With land loss in Louisiana happening at an alarming rate, the work of photographer Ben Depp has special significance. Depp’s arresting aerial images of Louisiana wetlands are part art, part catalyst for environmental preservation, and part historic record of the disappearing coast.
“A lot of people have told me the work is meaningful to them and has moved them,” said Depp.
Originally an editorial photographer, Depp spent his formative years in North Carolina and came to New Orleans in 2013. Observing the wetlands while on commercial flights inspired him to start an aerial photo project that would tell the story of the expanse, diversity and fragility of these lands in a journalistic way. He says while eye-level views are limited due to walls of grass, aerial views “help us understand what’s going on past that.”
Using a one-seater powered paraglider that enables him to be airborne for several hours at a time, he discovered a world of surprising scenes, many of which have an abstract quality that commands the viewer’s attention and moved his work into the realm of fine art photography. In addition to being chronicled in National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine and Scientific American, acquired by both the Historic New Orleans Collection and the Ogden Museum, and compiled in his 2023 book, “Tide Lines,” they are shown and sold through Claire Elizabeth Gallery in New Orleans and Ann Connelly Fine Art in Baton Rouge.
“Some of the more abstract photographs make people stay and think a little deeper about this landscape that surrounds us,” he said.
Depp prefers to photograph the wetlands at sunrise and sunset as the low light creates shadows and contrast, producing a mystical chiaroscuro that can be captured thanks to high sensitivity digital sensors. In one photo, a cloud of mayflies, backlit at sunrise, reads as an ethereal patch of fog. In another, the low light of daybreak illuminates a tree and grasses against the darkened water as if they are spotlit. Another, taken at sunset, shows a sky of blue, orange and purple bands above Wax Lake Delta in St. Mary Parish.
Having amassed a large body of work over the past decade, Depp has seen positive and negative changes. Ten years ago, he photographed an area along the river in Plaquemines Parish where the marsh was disintegrating. Today, river sediment has filled it in. But after Hurricane Ida, he photographed areas in Terrebonne and Lafourche Parishes where beaches had moved inland, and islands had washed away. It’s a complex story he has no plans to stop recording anytime soon.
“I enjoy being out in this landscape,” he said. “And though it’s changing rapidly, it’s still an incredibly beautiful place.”
Ben Depp is part of a group show at Claire Elizabeth Gallery, September 26 to November 11 and has a solo show at the Pensacola Museum of Art, Dec. 6, 2024, to April 6, 2025.
