Katrina art

I have started to post my 'residual images" on my website ( http://www.briannolan.com ). This has been an odd project to work on - is it my work or is it the work of nature? The "residual images" are transparencies that went through the flood waters of Hurricane Katrina. The flood water soaked into the transparencies and altered them. Most of my transparencies were simply bleached clean- just clear film with a little bit of gunk on them. Others retained varying degrees of the original transparency. I have been rephotographing them digitally. I find them incredibly beautiful despite the damage done to them.

The images I find the most fascinating are the ones that have been washed down to a few simple colors. I've been trying to read what the original image was before hurricane Katrina. At times I can make out a street pole or a fragment of the background but the original image eludes me. There's an aspect of reviewing ones own photographs, that connection with the image, the moments before and after the photograph was captured. With the residual images that moment is blocked. It's a puzzle.