I spent the day with the Deepwater Horizon cleanup crew, ask me anything!

[AlabamaLibrul]

Lesson of the day: sometimes you just have to talk to people.

I was out at the beach today, shooting with my trusty, beat-up Minolta XE-7 and a roll of Fuji Neopan. The oil started rolling up, and the crew was soon in full force. I did something that I had only thought of before; I finally decided I was going to get some photos of the cleanup itself.

Despite the videos on the internet of journalists being harassed by BP security folks, I found very little resistance in my attempts to do so. I did get accosted by the "management" folks or whatever you want to call them a couple times, but the cleanup crew and I were chatting, cracking jokes, and so I was able to continue with their blessing.

It was a very unique experience; one that I know very few officially connected with the media have been able to do.

I'm processing the film shortly, and I'll be making a more in-depth topic and posting the photos into GD tomorrow.

[nolabear]

1. Wonderful! I can't wait to see the photos!

I'm glad you and they both went in with a cooperative spirit. Thanks for being our eyes.

[AlabamaLibrul]

2. As it had always happened, I wasn't down there with the intention of seeing the cleanup folks.

I was really out trying to refine the ridiculous attempts I've made at "street photography", whatever that means. Mostly just people who stand out.

There is no resentment to be held with anyone local here and the cleanup workers, as they did not cause the disaster and they're the ones really standing up and making sure it gets done. It's not work I'd want to do for the health risks, and I have a great deal of respect for them. In fact, one of the guys I talked to a lot is actually currently in the process of writing a book about his experience. I wish him and all the others the best, and hope against evidence that there are no long-term health effects from their noble work.

I've never been so... excited? about a set of photos before. This just had an air of being somewhere larger than myself, realizing the world through the eyes cleaning up this terrible mess that was brought upon us. It was an amazingly unique experience that I doubt I'll ever be able to duplicate like this again.

[pitohui]

3. nice work!

i really don't think bp has been shitty, and i think they've been pretty transparent and it's just cool tho that a "real" person can verify this

i will look for yr photos on GD

[AlabamaLibrul]

4. I have to disagree with your idea about BP.

The people on the ground doing the manual work are far more transparent, and have been for the past five months and six days, than "BP" as an entity has ever been.

Clearly the spirit of those higher-up is still in the realm of hostility, because when I say that I was accosted it was really closer to "the dudes sitting on ATVs tried to run me off and my new friends in the cleanup crew told them to shove it". It was why the hell are you doing this, why the hell are you doing that, these people aren't comfortable with you photographing them (a blatant lie immediately refuted by the people I was photographing), what is this going to be for, how are you using it, who are you with, on and on and on.

The people doing the cleanup work are far more transparent than the people handling the money end of things, and even then it seems like the people supervising the cleanup have the same attitude that led to the bullying of the fella from the Times-Picayune (and just about any other journalist) who tried to interview workers.

Quite frankly, it comes down to that old, typically right-wing canard that "if you've done nothing wrong, you have nothing to hide". The people wearing the gloves and boots are doing a noble job. The people holding up the claims process and who have been lying about the state of and amount of oil in the water are not.

Here's a referenced article on some of the stuff journalists, photographers, and bloggers have been facing:
http://journalism.about.com/b/2010/07/13/reporters-covering-bp-oil-spill-still-face-harassment.htm