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Katrina’s AftermathA N ESSAY IN WOR DS A ND PHOTOGRAPHSReminding Readers of What Is No Longer ThereBy John FitzhughNewspaper photojournalism hasimmediacy in its impact andpower in its ability to quicklytell the story of the day. Yet few dailyimages end up having a lasting impactin documenting a community’s history.Working as a photographer in SouthMississippi for the past 20 years, I’vehad the rare opportunity to visuallychronicle the changing contours of thisregion, not once but four times,and still counting. The most comprehensiveof these efforts—andthe one appreciated most bySun Herald readers—is the SunHerald’s “Hurricane Katrina: Beforeand After” series.Like then-and-now naturephotographs certifying a glacier’sretreat, our comparative imagesrender visual what memory itselfcannot be relied upon to recall.By returning to places we’dphotographed before HurricaneKatrina—to a street scene, a building,or a house—we can show thechange in ways no contemporaryphotograph of debris piles can do.Doing this retrieves memories ofthe fierce winds and water thatforever altered our landscape, butit also rekindles associations withwhat once was so familiar.In most cases after Katrina all thatwas left was an empty slab. When wepublished these photos each pairingwas accompanied by a short story detailingthe human experience weddedto the structure. Most of the writing andresearch was done by Sun Herald featurewriter Kat Bergeron, who was theperfect writer for the project becauseof her knowledge of South Mississippihistory and her natural empathy forthe subject. She, too, lost her houseto Katrina.The series had been conceivedas an effort simply to document thedestruction of a major hurricane. Itwas inspired by work done in 1969by then-Daily Herald photographersshowing Biloxi before and again afterHurricane Camille, which swept acrossSouth Mississippi with great ferocity. Inmy years of culling through file photographsfor our annual anniversaryLike then-and-now naturephotographs certifying a glacier’sretreat, our comparative imagesrender visual what memory itselfcannot be relied upon to recall.By returning to places we’dphotographed before HurricaneKatrina—to a street scene, abuilding, or a house—we can showthe change in ways no contemporaryphotograph of debris piles can do.coverage of Camille—that had longbeen our region’s benchmark event—Iwas struck by simple street scenes thatwere carefully matched up with “after”photos.I wanted to be prepared to createsuch a document on South Mississippiwhen the next big hurricane hit. I beganshooting specifically for the projectas Hurricane Ivan approached in September2004. That storm turned away,but the need rose again in August of2005 as Hurricane Katrina approached.In neither case did I do as extensivea survey as I should have, but then Ididn’t expect the project to grow intowhat it became.During two decades of documentingthe changing face of South Mississippi,I have gotten better at shootingphotos as historical documents. Whendockside gambling was approved bythe Mississippi legislature in 1990, Iphotographed the areas of Harrisonand Hancock counties that werezoned for gambling with theintent of using them down theroad to show the changes of theareas. This was the first project Idid showing South Mississippi’sphysical changes.Five years later, once thesenew venues were built, the placewas so dramatically reconfiguredthat there was no way to matchthe earlier images to the laterones. The landscapes where theold shrimp and oyster factories,docks and half-sunk boats hadbeen were now overwhelmedby massive casino developmentsthat I had not envisioned. Whilethe older images are an effectivedocumentation of what the arealooked like, the side-by-side approachlacked a broader perspectivethat allowed for easy comparison.In retrospect, the landscape changewrought by casino development wasin some ways more dramatic thanKatrina’s.With this in mind, on the next projectof this kind—the Katrina “Beforeand After” series—I was careful to uselandmarks more effectively as markers.For example, I took advantage ofcasino parking garages that providedboth a high vista from which to shootas well as sites I felt confident wouldwithstand a hurricane’s fury. This way44 Nieman Reports / Fall 2007