Election Day in New Orleans
My day started in Braithwaite, LA in Plaquemines, a parish horribly wrecked in Katrina you don’t hear much about. When shooting news features in post-Katrina Louisiana, it’s all about putting hurricane damage in the frame. The remote town, I thought, was my best shot as the polling places in New Orleans didn’t really have damage visible. Got down there as the polls opened at daybreak. Nothin’. Quiet. No lines No damage. Vanessa (my good videographer friend) headed back up the road, through St Bernard.
Most of the folks living back in the Lower Ninth Ward had to come to my Upper Ninth neighborhood to vote, so the lines were pretty spectacular. I shot, said high to neighbors. I was surprised to find a bartender friend up and voting at 8 AM. He assured me he hadn’t gotten up early, but stayed up all night drinking. He didn’t want to sleep through this Election Day. Later, I visited and shot different polling places for most of the day, and relaxed a bit by watching early results.
About 8 PM I went to an election party in the Lower Ninth, to find the community center dark and locked. Damn, great idea but now what? There was a house party across the street going full blast so I thought “what the heck?” I asked the kids out front if I could talk to their mommy or daddy and was welcomed into the home of Zakenya Perry. Waiting for that historic moment, I tried to be friendly and chatty while keeping my eye on the widescreen with CNN tuned in. I guess it was about 10 when they switched the station to MSNBC who shortly thereafter flashed “Obama Wins Election.” My camera was raised and ready to shoot the reaction in the house. But a few seconds of silence went by and I finally had to point to the screen and say “Hey look, he won!” I guess it took a while for them to grasp that what they wanted so badly had actually happened. They of course erupted in jubilation. I shot the moment, thanked them and headed to Sydney’s bar in the Seventh Ward.
By the time I got to the bar, McCain was wrapping up his concession speech, but the place was insane with joy: people on tables, chairs, bar tops, hugging, laughing dancing, crying. I found my photojournalist friend Clarence who I had collaborated with in finding the right spot for election night. Tears rolled down his cheek during Obama’s acceptance speech. I watched the speech, shot the celebration and sent the stuff to Reuters from my laptop in the car.
I went back into Sydney’s for a drink, and stayed for a few too many, most of them being bought by patrons happy I was there to document the celebration. I just can’t think of any where else in the world but New Orleans, the place of so many hard blows and let downs, to spend that moment in time.
Most of the folks living back in the Lower Ninth Ward had to come to my Upper Ninth neighborhood to vote, so the lines were pretty spectacular. I shot, said high to neighbors. I was surprised to find a bartender friend up and voting at 8 AM. He assured me he hadn’t gotten up early, but stayed up all night drinking. He didn’t want to sleep through this Election Day. Later, I visited and shot different polling places for most of the day, and relaxed a bit by watching early results.
About 8 PM I went to an election party in the Lower Ninth, to find the community center dark and locked. Damn, great idea but now what? There was a house party across the street going full blast so I thought “what the heck?” I asked the kids out front if I could talk to their mommy or daddy and was welcomed into the home of Zakenya Perry. Waiting for that historic moment, I tried to be friendly and chatty while keeping my eye on the widescreen with CNN tuned in. I guess it was about 10 when they switched the station to MSNBC who shortly thereafter flashed “Obama Wins Election.” My camera was raised and ready to shoot the reaction in the house. But a few seconds of silence went by and I finally had to point to the screen and say “Hey look, he won!” I guess it took a while for them to grasp that what they wanted so badly had actually happened. They of course erupted in jubilation. I shot the moment, thanked them and headed to Sydney’s bar in the Seventh Ward.
By the time I got to the bar, McCain was wrapping up his concession speech, but the place was insane with joy: people on tables, chairs, bar tops, hugging, laughing dancing, crying. I found my photojournalist friend Clarence who I had collaborated with in finding the right spot for election night. Tears rolled down his cheek during Obama’s acceptance speech. I watched the speech, shot the celebration and sent the stuff to Reuters from my laptop in the car.
I went back into Sydney’s for a drink, and stayed for a few too many, most of them being bought by patrons happy I was there to document the celebration. I just can’t think of any where else in the world but New Orleans, the place of so many hard blows and let downs, to spend that moment in time.
posted by SellTheHomeFast.com at
2:31 PM
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