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Kenneth Taylor recollects how high the flood waters reached into the first floor of his home in the Lakeview neighborhood in New Orleans, La. A neighborhood comprised mostly of upper-middle class white families, where some of the worst flooding occurred in the days after Hurricane Katrina made landfall in 2005. Councilman James Gray looks out at what used to be called 'The Plaza' prior to Hurricane Katrina. This was a multi city block shopping and commercial development in New Orleans East, La. He says the city has recently approved a developer to begin building a similar complex that will be even bigger and bring 50 new stores, shops, and restaurants to New Orleans East. Construction is slated to begin before the end of 2015. Doris Banks, her niece Erika Banks, Erika's son Kanye, her sister Pansy Banks with her grandson Jeremiah, in Doris’ apartment in New Orleans East, La. Kenneth Taylor with his family, Sheryl, John Christian, Sadie, Hoppy and Sport, in their Lakeview, New Orleans home that was heavily damaged by 8-10 feet of floodwater after Hurricane Katrina. Councilman James Gray and his wife, Judge Ernestine Gray, in their home in New Orleans East, La. An area that was particularly heavily damaged with flooding and home to a large middle-class black community. Vanessa Gueringer massages lotion onto the hand of her husband, Hank Gueringer, inside their home in the Holy Cross neighborhood in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, La. A look at the marsh and bayou surrounding Barataria Preserve, just outside of New Orleans, La. A man fishes in the evening on the west bank of the Mississippi River in Algiers, La. Vanessa Gueringer has become a self proclaimed activist post-Katrina. She has consistently fought for her and other’s rights in her neighborhood in the Lower Ninth Ward after dealing with the bureaucracy of aid money, rebuilding, dead beat contractors, lack of resources, social and economic favoritism etc. New homes built directly behind the part of the industrial canal levee wall that broke, inundating most of the Lower Ninth Ward with 10-15 feet of water, the first of the breaches that flooded New Orleans in 2005. A prayer book belonging to Jeremiah Osbey, who prays each morning before school. The Orleans canal levee wall that was never finished prior to Hurricane Katrina. The storm surge spilled over and around the wall at this point and flooded City Park and much of the Lakeview and Gentilly neighborhoods. Vanessa Gueringer cares for her husband, Hank Gueringer, who had a stroke while attempting to fix their home after Hurricane Katrina destroyed the Lower Ninth Ward. Mayor Mitch Landrieu greets a young boy before holding an annual district budget meeting with the community of the Lower Ninth Ward. A view of the Lakeview neighborhood in New Orleans. A prominently white, upper-middle class neighborhood which suffered some of the worst damage in the days after Hurricane Katrina made landfall. Kids play in the outfield during a Biloxi Shuckers baseball game at the new MGM Park in Biloxi, Ms. Mississippi spent over $20 million in aid money to build this baseball park, while much of the businesses, and homes in the immediate surrounding area have not been rebuilt. Baseball trophies on the mantle in the home of Jeremiah and Donnis Osbey. Jeremiah Osbey, a fifth-grader, sprays on cologne before going to school. He has autism and has moved schools many times in New Orleans since Katrina due to a severe lack of special needs programs post-Katrina. Donnis Osbey kisses her son, Jeremiah, goodbye after walking him to Lawrence D. Crocker College Prep. Desi Grimes gets a hug from her youngest daughter Destiney Gloster, at Desi’s mother-in-law’s house in Algiers, La. The children in the Grimes/Gloster family sit in their grandmother’s house. They live here so they can attend a better school in Algiers, La. while their mother looks for a new, affordable apartment in the area, which has proven difficult for Desi Grimes as the rent prices in New Orleans continue to skyrocket post-Katrina. Vanessa Gueringer watches television in her mother, Fabiola Miller’s, bedroom in the Lower Ninth Ward. It took years to get the federal aid money from the government to rebuild her mother’s home. Kenneth Taylor reads the paper in his renovated home in Lakeview, New Orleans. A young girl plays in her toy kitchen in the Hollygrove neighborhood of New Orleans. A corner store and grocery is seen in the background and is one of only 4 similar stores for the residents of Hollygrove to source their food, in what has historically been a black neighborhood. Doris Banks at her job working as a manager at Taco Bell in Metairie, La. A mentor who met her in Houston, Tx. after fleeing from Katrina, helped her land the job so that she can be near her family again. Robert Johnson drinks a beer atop his horse, Buddy Prince, before he and some friend ride their horses into the French Quarter. Black, urban cowboys are a common sight in New Orleans, and the tradition of stunt riding during second line parades continues today. Overgrown lots that have never been rebuilt post-Katrina in the Lower Ninth Ward. Jeremiah Osbey at a ‘family fun-day’ at Lawrence D. Crocker College Prep. Jeremiah struggles to get along with his classmates, but has had more success at Lawrence D. Crocker than other schools he has attended in New Orleans. A man addresses Mayor Mitch Landrieu at the annual district budgetary meetings in the Lower Ninth Ward. A Starbucks coffee shop in Lakeview permanently marked the outside of the building with a line showing how high the flood waters reached. Ramiro Diaz points to part of the Urban Water Plan he, along with Waggoner and Ball Architects (among others), was commissioned to give officials of Louisiana a roadmap of how south Louisiana can better address coexisting with water as opposed to fighting it. Downtown New Orleans from Algiers on the west bank of the Mississippi River.
2015 marked the 10 year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. I photographed many different assignments over July and August for a variety of publications, but the biggest takeaway from all the work I shot, and all the people I met, was the disparity in different people's recovery over the last 10 years. Rich, poor, black, white, uptown, downtown—the perception of recovery is drastically different depending on where you are looking and who you are talking to.
Hurricane Katrina––Disparity in Recovery for The Wall Street Journal, Five Thirty Eight, Yahoo News, ESPN the Magazine, IBTimes