C. C. Lockwood's Atchafalaya
C. C. Lockwood's Atchafalaya

Author: C. C. Lockwood

Publisher: LSU Press

Published: 2007-09-01

Total Pages: 144

ISBN-13: 9780807132593

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At nearly 1.4 million acres, the Atchafalaya Basin in south central Louisiana comprises America's largest swamp wilderness. Award-winning nature photographer C. C. Lockwood is the foremost chronicler of this natural treasure. What began as a curious side-trip in 1973 became a decades-long love affair, and for more than thirty years, Lockwood has explored the Atchafalaya's waters and captured its haunting beauty on film. Now, twenty-five years after the publication of his first book, he returns to his favorite subject in C. C. Lockwood's Atchafalaya. His passion for the Atchafalaya as expressed in his photographs can be compared to John James Audubon's exuberant appreciation for the state's abundant bird life as depicted in his prints more than 150 years ago. The art of both exalts Louisiana's wildlife -- and cautions against taking it for granted. Lockwood revisits and reflects on the places he has frequented most in the swamp, recalling his escapades both long past and recent among gators and skeeters. He shares the thoughts of basin residents about how the Atchafalaya has changed over time, for better and for worse. Increases and decreases in various bird and other animal populations, changes in water levels and consistency, flora mainstays and trees gone missing, burgeoning aquatic vegetation -- all are keenly observed by this explorer. Lockwood finds undiminished the seductive seasonal and diurnal moods of the swamp: autumn and spring, sunset and moonrise, as breathtaking now as in the past. In nearly one-hundred dazzling color photographs, Lockwood brilliantly documents the Atchafalaya's timeless beauty. He shows amazingly diverse and abundant wildlife, rookeries with thousands of egrets and herons, waters with billions of crawfish, and ridges with deer, squirrel, and woodcock. Waters run deep in Lockwood's soul, as evidenced in his intimate treatment of the meandering bayous fringed with bald cypress trees, the many glassy lakes reflecting vegetation into double images, and the mighty Atchafalaya River -- the lifeline of the swamp."No place in the world gives me such a feeling of peace as America's largest river basin swamp," writes Lockwood. In these pages, he pays homage to the queen of U.S. wetlands.

Atchafalaya Houseboat
Atchafalaya Houseboat

Author: Gwen Roland

Publisher: LSU Press

Published: 2006-04-24

Total Pages: 156

ISBN-13: 0807161748

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In the early 1970s, two idealistic young people—Gwen Carpenter Roland and Calvin Voisin—decided to leave civilization and re-create the vanished simple life of their great-grandparents in the heart of Louisiana's million-acre Atchafalaya River Basin Swamp. Armed with a box of crayons and a book called How to Build Your Home in the Woods, they drew up plans to recycle a slave-built structure into a houseboat. Without power tools or building experience they constructed a floating dwelling complete with a brick fireplace. Towed deep into the sleepy waters of Bloody Bayou, it was their home for eight years. This is the tale of the not-so-simple life they made together—days spent fishing, trading, making wine, growing food, and growing up—told by Gwen with grace, economy, and eloquence. Not long after they took up swamp living, Gwen and Calvin met a young photographer named C. C. Lockwood, who shared their "back to the earth" values. His photographs of the couple going about their daily routine were published in National Geographic magazine, bringing them unexpected fame. More than a quarter of a century later, after Gwen and Calvin had long since parted, one of Lockwood's photos of them appeared in a National Geographic collector's edition entitled 100 Best Pictures Unpublished—and kindled the interest of a new generation. With quiet wisdom, Gwen recounts her eight-year voyage of discovery—about swamp life, wildlife, and herself. A keen observer of both the natural world and the ways of human beings, she transports readers to an unfamiliar and exotic place.

Discovering Louisiana
Discovering Louisiana

Author: C. C. Lockwood

Publisher: LSU Press

Published: 1986-07-01

Total Pages: 164

ISBN-13: 9780807113356

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Discovering Louisiana is a beautiful paean to the state's diverse natural habitats, from the hills and piney woods in the north to the thousands of miles of shoreline in the south. As the book's 150 color photographs reveal, Louisiana is much more than the swamps and marshes with which it is most often associated. C. C. Lockwood, one of the nation's outstanding nature and wildlife photographers and the premier chronicler of the natural wonders of Louisiana and the Gulf region, captures splendid views -- both panoramic and intimate: the jagged bluffs of the Tunica Hills in West Feliciana Parish; cascading waterfalls and winding creeks in the Kisatchie National Forest in central Louisiana; and unobstructed autumnal vistas from the summit of Bates Mountain, near Shreveport. Lockwood travels along many of the state's scenic rivers and lakes, photographing the mist-shrouded Bogue Chitto River at dawn; the steep, sandy banks of Saline Bayou, which is bordered by towering hardwood trees; and the vast, blue expanse of Lake Pontchartrain, the state's largest lake. He returns to his beloved Atchafalaya, the swamp area that is home to a teeming abundance of wildlife, including raccoons, nutria, alligators, snakes, turtles, egrets, herons, owls, and eagles. He travels to the state's prairies, bogs, and cheniers, which, though small in size, nonetheless are very important for the state's wildlife community. Finally, he visits the coast, where he photographs an amazing array of birds on the barrier islands. Lockwood augments his breathtaking photographs with an engaging first-person narrative account of his adventures. He describes the idyllic pleasures of a hundred-mile, five-day canoe trip down the Bogue Chitto and West Pearl rivers, the anticipation of climbing the state's highest peak, Driskill Mountain, and the dangers of trying to navigate five-foot swells in Terrebonne Bay. Throughout the book, Lockwood skillfully conveys the magic that he finds in all of Louisiana and the concern he feels for the state's fragile ecosystem.

