[Leica] Divided D-76, and the lower 9th ward

[jsmith342 at cox.net (Jeffery Smith)]

I should have taken a picture of a group of people who have set up shop and
are voicing their intention to "come home". I needed a 21mm lens to get a
shot of them looking so optimistic while surrounded by complete ruins. There
is no way to rebuild that area of the city without razing it first.
Everything is covered with a layer of muck that should probably be scraped
off and deposited in a landfill away from civilization. Lakeview is a
different story. The houses need to be gutted, treated for mold and
bacteria, and then rebuilt. Lakeview was subjected to very slowly rising
waters that stayed for weeks. The lower 9th ward was subjected to a deluge
that ripped the houses from their foundations and then just sat
there...followed by a second deluge with Rita three weeks later. The body of
water that ripped through the levee in the lower 9th ward is more river-like
than the two drainage ditches that flooded most of New Orleans. I'm going to
try to get a "driver" for me next week so I can jump out on the Claiborne
bridge and shoot 20-30 shots and jump back in. The view is scary, especially
with an enormous barge just inside the residential area.

Jeffery Smith
New Orleans, LA
http://www.400tx.com




-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+jsmith342=cox.net@leica-users.org
[mailto:lug-bounces+jsmith342=cox.net@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of Peter
Dzwig
Sent: Sunday, January 22, 2006 5:45 PM
To: Leica Users Group
Subject: Re: [Leica] Divided D-76, and the lower 9th ward


Jeffery Smith wrote:

> I spent an hour shooting two rolls of film in the lower 9th ward this 
> afternoon. I am not optimistic that anything will be of much interest. 
> There is so much devastation, it just looks like one might expect 
> after a nuclear bomb detonating 20 miles away. I did find a child's 
> toy rifle with a collection of barnacles on the stock (wish I had 
> taken a macro lens on an SLR). I hope to get at least a PAW out of the 
> 72 frames. Seeing so many of people's possesions in the ruins was 
> depressing, like someone emptied all of your drawers and closets into 
> the mud.
> 
> On another topic, I just mixed up a batch of divided D-76 (I was 
> getting to like D23 but my pastor somehow managed to knock all of the 
> bottles off my shelf last Wednesday, breaking every last one of them) 
> and am wondering what to expect. Theoretically, it is a good idea 
> (saturate the emulsion with developer, then place it in borax to 
> develop the image with little possibility of overdevelopment). Of 
> course, if it was good, everyone would be using it. Have ANY of you 
> used it? If so, how did you like the results? I'm also sort of 
> attracted to the temperature latitude (you don't need to measure 
> temperature at alll, which is good since my wife put my Wesson dial 
> thermometer in the oven when she baked some corn bread the other 
> day...she couldn't figure out why the oven never got warmer than 
> 125F).
> 
> Jeffery Smith
> New Orleans, LA
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
> 
> 
Look forward to seeing what you've got. I 've just been watching a longish
piece 
on BBC NEws 24 - from I think it was the Ninth. About the likelihood of
conflict 
between City and residents over the City's comments that the area will be 
flattened unless 50% of the residents come back. Some residents seem to be 
preparing for a long fight because they reckon that there will be far fewer
than 
50%, but they want to stay. It looked a scene of total desolation even now.

Peter Dzwig


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