Hurricane Gustav Evacuees

When evacuees from Hurricane Katrina were brought to Camp Gruber three years ago, a former colleague and I discussed a way we could take a little bit different angle on the news. We never got the chance to spend time on it, but when Oklahoma City received evacuees from Hurricane Gustav, I decided to give it a try. The idea was to photograph people holding the one item that they couldn’t bear to leave behind. I bought a tarp to use as a background and used two off camera strobes to light the subjects. Because the media wasn’t allowed inside the building, except on guided tours, I set up in the media area and passed out flyers and talked to anybody who would listen about my portrait project. I photographed people holding the item and recorded them talking about it. If you get the chance, take a look at the slideshow.