Anybody heading to the coast to shoot Alex?

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

Or his aftermath? Shouldn't be much damage in Texas.

Crazy that BP is stopping the recovery over a bit of choppy surf!

[Todd Lambert]

Yeah, not sure that there's going to be much to photograph, honestly.

This is going to be a small storm, or at least a non-eventful one it looks like. From the other storms/hurricanes I've shot, it's pretty hard to get anything decent from during the storm - usually just aftermath, which unless you get something like Katrina, doesn't usually come across very well in most pictures.

[MikeyG1965]

I'm flying to Brownsville on Monday...but that is for something totally non-related to Alex.

[iCe]

Originally Posted by DEMDeepEllumMusic

Or his aftermath? Shouldn't be much damage in Texas.

Crazy that BP is stopping the recovery over a bit of choppy surf!

7' -10' seas isn't "choppy surf" Looking at the ROV feeds it looks like they haven't stopped to me.

I was down at Port Aransas and out on Mustang Island yesterday. That's a long way from the hurricane but considering other hurricanes the surf wasn't up much. The waves were coming all of the way into the dunes on Mustang. I suspect this will be a flood event more than anything else. I went down to Port Lavaca this afternoon and the rain / wind was pretty rough but nowhere near tropical storm force...

[iCe]

From yesterday- LINK

[Todd Lambert]

Originally Posted by iCe

7' -10' seas isn't "choppy surf" Looking at the ROV feeds it looks like they haven't stopped to me.

That's because the video is just looped...













Oh come on, that was funny.

[iCe]

You might be right... that or they have really good tension control on the lines that connect to the cap.

I was thinking about this thread earlier. In my opinion, the best time to shoot a hurricane is the days prior to it making landfall (to document the town(s) as they exist before and of course afterward. Just prior to, during, and just after the hurricane I tend to doubt if a still camera would be of much use. That's when video would be a plus. The downside to shooting afterward is that you are shooting what's left of people's lives. It's mentally exhausting... at least it is for me...

[Todd Lambert]

Yes, that is exactly as it is, in my experience.

I got some shots from Katrina (I was in Biloxi and stayed) and I even got some video until the fence around my house came apart and the neighbors roof came off.

I actually got out with my camera at about 3p.m. that day, thinking I'd take a BUNCH of photos. You know what, I hardly even took one. The devastation was so immense and things were so chaotic that I just couldn't take photos. People were is such desperate shape that it just didn't feel right to be snapping photos of it.

I did get photos the next day, but even then, as you said, it was a tough mental challenge to do so.

[iCe]

Biloxi got hammered :o( I can totally relate to what you're saying about not feeling right taking shots of other people's tragedy.

I was in Mobile 8 months after Katrina. I was working in Mobile and 250 days after Katrina to the day I drove as much of 90 as I could. I did a lot of back tracking to get around the bridges that were still out. By the time I made it to SE Louisiana I was mentally done with photographing the damage.

I put everything I shot here

I've always thought that people of the Gulf Coast were resilient and tough but that trip reinforced the feeling.