USA Projects

BP Claims Office,
Venice, LA

Dear Friends,


I just got back from my second trip to Louisiana and Mississippi and I'm
continuing to work on On The Beach. Actually, I'm nonstop working on it.


It's an extraordinarily difficult project for me, because of how difficult
it is to figure out the structure of this project but primarily because this
catastrophe is just so fucking horrible.


Now, there's 3 more days to fund On The Beach and I'm looking for another
1500 bucks so I can return to Southern Louisiana to shoot the Shrimp and
Petroleum festival in Morgan City. If you know someone who might want to
contribute to On The Beach, please pass the word. THANKS!


Without the money that folks donated to the project through the United
States Artists funding structure, I would not have been able to make either
of these trips down to the Gulf Coast. Thanks to all who contributed
financially, and to all who contributed with emotional support. I am
incredibly grateful. Thanks to Pew who kicked in some money as well.


Next week I'll be in Brighton for gay pride to produce a project for the
Brighton photo biennial. Get ready for me to gay it up. Drop me a line if
you'll be in Brighton/ Hove next week.


Also, glad my mom is back from Japan.


With Love,
ZS




http://onthebeach-zs.blogspot.com/



Please read this...


http://onthebeach-zs.blogspot.com/2010/07/at-airport-on-way-home-i-met-guy-jack.html

Update...

http://onthebeach-zs.blogspot.com/

Hi Friends,

I'm working like 90 hours a day on On The Beach and have decided to create a site that will be my focus for the next 2 weeks as I edit my photos and structure the project. Posting here will be non-existant, or maybe just sporadic, as I plan my second trip and edit my work from the first trip.

Please check it out at http://onthebeach-zs.blogspot.com/

Be back here in about 2 weeks.

With Love,
ZS

Still working

I'm still working on sorting the photos and updating my digital contact sheets on flickr and my blog. By the end of the day I should have most sorted for the first go round and will be making my plan to go back.

http://zoestrauss.blogspot.com/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27822510@N00/

Dear Friends and Supporters,

I am back from my first trip to the Gulf Coast and I can't thank you enough for your support, which allowed me to go and record a little of what's happening. Unfortunately, I'm coming back with horrible news from the Gulf. From what I saw, the Southern US Gulf Coast in Louisiana and Mississippi will be destroyed for at least a generation. The disaster is so much bigger than I imagined. It reaches in every direction, literally and metaphorically, and will impact all of us for years to come. I prepared myself for something big, but I don't have either words or photos to articulate the enormity of what I saw on this short trip.

I have begun to upload photos and will have a full update for you guys as soon as possible, most likely Tuesday. You know, I'm not a journalist and I don't know my ass from a hole in the ground when it comes to journalism, but there's a BIG problem when it's just me and two "tea party broadcast" Long Island guys recording on a beach in Waveland, MS. Correct, that's who was there recording, me and 2 tea party nuts, one in a Gadsden flag NRA hat. On a beach that had oil in every form coming and coming and coming up on the beach and through the sea walls and into the marshes. As an aside, the tea party men were nice guys who were shocked by what they were seeing, even though they implicitly support the deregulation that caused this ecological disaster.

There's been a lot of issues with preventing media from getting access to oiled shores, but in truth people on visibly oiled beaches should be fully equipped with disposable suits and with respirators and a place to decontaminate. Waveland hadn't begun to be policed like Southern Louisiana is, but I'm going to guess that it might come to that.

The clean up crews were told not to talk to any media or anyone at all or they would be fired. In southern Louisiana people can't see the most affected beaches and areas unless they are embedded with the Coast Guard. By embedding with the Coast Guard, THANKS PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY, I was fortunate enough to be able to fly over the site of the gusher and make some photos of it. Those photos aren't great but I found it incredibly important to see just how far it is from the source to the coast in Waveland, MS where the beaches were covered in oil.

The origin of this project was to focus on the waiting for landfall and it is with tremendous sadness that I think the project will also be about recording some of what's going to destroy Southern US Gulf culture. I am planning to go back and go to Florida and Alabama... this first trip was Southern Louisiana and Mississippi.

I'll be updating my flickr page with photos as I sort them, but they'll go up with no description.

You can check them out as I post them here...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27822510@N00/

More later.

With Love and Thanks,
ZS

I haven't evern looked a most of my photos yet and I'm sound asleep, but check this out...

http://zoestrauss.blogspot.com/2010/07/stephen-and-matt-on-oiled-beach8136-web.html

No updates for a few days, I'm working all day and getting back and saving photos, falling asleep and then getting up and going again. Thanks to the NRDC and Ryan's Cajun Adventures for the boat ride today.

I believe that this project is incredibly important to work on... I had no idea how devastating and far reaching this disaster is, it's massive.

Thanks so much for your support. I'll be damned if I don't make you proud!

Thanks so much to everyone who has donated to "On The Beach." Thank you and thank you.

I will be posting all of my updates here and look forward to letting everyone know what's the what.

THANKS!

My press pass is courtesy of the Philadelphia Weekly and I have an overflight scheduled for Tuesday or Thursday at 9AM, flying out of Houma, LA.

Flight and Hotel:

Mon, Jul 5, 2010

(PHL) to (MSY)

Depart: 07:15am

Philadelphia, PA (PHL) to
Atlanta, GA (ATL)

1 Stop – change planes in Atlanta, GA (ATL)

Atlanta, GA (ATL) to
New Orleans, LA (MSY)

Arrive: 11:39am

-----

Fri, Jul 9, 2010

(MSY) to (PHL)

Depart: 04:05pm

New Orleans, LA (MSY) to
Atlanta, GA (ATL)

1 Stop – change planes in Atlanta, GA (ATL)

Atlanta, GA (ATL) to
Philadelphia, PA (PHL)

Arrive: 11:41pm


Delta Air Lines



-------

Staying at:

Quality Inn and Suites New Orleans
210 O KEEFE AVENUE
New Orleans, LA 70112

Hi Friends!

Just as I'm in the midst of planning this trip... my computer crashed today. However, I'm getting a loaner from my computer place, Springboard Media, and I should be back up with data installed on a loaner machine by tomorrow. Does this seem like a calm and collected update? Don't be fooled, histrionics ensued on my part, but I simmered down when they told me they could get all the data from the last couple days.

By tomorrow I'll have my itinerary planned and ready to send out to you guys.

Please help spreading the word... and thanks so much for you interest and support of my project.

OK, waiting to hear back from the Deepwater Horizon Joint Information Center to set my route...
Still waiting to hear, but I'm heading down to Houma, LA to fly over the spill. I'll be taking dramamine for the flight.

Spoke to folks at Unified Area Command , who put me in touch with Deepwater Horizon Joint Information Center, and I will be flying over the site sometime between July 5th and 9 Houma, LA.

The title for the project comes directly from Nevil Shute's post-apocalyptic novel, "On The Beach."