Native Orleanian Fine Photography

Horn Island August 9th Dispersant and Oil

jmoran — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 16:59:05 +0000

These images were taken on August 9, 2010 on our trip to Horn Island accompanied by members of Boston Chemical including Mr. Strongbear. We traveled by boat to Horn Island out of Biloxi, Mississippi and sampled both on the sound side(south) of the island where we found large and small tar balls and patties, in the area of lat 30,14.91N, long 88,42.0947W, all images have specific locations embedded in meta data. When leaving the shore to go to the gulf side, the boat motor actually stirred up some oil residue from the sea floor, creating brown colored bubbles on the surface, similar to Barataria bay, but not as thick. On the gulf side, east end of the island, lat 30,14.5535N, long 88,43.3291W, we found the beach to be covered in thousands of tar balls, and still washing up in the surf. On our way in we ran across a large slick of what was confirmed to be dispersant or corexit foam and a rainbow colored oil slick, lat 30,17.2609 long 88,46.5829W, all images have specific locations embedded in meta data. Birds were actually diving into this toxic oil and foam concoction.

See the rest of my coverage from mid may up to date at http://nativeorleanian.com/category/bp-oil-spill/

Another Unforgettable trip to Raccoon Island August 8

jmoran — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 15:46:44 +0000

All images in vicinity of Lat 29,3.0279N Long 90,55.6074W. Specific locations for each image is embedded in the meta data. We revisited Raccoon Island on August 8 to find more of the same from my visit on July 18, the difference this time was that there were not as many birds…… probably at least 60% less but just as much death if not more. Pelicans, Seagulls, Bull Redfish, Drum….you name it it was dead on the beach. Oil had hit Raccoon Island last week and the island was obviously manicured, BP had set up tents on the 2 adjoining Islands. All of the boom that was on the island and on top the jetties was gone, and the island was flat where it once had a more natural terrain….two of the pelicans had died very recently, and it was most disturbing that one of them was hooked to a sparkle beetle which was tangled in dead mangrove…….I have no doubt that either Wildlife and Fisheries or BP workers had to have seen this Pelican while alive and just left him there to die. A lot of the dead birds stomach cavities were open and a brown sludge covered the inside, with the scent of oil……necropsies will be performed on the specimens retrieved. We also took a specimen of the green sludge the birds were drinking out of in the middle of the island.
See the rest of my coverage from mid may up to date at http://nativeorleanian.com/category/bp-oil-spill/

This is a report done with Nancy Parker and FOX 8 New Orleans after my last visit, you would think things might have changed, even a little….

Trip to Grand Isle and Timbalier Bay July 29

jmoran — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 11:40:27 +0000

These are a few of the pics from our visit July 29th(you know, the day they announced no oil anywhere, all gone…evaporated…) that I have been able to get to, contrary to all reports we saw oil on and off shore, especially thick in the Timbalier Bay area, so much so that all canal entrances to Fouchon were boomed of……as far as the pictures of the island, imagine the bottom of Barataria Bay, all these are are images of what it could potentially look like under water, the tide is just out here……another busy and informative day tomorrow and Sunday, am hoping for a little shade, think i’m outa luck though….

See the rest of my coverage from mid may up to date at http://nativeorleanian.com/category/bp-oil-spill/

“BP’s Oil Island” couple miles east of Grand Isle Revisited 7/29 Original Visit 7/9. from Jerry Moran on Vimeo.

We visited this Island on July 9th and were astounded that it appeared to have not been touched by BP. On out visit yesterday, not surprisingly, the island was untouched by BP, but not by oil….much more devastation. There were birds on the island, no dead ones, which doesn’t make much sense, since there are dead fish, crabs and everything else……..apparently some is cleaning the carcases, because every other island I have been on, which is far less affected than this one, it littered with dead birds…most all bird feces on island contains blood…..the video speaks for itself…..
See prior coverage from this island from here at http://nativeorleanian.com/trip-to-grand-isle-july-7-around-the-marsh/

John Mooney with Stanton Moore at dba New Orleans

jmoran — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 14:47:22 +0000

Awesome show as usual from John on Friday, an added surprise was Stanton Moore on drums, the guys set the place on fire for sure. Over the years I have seen John solo, and with many other musicians in the Bluesiana Band. One of the numerous perks of being from here is that we are constantly spoiled by the caliber of music available on a daily basis, and it is always a treat to see our best musicians mix it up outside of their primary band. It’s kind of a normal occurrence, John and Stanton’s energy on the same stage is one that I have thought about over the years, and seeing it confirmed everything I thought it would be, another special musical night in N’Awlins at where a lot of these shows occur, dba, , like we don’t have enough of them already…..

