Hello Foto [02.16.07]…

February 16, 2007 | 12:05 AM

Monday I went to the Mississippi Gulf Coast with Katie. She likes to take pictures of trees, and I know of this amazing tree there called the Friendship Oak (in Long Beach, where I grew up). We met my parents over there and grabbed lunch and stopped by Lakeshore Baptist Church. Lakeshore was utterly demolished by Katrina, and my dad has been working through his church to help them rebuild their community and church. Don Elbourne, Jr., is their pastor, and a student here at NOBTS. He blogs at Locusts and Wild Honey.

After the short tour of Bay St. Louis and Lakeshore, Katie and I drove to Biloxi and followed Beach Blvd. back to Pass Christian, stopping in Long Beach once again to take pictures at the marina. I have a lot of memories of the marina and in particular the pier that jutted out into the Sound. The end of the pier is gone, but the long concrete walkway that led to it is still intact. I still remember catching mullet and watching others catch stingrays and sharks from the pier.

The first picture is of a pelican, of course. It was one of two that stood on the concrete barrier in the marina. Undaunted, it maintained its position as I walked to within about ten feet to take its picture. The second picture is of the sun setting over the Mississippi Sound. As we drove back into New Orleans that evening, Katie mentioned that it looked like it was going to storm. That led to the discussion about tornadoes and my fascination with storm chasing. Ironically, that night in New Orleans, a tornado crossed the river and touched down just southwest of Katie’s house in Uptown, skipping over her, and touching down just a few blocks northeast. It would rise again and touch down just a few blocks from NOBTS and my apartment, where it killed one lady in her home. I heard the wind roaring outside around 3 AM, and around 3:30 the power went out a couple times, before staying on. I went outside for a few seconds just to see if everything was alright, and apparently that’s just a minute or so before the tornado set back down to my northeast (that’d be off to my front and left, based on where my apartment is). It was pretty calm outside when I shut the door, but it seems a few seconds later it wouldn’t be. Amazing.

Anyway, you can see all my photos here and you can see the Friday Photo contributions here. For my photoblog, go here. For Friday Poetry, go to Brent Thomas. Finally, Josh Brown thinks Friday is for Dwight.

Posted in Hello Foto Series, Life, New Orleans, Photography