Edward P Richards, III
email: richards@lsu.edu
I was born in Baton Rouge, and while I have lived around the United States, I returned to Louisiana in 2002 to teach at LSU. I am a professor at the Louisiana State University Law Center, and my legal work includes administrative law, public health law and disaster management, and national security law.
Hurricane Katrina illustrated the transient nature of Southern Louisiana. I started photographing the damage done by the storm as soon as the areas was opened for general traffic. I have continued to revisit these areas and rephotograph key sites to show the progress of the recovery. In the process, I realized that most of Southern Louisiana will disappear over the next 100 years. This lead to a long term project to document the man-made infrastructure of Southern Louisiana - the communities, and especially the churches which define community life. While others have developed a good record of New Orleans, the swamps, and the fine plantation homes, the Cajun fishing and oil field communities have not been documented. I record the location of each photograph with GPS data so that the location can be identified if the area is later destroyed.
I enjoy the cultural life of Southern Louisiana and also photograph the festivals and the musicians. It is my hope that we can develop a plan to relocate the unique communities of Southern Louisiana to higher ground away from the coast to prevent their being destroyed by the rising ocean and accompanying hurricanes.