Richard Adkins
Chief Photographer

There are many stories about the Hurricane Katrina, and so many of those stories are heartbreaking. I don’t want tell the tales of woe in New Orleans, this blog is supposed to be about News Photography, and I want to stick to that.

With less than 24 hours notice, I found myself embedded with the Army’s 82nd Airborne out of Fort Bragg. That’s right, 42 years old, with a lawn that desperately need attention, and now I’m going to do more before 8am than most people do all day.

Editing the story with the Mississippi River in the Background

Being embedded with the 82nd means going where they go, doing what they do, with little room for self-travel. So I found myself seated comfortably between a bunch of Army guys and a few Humvees in the back of a C-17-A cargo plane on my way to New Orleans.

We landed in New Orleans just before sunset… stepped off the plane and immediately saw damage at the New Orleans Airport. My partners, Photographer Keith Baker and Reporter Cullen Browder, and I ended up sleeping on the loading dock of the Fed-Ex building that first night while the military tried to get it’s plan in place.

We spent 2 days at the airport, sleeping on the floor, and reporting on the 82nd’s duties in securing the airport and helping the evacuees.


Photographer Keith Baker edits in the shade under the edge of a Humvee as a Med-evac helicopter lands nearby.
We finally left the airport and moved to New Orleans… that’s where we really got a first hand, up-close, view of what was going on. We would split-up and shoot three stories a day… often “bumming” rides from who ever we could.

Rather than write a long and detailed account of our trip, I think I’ll just keep this simple…. I’ll add new posts as the days go by. Right now, I just want to enjoy my day off!