I actually didn’t get a t-shirt if that’s what you were thinking. Mainly, I came home with pictures, and an awful lot to think about and contemplate. The kids, my dad, and I tagged along with Andy and a bunch of his awesome high school students on their summer work trip to New Orleans, Louisiana. We worked through Son Servants, and spent the week with three other churches’ youth groups. The students split up and worked in teams all over the city (and some outside the city, too). My job (I really had a job!) was to spend the week documenting the trip. It was a blast, and I got some really fantabulous images from it, both of New Orleans and of the students. I thought I’d share some of the New Orleans pictures with you here because I like you.
One thing that surprised me about what we saw is how much remains to be done, nearly four years after Katrina blew through. I know it was a big storm but the amount of devastation hadn’t really clicked with me until actually after this trip… driving around the city, both in the Ninth Ward and elsewhere, there were still many homes with obvious and massive damage, padlocked, some open to the elements, some overgrown, and many that appeared to be simply abandoned. There are a lot of reasons why, and maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was. When we got home, my dad pulled out some pictures from a work trip he took to New Orleans six months after Katrina, which really put things into perspective. What we saw is actually a herculean amount of work. But there is still so much left to do.
This is on one of the houses we worked on. You can see these signs still spraypainted on many homes all around the city, four years later. I know I said that already, but FOUR years. Our students were gutting this house down to the studs. I wondered if I would want to paint over this, or if I’d want to leave it as a testament to my surviving an incredible storm. The owner said the water was about nine feet high here (my head if I were standing on the porch). Isn’t that amazing?
Normally I don’t put captions on the images in my galleries, but there are stories behind each of these pictures, so I took the time to give you a brief explanation for them. (That means: please take a minute to read the captions under the images.) Thank you for sticking with me!
by robin cornett
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Rabia - I love that sunset picture!
Becka @Studio222 Photography - These are so beautiful! I love photography on travels. It’s so refreshing! These are gorgeous!
Jamie Burnett - Wow.. great details, and I’m really drawn to that yellow house. Very unique.
Hope you had a great trip.
Sylvia Borgo - I absolutely love that sunset shot! Amazing
Pure Emotions Photography - Robin, these take me back to that time and remind me how precious life is. Your details are beautiful and haunting. Thanks for sharing these. I too, am really drawn to the yellow house.
amee sorensen - Hi Robin! I found your blog today and came across this post of New Orleans. I am actually from there. I don’t live there now, but my parents still do. So I have been down there many times. I try to tell people what it really is like still today but it’s hard to explain. It’s something you have to see to believe…but when you actually see it, you don’t believe it. Especially after all this time that has passed. Thank you for your post and spreading the word that there is much still to be done.