Atchafalaya Memories

On August 17, 2011 LPB will broadcast my Atchafalaya Movie that originally premiered in the spring of 1977 at the LSU Student Union Theater to a standing room only crowd of 1,400 people.  LPB is going to show it during their summer fundraiser evening.  This brings back fond memories of my carefree early days in the Basin.

Meeting the people I called swampers was a big part of those recollections.  Calvin Voison and Gwen Carpenter Roland were two of the first swampers I met and we became fast friends.  I just saw a post in Gwen's Facebook page that told about her favorite picture I took of her. In the photo she is looking out the window of Pajo Curry's shack on the Atchafalaya River. 

Gwen Carpenter at Pajo Curry's shack

I wasn't a people photographer at all when I first entered the Atchafalaya.   The long stretches of calm and peaceful days out there exploring alone in my canoe made me appreciate the times I ran into the swamp people. I learned to photograph them from afar and not get in their way.  And in this way I learned people photography.

I'll post some more memories on my early days in the swamp before LPB shows, Atchafalaya: America's Largest River Basin Swamp.