Marsh Mission
Marsh Mission

Author: Rhea Gary

Publisher: LSU Press

Published: 2005-09-01

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 0807130966

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Louisiana is in a desperate battle to save what remains of its coastal wetlands, which are disappearing at the rate of a football field--size area every 38 minutes. Most people are unaware of the devastating transformation of this remote region, though the effects are detrimental for the entire country economically, culturally, and environmentally. Hoping that art will inspire concern where statistics have not, and focusing on the marshlands' beauty rather than their destruction, nature photographer C. C. Lockwood and painter Rhea Gary have joined together in Marsh Mission to show that a picture is worth at least a thousand words. Their rapturous thirty photographs and thirty paintings may well leave one speechless. For an entire year, C.C. immersed himself in the wetlands, living on a houseboat -- the Wetland Wanderer -- with his wife, Sue, a schoolteacher, who created an interactive classroom from the boat via the Internet. They covered more than 5,000 miles, taking the pulse of their environs and documenting everything from oil rigs to egrets and vivid setting suns. Rhea sometimes joined the Lockwoods and other times ventured out in her own bateau, designed to hold an easel for making oil-on-paper sketches. She produced the final oil paintings on canvas in her studio. In his photographs, C.C. captures the quiet, hidden activity of the wetlands in all their paradisaical aspects. Breathtaking detail -- the reward of day-in and day-out vigilance. Rhea conveys her emotional response to the light, color, and mood of the landscape with bold impressionistic strokes in raspberry, tangerine, lime, fuchsia, azure, and yellow. Hot -- like the culture and the climate of south Louisiana. Together, the two impart an aesthetic experience that explains better than any map or scientific data the irreplaceable treasure being lost. A narrative by each artist enhances their visual testimony and gives a rare glimpse into the creative process. Formed by silt deposits from the Mississippi River, Louisiana's coastal region constitutes 40 percent of all U.S. marshlands, but it is sinking at an alarming rate because the river's leveed banks -- while essential for flood control and ship navigation -- obstruct silt replenishment. With Marsh Mission, C. C. Lockwood and Rhea Gary offer a visionary tribute to this endangered, national natural resource. Their images should arouse awareness, appreciation, and, especially, action.

The Atchafalaya River Basin
The Atchafalaya River Basin

Author: Bryan P. Piazza

Publisher: Texas A&M University Press

Published: 2014-02-25

Total Pages: 322

ISBN-13: 1623490391

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In this comprehensive, one-volume reference, Nature Conservancy scientist Bryan P. Piazza poses five key questions: —What is the Atchafalaya River Basin? —Why is it important? —How have its hydrology and natural habitats been managed? —What is its current state? —How do we ensure its survival? For more than five centuries, the Atchafalaya River Basin has captured the flow of the Mississippi River, becoming its main distributary as it reaches the Gulf of Mexico in south Louisiana. This dynamic environment, comprising almost a million acres of the lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley and Mississippi River Deltaic Plain, is perhaps best known for its expansive swamp environments dominated by baldcypress, water tupelo, and alligators. But the Atchafalaya River Basin contains a wide range of habitats and one of the highest levels of biodiversity on the North American continent. Piazza has compiled and synthesized the body of scientific knowledge for the Atchafalaya River Basin, documenting the ecological state of the basin and providing a baseline of understanding. His research provides a crucial resource for future planning. He evaluates some common themes that have emerged from the research and identifies important scientific questions that remain unexplored.

