After the media interest had died down over devastation that was Hurricane Katrina, which hit the Gulf of Mexico in August 2005. Photographer Chris Usher realised that there was a lot more that still needed to be seen.
However, when the four-time White House News Photographers Association award winner went to editors with his project he was told that it was old news. "No matter where you looked, there was a picture of destruction. It felt hollow just to shoot it and leave. You were walking on peoples lives". So, undeterred he made the decision to take out a $75,000 loan on his house and began the project titled 'One of us'. For 576 days from the time the hurricane hit, Usher shot portraits of the people who lived through the disaster, following his subjects' lives as they tried to rebuild, "my M.O. was to photograph them, how I found them".
The result is a self-published book that follows victims from August 28th 2005, to January 28th 2008 and include not only the portraits themselves but emotional anecdotes and recollections from all his subjects. Find out more about Chris Usher at his official website www.chrisusher.com
