I arrived to the meet the artist event exhausted, after not realizing Central Park would be in between the 6 train and the Macaulay Building and having to speed walk there so that I could make it before the speaker began. I made it just in time. When the photographer began speaking I was surprised to hear his photographs would be based on Hurricane Katrina. I remember the incident well, but as many times as I've read about it or seen the destructive pictures in the news, I never thought about it as intimately as I did throughout the presentation.

As news, the destruction of Hurricane Katrina was made up of statistics of how many people were killed, how many lost their homes, how many were relocated, and how poor the quality of life was after the hurricane. Rarely was I able to put all of this information into perspective and truly feel the impact. Not see but feel.

With each photograph, I would look at the subject and feel a sort of connection that was a little confusing at first. I did not know who ever the person was so how could I claim to have any kind of bond? Yet, as the photographer would tell their story and his experience with the person, I could almost see it in my head. I could perfectly imagine the person speaking and walking; feel their pride, fear, hope, or desperation. By the end of the story I felt like I truly knew the person in the photograph. Each photograph had a different feeling; of course, it was a different person with a different story.

I credit this amazing ability not only to the actual photograph but to the photographer as well. If I were to see these photographs on a screen or in a book with absolutely no words, I'm sure I would feel the same initial instinctive connection to the person, but I am not so sure that I would be able to truly understand the person as I felt I did when the photographer described their story. This ability to release a story, instead of show a person in a given place, is what makes this type of photography so artistic to me. It evokes emotion: sympathy and worry.

I think that's what the photographer is working with; the connection that people have toward each other, regardless of any divisional factors. We as New Yorkers were intimately hurt during attacks such as 9/11. We can all relate to this incident. However, through this type of work we can feel this same intimate connection to everyone.