Fort Myers, Florida image of flooded field during Ian surge. This is by an AP reporter Wilfredo Lee taken 9/29/22 and reported today. Click on photo to enlarge it.
This is Tropicana Sands as it usually looks. Ft. Myers, Fla. It is now totally flooded and damaged. Paul Goldfinger photo.
This is what’s left of Ft. Myers Beach. 9/19/22. AP drone photo.
By Paul Goldfinger, MD. Editor Blogfinger.net. 9/30/22
The photographs coming out of the Ian hurricane reporting are mostly horrendous, but sometimes they are beautiful art at the same time.
It was perhaps in the 1930’s that war photography was recognized as sometimes being beautiful while it was bringing the story to newspapers and magazines at the same time. Robert Capa, the Pulitzer winning war photographer, went to the front lines of the Spanish Civil War and also went in on D Day with the first wave, and his images have been shown in galleries and other collections of fine imagery.
The blending of news photography and fine art photography is widely recognized in today’s art world.
The AP photo above looks like an impressionistic painting.
You may recall Bob Bownés award winning photograph of the OG pier about to crash during Sandy. It is dramatic and beautiful at the same time ; fine art and news imagery.
As you may know, we have a home in Ft. Myers, Florida at a place called Tropicana Sands. That location took the brunt of Ian, and I am receiving reports that the entire community of 470 manufactured homes is a “total disaster.” One body has been reported plus residents have been rescued. Fortunately Eileen and I are in NJ, and we also missed the brutal tornado that hit there in January.
We still don’t know the condition of our home there, but the reports are not optimistic.
Now the reporting by worldwide news sources is rolling in and largely consists of still photos, drone videos and other imagery, and the quality of that reporting is remarkable.
IMUS RANCH RECORD–Willy Nelson:
Thinking of you and Eileen and your mobile home. Can only imagine the damage.
Thanks Liz and others who have expressed concern for us. We are in the Grove. We believe our immobile home in Tropicana Sands has been destroyed, but we have no definite reports from that 470 unit park. We know that the park is still totally flooded as is most of Ft. Myers.
But many people are really bad off: homeless now, stranded injured staying in shelters, no electricity, no Wi-Fi, no plumbing, and no AC. There are reports that the water supply has been affected. Most are unable to get about or get supplies.
So we can’t complain in the Grove and we have some neighbors there whom we are worried about and can’t reach. No one is ready to turn any pages yet, but there will be a storm of issues coming up.
We have established a blog for them. (TropicanaForum.com) to help bring information to those who are interested. The residents of Tropicana have a very active Facebook page, so Eileen and I try to fill in some gaps. We had 2,000 hits yesterday. The news reporting has been unbelievable.
Paul and Eileen