I had heard about the catastrophes of Hurricane Katrina. I knew that people had to leave their homes and that the water level had been so high that people couldn’t drive or walk safely in the streets. I had heard all this, but until last night, I had never actually seen photographs of the devastation that occurred in New Orleans.

Thomas Neff, the photographer that spoke to us at the Meet the Artist event, captured the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina in beautiful photographs: Beautiful, but not aesthetic (as someone at the event had so eloquently stated).

Most of the pictures he had shown us were not pictures of the natural disaster itself, but pictures of the people, the heroes, who had survived. The people that he had met had such interesting stories, and that is why I think he chose to photograph them.

Some photographers try to tell a story through their pictures. They want the audience to see their art in an exhibit and interpret the picture by creating a story. Thomas Neff had a different purpose. He would show a picture on the projector and begin to give a background about the person, the place, and the situation. His photographs were there to help illustrate the story, which is something we have not yet discussed about art. Sometimes a background story is vital to understanding a photograph. Sometimes photography is not about the audiences’ interpretations.