2006-09-06T07:27:00.000-07:00

This is the inspiration for the tone of the book. When I came across this scene, I had to smile, as I'm sure many others did.

If you'd like to order a copy, you can send a check for $25.00, which includes Priority Mail shipping, to Vicki Niolet "Parting Shots" 299 South Second Street, Bay St. Louis, MS 39520. Or you can email me at vniolet@earthlink.net.

2006-09-05T15:38:00.000-07:00

"Parting Shots of Old Town Bay St. Louis" is my personal record of photographs of my hometown after Hurricane Katrina. We, here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, were hit directly by the storm. Mississippi's waterfront was destroyed by an unparalleled storm surge and hurricane force winds, unlike New Orleans, which was flooded by a failed levee system. While the rest of the country focused on the drama of the large city to our west, our communities were equally devasted and in need of help.

My purpose in publishing this book was to bring our town, Bay St. Louis, and its story, to the outside world. I took photos on the Wednesday after the storm, August 31, when I came home from evacuating to find my husband and several friends who had unwisely stayed to ride out the storm. But that's another story, and a wild one at that!

These pictures were my way of dealing with the aftermath. While others shoveled mud and dug out precious belongings from under crumbling structures, I rode my bicycle, armed with my camera and clumsy rubber boots through the streets, and sometimes buildings, of the town. Although I sometimes felt guilty for my capricious pictorial adventures, to me they were as necessary as sweeping and mopping. I had an anxious reaction to capture the landscapes and souvenirs left by our unwelcome visitor, Katrina.