Swamplands

Mike Johnson

Louisiana is a beautiful state in many ways, but when I think of Louisiana’s true beauty, I think of the swamps. In southern Louisiana around the Mississippi River delta, there are miles of incredible swamplands containing amazing animals and breathtaking scenery. Swamps and marshlands also act as our most effective protection against hurricanes, which are quite common in the Gulf of Mexico, located directly below us. If these swamplands did not exist, Hurricane Katrina’s impact on New Orleans and the surrounding areas could have been ten times worse. The swamplands are also home to hundreds of species of beautiful birds and other animals that do not want the land that they survive off of taken away from them, just as we as humans would not want everything that we live off of taken away from us. These lands are essential for our ability to withstand hurricanes and our character as a state, for the swamps and its inhabitants are one of the primary factors in what makes our state unique and attractive. My photograph is not of a swamp; it’s actually taken in Baton Rouge, but the Cypress tree represents the swamps and their importance to Louisiana. Far in the background of the photograph are cars. This represents that even though our state has a vast and unique natural habitat, humans still can inhabit its land. The cypress tree and cars in the photograph truly represent Louisiana as a place where people and nature can live in harmony with one another without the people destroying the state’s natural habitat or vice-versa. People should not pollute the environment and destroy our swamps, and it is terrible to see so many people care so little about such an enormously important situation. The water in my photograph represents the large amount of land in our state that has incredibly low elevation and has potential to easily flood. A lot of Louisiana is far below sea level, including almost all of New Orleans. Today, this would be an outrageous place to build such a large, important city; but way back when New Orleans was founded they did not think that way. People say it is a terrible location and that its dangerous and that people should move, but I disagree. Our low elevation and surrounding waters make the city have great character and uniqueness; that and its heritage produce what the city is today. New Orleans is another primary factor, which makes Louisiana’s character. When people think of Louisiana, they think of New Orleans and hopefully our beautiful swamps; this is why I wanted a photograph that represented all of these factors. I also wanted to make a statement with the photograph. I am against the disregard for our environment, specifically the swamps, and I wanted this picture to represent that stand in some way. So, the three parts of my photograph, the cypress tree, water, and human development, represent the three factors that create our states great character: the swamplands, New Orleans, and the potentiality of humans and our natural habitat living in harmony with one another.