An ongoing documentary project following a Louisiana commercial fishing family as they cope with the longterm effects of the BP oil spill on their lives and livelihood. See the project website for more information.

2015 Trailer:

This project began as a summer fellowship exploring the social, political and economic tensions around energy in the United State for Powering A Nation. Here is the original project, published in July 2010….

Summer 2010: Venice, La., is facing extinction. The small fishing community, located just 50 miles away from the Deepwater Horizon disaster, is in jeopardy, as the BP oil spill has put the livelihood of the residents in danger. The people of Venice are now left with a difficult choice. Do they stay and risk their health for the sake of their history and culture? Or do they give up their jobs, their community and their heritage in an effort to flee the lasting effects of the oil spill?

MY ROLE:

• Videographer/Photographer
• Reporter
• Embedded with the community for about three weeks during the height of the disaster, summer 2010

FULL CREDITS:
Camera and Sound by Jessey Dearing and Lauren Frohne
Additional footage by Elena Rue
Edited by Jessey Dearing
Graphics by Amanda Loy
Interviews by Jessey Dearing and Lauren Frohne

Jessey and I have continued working on this story and are currently in production on a longer film. You can find out more about the ongoing project and the 2013 updates at http://spillingoverthefilm.org.

Featured on:

• WashingtonPost.com as of 7/27/2010
• The Los Angeles Times Framework blog on 8/10/2010
• NPR’s Picture Show on 8/23/2010

Recognition:

• Best in Show, NPPA Best of Photojournalism 2011, Multimedia competition
• 1st Place, NPPA Best of Photojournalism 2011, Documentary Video
• Gold, 65th College Photographer of the Year Awards, Multimedia Project
• 1st Place, 2011 Online Journalism Awards, Online Video Journalism – Small Site
• Nominee, World Press Photo 2011, Multimedia contest – Linear presentation

(Boston Globe) Bus 19: Life on the Line – George and Johnny Huynh want a better life – and they believe they can get it through school. They have to. It’s the only thing in their control. Part of The Boston Globe’s Bus 19: Life on the Line series, in which a team of Globe reporters and photographers is traveling the route of Bus 19, chronicling the little-known rhythms of life in a part of the city that engages in the struggle each day.

ROLE:
Videographer, editor, reporter

MORE FROM THE BUS19 SERIES…

(Boston Globe) Iris Soares visits up to five food pantries a week to get enough food to feed her family. After falling at her job in a meat processing factory five years ago, Iris can no longer work and does not receive food stamps. Video by Lauren Frohne / Boston Globe Staff; Edited by Dina Rudick and Lauren Frohne / Boston Globe Staff

SERIES PACKAGE