first time roughly two months after the storm traveling with my father to get a first hand look at the damage our first stop was in Port Sulphur the town I used to work in. I turned down one familiar lane only to see a house blocking the road.

A house sits in the middle of a road following the devastation left in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina that flooded the small city of Port Sulphur, Louisiana in Plaquemines Parish on August 29, 2005. (Mandatory Credit: Photo by Derick E. Hingle)

Just down the road a house owned by one of my former bosses who told me he had a hurricane proof roof, it appears Hurricane Katrina thought differently.

Scenes of devastation left in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina that flooded the small city of Port Sulphur, Louisiana in Plaquemines Parish on August 29, 2005. A house is left in ruins in the Port Sulphur area. (Mandatory Credit: Photo by Derick E. Hingle)

As I drove further down into Empire, La I saw a house that was partially blocking the main highway turning the four lane into a two lane highway.

Scenes of devastation left in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina that flooded the small city of Empire, Louisiana in Plaquemines Parish on August 29, 2005. A house washed off it’s foundations sits near the main road in Empire, Louisiana.(Mandatory Credit: Photo by Derick E. Hingle)

As I approached the Empire Bridge, I noticed traffic traveling both ways on one side of the bridge while the other side was closed, it did not take long to find out why as I reached the top of the bridge I could not believe my eyes as the saw the vessels stacked at the bottom of the bridge.

Scenes of devastation left in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina that flooded the small city of Buras, Louisiana in Plaquemines Parish on August 29, 2005. Boats are piled up at the base of the Empire Bridge like toys by Katrina’s floodwaters.(Mandatory Credit: Photo by Derick E. Hingle)

The flood waters carried multiple boats that would get caught up on the bottom of the bridge, two of the vessels were massive offshore boats that came to rest at the foot of the bridge.

Scenes of devastation left in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina that flooded the small city of Empire, Louisiana in Plaquemines Parish on August 29, 2005. Boats are piled up at the base of the Empire Bridge like toys by Katrina’s floodwaters.(Mandatory Credit: Photo by Derick E. Hingle)

Scenes of devastation left in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina that flooded the small city of Buras, Louisiana in Plaquemines Parish on August 29, 2005. Boats are piled up along the road near the Empire Bridge like toys by Katrina’s floodwaters.(Mandatory Credit: Photo by Derick E. Hingle)

A few minutes later me and my dad arrived at his house, we knew it was standing still prior to heading down, but when we arrived we both wondered how it stood when most everything else was wiped away by the flood waters.

Scenes of devastation left in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina that flooded the small city of Buras, Louisiana in Plaquemines Parish on August 29, 2005. A house damaged by Hurricane Katrina in Buras, Louisiana. (Mandatory Credit: Photo by Derick E. Hingle)

The blue roof was put on by an organization trying to help to save salvageable homes, my parents home was salvageable, but it was not to be as a notice was stapled onto the remaining door frame noting that a levee expansion called for the home to be demolished.

After going through the house and salvaging some items from upstairs that were not flooded we headed out to survey the rest of the area.

Just past where the water tower in Buras was seen I saw the most surprising scene of the trip down, I thought seeing the two massive boats at the foot of the bridge was something to be in awe of, but then I saw the barge probably the length of a football field sitting on top of the levee in Buras, the 18-foot high levee, it was a big sign of the power behind this storm.

A large barge sits on top the levee following Hurricane Katrina which flooded the small city of Buras, Louisiana in Plaquemines Parish on August 29, 2005. (Mandatory Credit: Photo by Derick E. Hingle)

If that wasn’t surprising enough, to see the barge on top of the levee when I went up there to get a close look I would find the barge had crushed a crew boat below it, a crew boat that was owned by my grandfather.

A large barge that came to rest on top the levee crushing a boat underneath following Hurricane Katrina which flooded the small city of Buras, Louisiana in Plaquemines Parish on August 29, 2005. (Mandatory Credit: Photo by Derick E. Hingle)

Here is one more look at the barge from another angle.

Very little was left standing in Buras, and most building that remained were damaged beyond repair, and were never rebuilt.

Scenes of devastation left in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina that flooded the small city of Buras, Louisiana in Plaquemines Parish on August 29, 2005. (Mandatory Credit: Photo by Derick E. Hingle)

Here are a few more scenes from my first trip back following Hurricane Katrina.

The photo of the church left standing was interesting, as it was the only building standing, it was also worth noting the church had been turned around, prior to Katrina it face the opposite direction.

I could go on and post image after image of what happened, but I’m going to stop here. At the time I took these pictures I did not think about going into photography, and if I was a professional photographer at the time I would have composed many of the images differently. But it was this trip that got me thinking about pursuing photography, and with no plans to return to the area to live I started to consider my options.

Now five years later I could not be happier with my decision to risk everything to pursue my dream, sure it has been tough, and pretty much made next to nothing prior to this year, but ‘Nothing good comes easy,’ it is a motto I have lived by and lived through.

Here are some photos from air above Buras that I took while on a oil spill assignment, these have never been published before, some are heavily cropped to try and show some of the details of Buras, or what is left there. Click on the photo to see a larger view, click again to see it even larger.

I hope you have enjoyed a look back at what got me re-started in photography, while it is sad to see some of the scenes for me it led to rebirth of sorts for me, out of the rumble of Katrina I found a new direction in life. Five years later I am happy where I have come and have experienced some of the greatest moments in my life through the lens of my camera, I now capture moments in time not only for myself, but for everyone else.

Until next time.