Support On Wings of Care

jmoran — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 14:20:29 +0000

Another invaluable partner in my documentation of the BP OIL Spill from the air is Bonny Shumaker “The Passionate Fearless Pilot” Ph.D., ATP, CFI-AIM Founder of non profit On Wings of Care, where all donations go to the fulfillment of the nonprofit mission of OnWingsOfCare.org“ promoting the welfare of wildlife and their habitats by helping with searches, rescues, transports, rehabilitation, and scientific research. Bonny and OWOC have been instrumental in putting people like myse…lf and others in the position to document the truth and reality of what is happening on the ground by literally having chart flight plans charted by locals like me to investigate areas not easily accessible…..I strongly support the efforts of OWOC and encourage you to access the website below to find out more and support this very very important organization. Many have asked me how they can help, well here is one way that has and will continue to have a direct impact in Louisiana, you can see some of my work with Bonny from the last few weeks at http://nativeorleanian.com/bp-oil-disaster-from-a-pelicans-view/ and http://nativeorleanian.com/fly-over-bp-oil-spill-site-july-12/

Here is a vid from July 29 with Bonnie and NBC News…..

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Unforgettable trip to Raccoon Island July 18

jmoran — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 20:13:40 +0000

Yesterday is a day I will not forget anytime soon. I took a boat trip to Raccoon Island, which is about 20 miles south of Cocodrie, with a photog friend of mine Andy Levin. While covering the BP Oil Spill, Disaster, whatever they want to call it, from Venice to Fouchon over the past two months I have seen a lot of s…tuff, but nothing really prepared me for what I saw yesterday……..It is my impression that the farther away the oil has hit, the less attention it gets from BP. Raccoon Island is the largest Pelican Rookery in Louisiana, much larger that Queen Bess in Grand Isle or Cat Island. I have never been on the 2 islands in Grand Isle, but have wondered many times what was on them, besides the dead animals you could see from the boom, or the oiled garbage left on the shores by BP. Something else I have noticed at the Grand Isle rookeries on three visits over a 6 week period is that the population of the birds is declining steadily, specifically on my trip last week when a guesstimate would be a 60 to 70 % decline in mostly adults, leaving the young to fend for themselves in the oil and corexit infested waters. Some of my questions were answered yesterday on Racoon island, where death is everywhere and I mean everywhere, even though visible oil is much less an issue, which concerns me greatly. A lot of the birds that weren’t dead, were obviously poisoned, almost acting drunk and dazed. Some were hardly walking, and some were alive, but lying where they will surely expire, some were actually fighting each other for food(surely contaminated)…….It is really hard for me to believe that nothing can be done to curb what is no less than the extermination of our beloved state bird, along with thousands of other birds and animals. There are not many times where I have just stopped shooting and left….yesterday was one of those day’s.

Additionally today 7-21-10 oday I went down to Cocodrie again, this time with Nancy Parker, who by the way is one of the nicest and real down to earth people I have ever met, and Photojournalist Paul Rogers…….our intentions were to go back to Raccoon Island. Unfortunately we experienced some boat engine issues and did not make it. t some extraordinarily nice guys on this boat and spent some quality time talking with them…..very good people put in an awkward and unfortunate position….They said today was the best day they have had, picking us up, since they started working……They were from everywhere, Grand Isle, New Orleans, Houma…..it was nice to put a face on the workers who I am sure are trying their best, with “hands tied”….The story should run tomorrow night….and we will return…….

See the rest of my coverage from mid may up to date at http://nativeorleanian.com/category/bp-oil-spill/

Fly over BP Oil Spill site July 12

jmoran — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 12:12:31 +0000

Nothing to surprising on fly over today, went straight out to site, then back up east Plaquemines Parish up to Point a la Hache, then out to Chandelier Islands, basically the sheen and oil is everywhere, very strange color, metallic green perhaps, big difference today was there was no blue water to be seen, all covered …by what appears to be a thick layer of “dispersed” oil………Really unbelievable since the well has been without a cap for 2 days and all of the oil appears to be dispersed…..like a huge corexit bomb. The funny thing is we were listening to the radio communications, everyone’s looking for oil to skim but no one could find it, if they could see from above, they were all in it…..you can’t skim this stuff……I can’t even see how light gets thru, in addition to the toxicity……

COMPLETE COVERAGE AND MANY MORE POSTS AT THIS LINK http://nativeorleanian.com/category/bp-oil-spill/

