Through His Lens
Former Broadside photographer captures Katrina devastation
By Carrie Secondo Lake, BA Communication ’99
As Hurricane Katrina slowly gained strength in the Gulf of Mexico, Matt Rourke, BA Government and Politics ’99, loaded his overnight bag, camera, and laptop into a rented SUV and began an eight-hour trip to New Orleans. At the time, he had no idea he was going to be an eyewitness to one of the world’s most devastating natural disasters. Rourke, a newspaper photographer, was headed to the Crescent City on assignment for the Austin American-Statesman.
His compelling photos taken in Katrina’s aftermath have since been distributed by the Associated Press and have appeared in Time magazine, USA Today, and other newspapers across the country.
Rourke had been on assignment to New Orleans once before but not for Mardi Gras or a jazz festival. In 2004, he was there to cover Hurricane Ivan. “I’ve never been to New Orleans when there wasn’t a hurricane,” he says.
On this particular assignment, Rourke slept on the floor of a local newspaper office the first night. The second night—when he thought the worst of the storm was over—he scoped out what he thought was high ground and got comfortable in his four-wheel accommodations. By morning, the SUV was sitting in 6 inches of steadily rising water. Unaware the levees had failed, Rourke slowly realized Katrina had a more powerful impact than he first thought.
After abandoning the SUV, he took to the streets, wading through waist-high water. He took photos of people removing goods from a store along Canal Street, a police officer searching for fuel to siphon to run generators for children on life support, a high-rise hotel with all its windows broken, pets left to fend for themselves, residents wading through the high water searching for assistance, scores of people at a triage center for evacuees and crowds of people on I-10 waiting to be evacuated by bus.
While viewing these sights through the lens of his camera, Rourke was not thinking about the impact Katrina had had on the city and the people who lived there. And he didn’t have time to be scared. “When I was right in the middle of it all,” he says, “I didn’t think much of anything other than how to keep my camera and laptop dry.”
Two weeks after Katrina hit, Rourke says he hasn’t had time to emotionally sort what he saw in New Orleans. “People just don’t understand what happened there. They see the pictures in the news, but there is a great disconnect between what I have seen and felt and what people who are watching the news can really understand,” he says.
In addition to appearing in national newspapers and on web sites, one of Rourke’s photos was used on The Oprah Winfrey Show, in commercials for the American Red Cross, and on the cover of National Geographic’s special edition on Hurricane Katrina. “I am proud that my photos can help tell this story and that I was able to contribute to something that has affected so many people,” he says.
While at Mason, Rourke was a photographer for Broadside. These days, his assignments at the Austin American-Statesman are usually less dangerous than hurricane coverage—food festivals and University of Texas football games are typical. “I love that every day is different. I don’t think any other job could give me such variety,” he says.