On Thursday night, I ventured across Manhattan to the Macaulay honors College to my first Meet the Artist event. I didn't really know what to expect at first, I was little informed about what exactly we would be experiencing there that night. I sat in my seat inside of the presentation room and as soon as Thomas Neff commenced his presentation, I thought to myself "Oh, boy...its going to be a long night." He was so soft-spoken and had such little projection or energy that I thought I would be bored out of my mind that night. That it, until he started showing us his photographs and his heart-warming story.

Thomas Neff traveled to New Orleans and documented the complete calamity that engulfed the entire Louisiana city after hurricane Katrina. For some reason, I feel like I never really knew how bad the Katrina catastrophe was. Recalling now, I was quite naive about the subject. I knew that it had happened and that so many people had lost their homes and had to be relocated to other cities, leaving behind everything they had worked all their lives for. Thomas Neff opened my eyes to realize how much information I had not known, and how selfish I was to have ignored such an occurrence that had affected the entire nation and had been just one of the reasons that gave our former president such infamy.

I was severely impressed by all of the photographs, particularly the ones about the people who stayed in their flooded homes because they refused to leave their pets behind. The first photograph of the old man who no one could get to leave his house, made me feel pretty sentimental. The attachment certain people had to their property, regardless of the dire circumstances they would have face when they chose to remain in them, a lack of basic necessities, really touched me emotionally. They either didn't want to leave their house because of their pets, they didn't want to leave the house itself, or they just refused to leave without good reason. It was even more heartbreaking to find out that the first responders were asked to hold out on the delivery of basic necessities to these people who remained in their homes to see if they would be able to "starve them out" of their severely flooded homes. How cruel can people be? Why wasn't our government giving New Orleans the aid they deserved? Why are people left in desolation at times when they need help the most? I was so glad to hear that Thomas Neff was one of the courageous and willing people that made a personal choice to visit New Orleans and not only help the victims, but also document what had happened so that the rest of the world would not remain blinded to the realities of the grave situation there. I was glad that people like Neff still existed in this world. 

Apart from the topic of his photography, I was impressed by how simplistic Neff was regarding his art. He was not shy, he would just go up to people talk to them for a little while, learn about their story and ask to take a picture. And even though his photographs are quite famous, he was not pompous or showy in the way he presented them. I feel that the fact that his photos were all black and white added to this simplistic nature he had about himself. I really loved all of them. They all gave significance to Barthes' insistent claim that the photograph is a certificate of presence. Looking at each of the photographs, I felt as if I could look through them, past the frame of the picture and imagine the reality of the subject itself, how they talked, how they moved and I pictured their unfortunate surroundings. 

Thanks to Thomas Neff, I've become a little bit more aware of what really happened during Hurricane Katrina. And I'm honestly grateful.