Trip to Grand Isle July 7 around the marsh impact from BP Oil Spill

jmoran — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 19:24:41 +0000

Went down to Grand Isle yesterday with a film crew I am working with and some new friends…Wallace J. Nichols (Turtles.org) and Dr. Chris Pintecich, this is a video from an island east of Grand Isle on the gulf, one of the that the BP Oil spill has destroyed………..Once again it seems that is the public and press can get to it, a show is put on for the public…if not….this is the result……..Will write up observations in a bit….Went down to Grand Isle yesterday with a film crew I am working with and some new friends…Wallace J. Nichols (Turtles.org) and Dr. Chris Pintecich, this is a video from an island east of Grand Isle on the gulf, one of the that the BP Oil spill has destroyed…..additionally without being long winded, noticed several other things that are happening…..in general, the bird population has DRASTICALLY reduced…..I noticed an expected drop last week, but this week at least a 60% drop…..if anyone has any idea what happened, besides the obvious…would love to know……We did see some dolphins, once again in pods digging by the shore for food which is at a minimum…..you will notice in the images the orange tint to the water where thery have been “digging”….FYI the color of the mud at the bottom of the marsh is black not orangish…we took samples, I of course smelled it….oil…..some of the dolphins seemed to have sores or scrapes either on the body or fins….The tide vas VERY high in the morning, but dropped drastically in the evening, this is when we went to the island east of Grand Isle…the images speak for themselves…..you can see all my coverage for the past month and a half at http://nativeorleanian.com/category/bp-oil-spill/

This is a video shot by Wallace J Nichols from our boat yesterday right east Grand Terre Island……it starts above water and ends up on the bottom…….there’s a familiar color down there….what do you think???

BP Oil Disaster from a Pelicans View

jmoran — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 12:12:03 +0000

On my trip to the site this am, I don’t know what I expected to see that would surprise me, kinda beyond shockable at this point……..I did find it to be one of the more surreal experiences I’ve had in a long while…Basically the gulf looks like someone took a hammer and smashed it all over the place creating large deep bruises, kinda like a bad one you would get if someone kneed you in the thigh, the color it turns after a couple weeks. There was very little visible red oil floating today, bot ominous endless shadows and veins everywhere. Did not see one fish of any kind and very few birds. We saw ‘A Whale” the ship out there, perhaps it sucked up all the red stuff, don’t know….it was cruising around a few miles from the site, since it can’t get too close …..the marshes are a disaster, from Timbelier Bay all the way to Grand Isle(although Grand Isle is neater than the rest, you know staging area….)…On the east side of the river….there was a bright green substance that appeared to be dropped all over the oil in the marsh, microbes perhaps??? One thing became very apparent to me today, if the media can’t get to it, or you can keep the public away, nothing gets done there……..period. And there are a lot of such areas….have some more when I have time…I think you get the picture here though…

Trip with Wildlife and Fisheries Pelican Rescue Grand Isle BP Oil Soil July 2

jmoran — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 14:32:17 +0000

Images from trip this morning to Queen Bess Island and Cat Island east of Grand Isle……..My initial feelings on what In saw out there were pretty disturbed, but happy to see that the young pelicans I met a couple weeks ago had grown, at least the ones left……….but now that I look at the stills, I am speechless at what I see now, that I could not see from the distance we were shooting from……I really don’t have anything constructive to say right now….except that our guides from the Wildlife and Fisheries and Boat captain were most helpful in making sure we saw what we needed too, thanks guys!
Off to Venice tomorrow…..
though one thing I did notice since my last trip there about 3 weeks ago, a lot of the adults are not there, there are many young pelicans that seem to be on their own….

Probably in response to the "exposed" results of the storm, BP is now trying to keep media even further away from their work...."Coast Guard now enforcing 65 foot distance from any booms on the beaches or in the water including media.....this will make it even harder to photograph the oil spill. This would mean that almost every photograph I have taken the last two weeks could result in a Class D felony....this is absolutely a completely unnecessary restriction of the right of civilians to document the pollution of American waterways and beaches." To add insult to injury, this gives you a good idea of how many layers the beach has been covered with by the workers....I wonder where they are getting all the new sand literally packed with the shells of dead sea critters.......

Impact of BP Oil Spill on Grand Isle during Hurricane Alex July 28 and 30

jmoran — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 14:40:59 +0000

6-30 Still too rough yesterday to go out on a boat, generally the impact of that 20 mile long patch of oil that was off the coast of Grand Isle was at this point, somewhat visually muted……the surf seems to have broken it up pretty good, except at Fourchon about 5 miles away where heavy oil did hit the beach….regardless, as you can see the sheen was thick on the water, even in rough seas. There was a very strange hissing coming from the suryf along with a milky soup texture easily visible and extending as far as the eye can see, the results of dispersant. In the coming days I am sure we will see the results of the submerged oil on the islands and marsh behind Grand Isle and in Barataria Bay….as the water and wind aided surf was flowing through the passes with a vengeance.

6-28 Upon arriving to Grand Isle yesterday, I unfortunately received a call from the Wildlife and Fisheries informing me that all rescue operations were cancelled due to the weather…..I have been rescheduled for trips this Friday in Grand Isle and Saturday in Venice….which is probably a good thing considering the amount of oil that will come in today and tomorrow…..I did stay on the island most of the day…..none of the ominous 20 mile vein of heavy crude reached shore yesterday, but with all of the activity, helicopters etc…it couldn’t have been far off the coast….these are a set of images/impressions from the day….