A U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife worker puts a toe tag on a bird found dead in the wake of the oil spill in Grand Isle, La.  Photo taken by award-winning documentary photographer Zoriah on July 19.

Zoriah spent two weeks in the Gulf in late July to develop photos for a documentary essay that soon will be posted on his Web site.  He says he went to the Gulf for personal reasons because “there were so few photos of such a major event.  I spent weeks on the Internet looking for photographic coverage of the spill and there was next to nothing.  I could not ignore what a major event it was and how little documentation was coming from it.”

On his blog, he describes the project.  He also offered an outline to us of what he expected and what he found in Louisiana.  An excerpt:

“As a photojournalist I learn something new from each and every project I do.  Sometimes I come away from story with profound new facts and information that I never could have discovered had I not just gone and experienced it myself.  Sometimes what I learn is life changing, knowledge that opens my eyes and allows me to see the world and humanity in a completely new light.

“Other times I feel like I learn very little and in some cases I feel like I know less about a situation than I thought I did going into it.  This was my experience shooting the aftermath of the one of the worst oil spills in history, the BP Gulf Oil Spill.

“Going into the project I pictured angry fishermen protesting on the streets and fighting for their livelihood that had been passed down from generation to generation.  I pictured oil drenched beaches with dead animals strewn about and thick sludge as far as the eye could see.  I pictured conversations with scientists and wildlife officials that would open my eyes to new facts and information.  But what I actually found when I arrived was, for the most part, quite different. …

“Like most of the people involved in this spill, I came away from it not really knowing what I learned from it. Yes, I did see horrible things.  I saw massive amounts of oil in all kinds of strange forms in all kind of different places where it did not belong.  I saw oiled birds and fish, dead birds and fish and dying marshlands.  I saw beaches with oily shores and oil in the water as dolphins swam through, seemingly unaware.  I saw animal shelters overflowing with dogs and cats whose owners could not afford to keep them, bird rehabilitation shelters with workers diligently cleaning animals and fishermen with unknown fates.  There are all kinds of effects from this spill that can be seen right now, but to me, and most others involved in its cleanup, the scariest aspect is the future and all of the unknowns.”

Visit Zoriah’s Web site.

Submit your photo today to BetterGulf.org

Get the latest news about the spill at GulfSpillNews.org

Photo by Zoriah; used by permission.  Not for republication.