hurricane ivan...ten years ago today

[docjoe]

Ten years ago Ivan made landfall in Baldwin County Alabama and devastated the coastal counties from there to Okaloosa in Florida. I lived in
Santa Rosa County at the time and the widespread damage was almost beyond belief. It was part of a run of storms from Charley, Frances, Jeanne, Dennis, Katrina, Rita, and Wilma. To this day if you know where to look you can still see the scars from Ivan

joe

[lovingseason2013]

Yes, I know exactly where to look. I photograph families almost every evening on Fort Pickens beach on a huge pice of Live Oak driftwood that was washed ashore by Ivan. My life was forever changed by that storm, at the time I didnt realize it, but it all changed for the good for me. Without Ivan, I dont think events would have been put in motion that led me to having my daughter. I had lived on Pensacola Beach and lost pretty much everything. Through Ivan my photography got to take center stage on a national scale thanks to coverage by CNN and Headline News. It is pretty cool now, because if anything happens weather wise in Pensacola, I have CNN calling to ask if I got any shots, and I almost always have. But I try not to focus on the devastation, but rather the small triumphs in the way people rise up to help others and endure.

[twichers]

I just walk around my sound-front neighborhood in Navarre. Hasn't been the same since....