Katrinaville Chronicles: Images and Observations from a New Orleans Photographer [Hardcover]

David G. Spielman (Author, Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2007

When Hurricane Katrina approached New Orleans, photographer David G. Spielman decided to stay and weather the storm, assisting his Uptown neighbors, the siters of the order of Poor Clare. Katrina passed, and as the flood waters filled the city, the scope of the devastation only gradually dawned on Spielman, who was cut off from outside communication. Faced with the greatest personal and professional challenge of his life, he determined to document the scene unfolding around him. He managed to secure a generator to power his laptop computer, and in the days, weeks, and months after August 29, 2005, he transmitted emails to hundreds of friends and clients and cautiously traversed the city taking photographs. Katrinaville Chronicles gathers Spielman’s images and observations, relating his unique perspective on and experience of a historic catastrophe. Spielman never expected his emails to survive beyond the day he sent them. But his descriptions of what he was seeing, hearing, smelling, thinking, feeling, and fearing in postKatrina New Orleans were forwarded again and again, even around the globe. They reveal the best and worst in Spielman: a Samaritan who becomes caretaker of the sisters’ monastery, as well as a stressed gent who frets about the lack of starched shirts and a decent cup of coffee. He rants about political leaders and voices a deep concern for his city's future. He tells of feeling overwhelmed, at a loss for words, unable to capture on film the individual tragedies manifested in home after destroyed home, many marked by death. His arresting blackandwhite photographs record the details of the disaster on both a grand and an intimate scale, at times recalling works by Walker Evans, Robert Frank, and Henri CartierBresson. What emerges above all is Spielman’s buoyant spirit. Living without electricity or running water and existing on peanut butter sandwiches, he nonetheless is able to appreciate the complete quiet and unadulterated starlight in a surreal city without power. He encourages his fellow citizens to see Katrina as an opportunity for improving upon the past and making a better tomorrow. Katrinaville Chronicles is Spielman’s inthemoment, very human response to and stunning visual record of—as he puts it—"a thing so huge I still can’t get my mind around it." AUTHOR BIO: David G. Spielman is a fine art, commercial, and journalistic photographer whose images have appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers, including the London Times, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Time, Newsweek, Forbes, and Architectural Digest. Southern Writers was his first book. His assignments have taken him to six continents, and his photographs are held in numerous private collections and museums. He lives in New Orleans.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

David G. Spielman is a fine art, commercial, and journalistic photographer whose images have appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers, including the London Times, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Time, Newsweek, Forbes, and Architectural Digest. Southern Writers was his first book. His assignments have taken him to six continents, and his photographs are held in numerous private collections and museums. He lives in New Orleans.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 131 pages
• Publisher: Louisiana State University Press; First Edition edition (April 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807132527
• ISBN-13: 978-0807132524
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 10.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,508,618 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #74 in Books > Travel > United States > States > Louisiana

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, May 13, 2007

By 

CARLOS HERNANDEZ (NEW ORLEANS, LA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Katrinaville Chronicles: Images and Observations from a New Orleans Photographer (Hardcover)

Mr. Spielman's approach in presenting the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina is excellent. He guides the reader, using photography, to relate the sequences of events in a very clear, realistic and poignant way, especially, on his photograph depicting the sick and the poor waiting for medical services in a cold morning in Audubon Park in December nearly three months after Hurricane Katrina made landfall. showing a Third World situation inside the world's most advanced and richest country. All because of bureaucratic red tape and FEMA inability to handle a catastrophy of such magnitude.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Accurate, riveting, revealing, September 4, 2007

By 

Jason Sitzes "Jasonscs" (Louisville KY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Katrinaville Chronicles: Images and Observations from a New Orleans Photographer (Hardcover)

I evacuated, returned to my own Uptown neighborhood eight weeks after the storm... and after just now looking at David's book I'm seeing it all over again. And, I'm seeing things I've never seen (Six Flags under 20+ feet of water). The emails walk you through what it was really like, the photos are reminders of what happened to this American city. All Americans should see these unique photos, this unique perspective, as we continue to try and fathom what happened here. This is the perfect presentation. I don't live in New Orleans anymore for a million reasons... but these photos take me 'home' again, and this is a book you will show your friends for years to come.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Record of an Epic Disaster, September 12, 2007

By 

K. R. Venable (Houston, Texas) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Katrinaville Chronicles: Images and Observations from a New Orleans Photographer (Hardcover)

David Spielman's book is both awesome and emotionally jarring. It's as close as one can come to experience Katrina without having been there.