In his ongoing blog, photographer and environmental activist J Henry Fair, a frequent contributor to OnEarth Magazine, is sharing stories about his work and thoughts on current environmental affairs. You can follow along here.
Arrive at FairHope, AL Airport, thunderstorms approaching.
We decide to go eat breakfast and wait for storms to pass. Grits not bad, biscuits mediocre.
Taking off in a Cessna 182.
Rear seats and cargo door have been removed to enable photography.
As we get offshore, I see sunshine on Dauphin Island, which has had “no swim” directives issued today, as the oil is supposed to hit Alabama shores today.
Seeing first oil. Bright red tendrils and sheen on the water. Dodging thunderstorms as we make our way out to “the source” as it’s called. It’s a bit surreal like Apocalypse Now, going through the clouds, music playing in the headphones, knowing they are right now desperately trying to cap the gushing pipe on the floor of the ocean.
We count 37 vessels involved in skimming operations, and 15 ships at the source. There are two drill rigs, one drill ship, and one utility rig at the source.
Everything leaves a wake of oil, either from its movement or the current. The skimmers are generally two boats with a boom/net between them. The oil is sometimes red, sometimes “oily” colored. Interestingly, it’s hard to shoot as the red is more visible when reflections are cut and the oily layer on the surface shows up with the reflected light.
Other rigs on the water seem to be operating “business as usual.”
Don’t see the beaches covered in oil that the media has led me to expect. Maybe that’s further west in Louisiana?
Everywhere there is an expectation of disaster approaching. This must be similar to the approach of a hurricane.
For years I have expected an infrastructure disaster here in “hurricane alley” where 40% of our oil is refined. Not sure what percent originates here.
To see a few more images from the Gulf, click here.
Photographer J Henry Fair is best known for his Industrial Scars series, in which he researches our world’s most egregious environmental disasters and creates images that are simultaneously stunning and horrifying. His photographs captivate audiences, as they more
...Photographer J Henry Fair is best known for his Industrial Scars series, in which he researches our world’s most egregious environmental disasters and creates images that are simultaneously stunning and horrifying. His photographs captivate audiences, as they more closely resemble abstract paintings by Georgia O’Keeffe and Jackson Pollock than the disturbing scenes of actual reality that they depict. Mr. Fair’s work has been featured in segments on The TODAY Show, CNN, FOX News, and WDR German TV, as well as in most major publications, including National Geographic, TIME, New York Magazine, Harper’s Magazine, and GQ. Additionally, Mr. Fair’s work travels around the world in fine art exhibitions at major museums, galleries, and educational institutions.
Mr. Fair has an active lecture schedule, presenting photographic symposia to audiences in the US and abroad. Recent engagements include The Collegiate School, Bloomberg, Die Spedition, and Green Mountain College, where Mr. Fair will return this fall for an artist-in-residency. He gives readers a first-hand look inside the important issues he studies, writing and blogging about art and the environment, and is a regular contributor to the Huffington Post.
J Henry Fair supports a number of environmental organizations that share his commitment to changing destructive consumer habits and effecting positive change in our environment. He is co-founder of the Wolf Conservation Center in South Salem, NY, an organization that is dedicated to the protection of and education about the world’s wolf population.
Mr. Fair’s first book, The Day After Tomorrow: Images of Our Earth in Crisis will be released Fall, 2010, published by powerHouse Books in cooperation with Random House. His work is represented exclusively in New York City and Santa Fe by Gerald Peters Gallery.
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