Still Waters
Still Waters

Author: C. C. Lockwood

Publisher: LSU Press

Published: 2000-04-01

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 0807125709

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Renowned for the beauty of his photographs and his love of planet Earth, C. C. Lockwood for thirty years has produced images that dazzle the eye and soothe the soul. Now at life’s midpoint, this adventurous outdoor photographer pauses to reflect on the less-trodden career path he’s chosen and to assemble the most cherished fruits of his work. Still Waters is a sumptuous retrospective—“the best 100”—of Lockwood’s more than 30,000 total images, chronologically arranged and stunningly displayed. Over half have never been published, and only twenty-four are found in his previous books. These color-lush scenes of sky, water, and land range from Belize to Hawaii to Yellowstone National Park to Portugal and capture the marvel of native flora and fauna (including several Homo sapiens!). Lockwood’s signature Louisiana scapes abound, depicting such winsome place-names as Little Pecan Island, Pearl River Swamp, Atchafalaya Basin, Tunica Hills, and Bayou Penchant. Whether absorbed with the utter innocence of a nest of young raccoons (Mutt, Jeff, and Friends), the radiant coolness of a coral reef habitat (Reef Fish), or the essence of a dying sun, all the images exude the almost magical synthesis of light and subject, inspiration and technique, patience and luck, that denotes a Lockwood print. Selected by the artist for their visual grace, hold on memory, and professional impact, the stills of Still Waters are likened by Lockwood to a family photo album: “the good times show up more than the hard work of raising the kids.” If a picture speaks a thousand words, then Lockwood’s 100 raise a chorale. Where argument and cold fact fail to persuade, these works of beauty and love instill a newfound appreciation for our shared earthly habitat.

Acadiana
Acadiana

Author: Carl A. Brasseaux

Publisher: LSU Press

Published: 2011-05-18

Total Pages: 708

ISBN-13: 0807139653

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"Acadiana" summons up visions of a legendary and exotic world of moss-draped cypress, cocoa-colored bayous, subtropical wildlife, and spicy indigenous cuisine. The ancestral home of Cajuns and Creoles, this twenty-two-parish area of south Louisiana encompasses a broad range of people, places, and events. In their historical and pictorial tour of the region, author Carl A. Brasseaux and photographer Philip Gould explore in depth this fascinating and complex world. As passionate documentarians of all things Cajun and Creole, Brasseaux and Gould delve into the topography, culture, and economy of Acadiana. In two hundred color photographs of architecture, landscapes, wildlife, and artifacts, Gould portrays the rich history still visible in the area, while Brasseaux's engagingly written narrative covers the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century story of settlement and development in the region. Brasseaux brings the story up to date, recounting devastating hurricanes and coastal degradation. From living-history attractions such as Vermilionville, the Acadian Village, and Longfellow-Evangeline State Park to music venues, festivals, and crawfish boils, Acadiana depicts a resilient and vibrant way of life and presents a vivid portrait of a culture that continues to captivate, charm, and endure. For all those who want to explore these people and this place, Brasseaux and Gould have provided an insightful written and visual history.

Underneath the Sycamore Tree
Underneath the Sycamore Tree

Author: B. Celeste

Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.

Published: 2023-01-03

Total Pages: 367

ISBN-13: 1728272033

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For fans of BookTok #sadbooks comes an emotional love story that will break your heart and mend it at the same time. Time is a luxury we don't all have... Emery Matterson's life has been broken for a while. First, she lost her twin sister—the other half of her heart—to an incurable autoimmune disease. Then her father left. Now Emery has been diagnosed with the same disease that killed her sister, and her mother is falling apart. Unable to live under the same roof anymore, the only option for Emery is to move in with a father she hasn't seen in ten years and try to start over. Enter Kaiden Monroe, the brooding athlete who has baggage of his own. Kaiden makes Emery feel normal. Hated. Cared for. Loathed. And...loved. Somewhere along the way, Emery finds solace in the guy with the sad eyes. But everything happens in stages. And nothing good ever lasts. From fan-favorite author B. Celeste comes a raw, real, and unforgettable story of love and loss between two young people grappling with the harsh reality of invisible disease.

Postmark Bayou Chene
Postmark Bayou Chene

Author: Gwen Roland

Publisher: LSU Press

Published: 2015-11-04

Total Pages: 263

ISBN-13: 0807161462

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In the heart of Louisiana's Atchafalaya Basin, a letter sent from an isolated settlement, addressed to Hautes-Pyrénées, France, and marked undeliverable, shows up at the Bayou Chene post office. That same day locals find a dog, nearly dead and tethered to an empty skiff. Odd yet seemingly trivial, the arrival of a masterless dog and a returned letter triggers a series of events that will dramatically change the lives of three friends and affect all of the residents of Bayou Chene. Gwen Roland's debut novel, set in 1907 in a secluded part of Louisiana, follows young adults Loyce Snellgrove, her cousin Lafayette "Fate" Landry, and his friend Valzine Broussard as they navigate between revelations about the past and tensions in the present. Forces large and small—the tragedies of the Civil War, the hardships of swamp life, family secrets, as well as unfailing humor—create a prismatic depiction of Louisiana folklife at the turn of the twentieth century and provide a realistic setting for this enchanting drama. Roland anchors her work in historical fact and weaves a superb tale of vivid characters. In Postmark Bayou Chene, she uses the captivating voice that described the beauty and challenges of the swamp to legions of readers in her autobiographical Atchafalaya Houseboat. Her ear for dialogue and eye for detail bring the now-vanished community of Bayou Chene and the realities of love and loss on the river back to life in a well-crafted, bittersweet tribute.