Eerily silent in the forsaken amusement park, the Cool Zone is creepy; it’s like an ominous omen of what is to come in the forlorn and forgotten abandoned Six Flags in New Orleans. Photo #1 by © lostlosangeles / facebook.com/lostlosangeles
Hurricane Katrina killed this clown. According to the photographer, “An abandoned Six Flags amusement park, someone spray painted ‘Six Flags 2012 coming soon’ on the wall above the downed head. But they were clownin.’ Six Flags will never rebuild here.” That’s sad, but much of New Orleans has not been restored to her former glory. This defunct amusement park on the city’s eastern edge must surely serve as a constant reminder that Katrina tried to wash them off the map. To some of the people of New Orleans, the stark silhouette of Six Flags seems like an unhealed wound. Photo #2 by Keo 101
Welcome to Zombie Land kids! aka abandoned Six Flags New Orleans. After sea water submerged the park for over a month, it’s been left to fall to decay . . . a possible breeding ground for brain-eating zombies? Photo #3 by © Christopher Dame
Chained dreams of fun at Six Flags New Orleans, abandoned Jazzland – that’s what Six Flags opened as “Jazzland” in 2000. In 2002, Six Flags bought this amusement park. It closed in 2005 for the oncoming storm of Hurricane Katrina and never reopened. Before Jazzland, the area was swamps. Will the swamps reclaim the abandoned amusement park? Photo #4 by © FLLETCHER
Some photographers can see past the lifeless amusement park’s decay and desolation, showing us that there is still a chance the place could be cheery and not cheerless. This is Zydeco Scream in 2011. According to Wikipedia, this park once operated these roller coasters: Zydeco Scream, The Jester, Mega Zeph, Muskrat Scrambler and The Road Runner Express which has since been moved to Six Flags Magic Mountain in California. Photo #5 by © FLLETCHER
V is for Vendetta – against Katrina. Photo #6 by © Mischelle Dawn Wright
Twisted dreams and scattered screams. Photo #7 by © Mischelle Dawn Wright
Souvenir dreams. Photo #8 by © lostlosangeles facebook.com/lostlosangeles
Big Ball at New Orleans’ Six Flags. Photo #9 by © Ron Fuchs, Photographers Mate Third Class, USN (Vet)
Grounded roller coaster – please exit. Photo #10 by © Richard Thompson III
Like a Bad Dream. This is what the photographer had to say, “I spotted the haunted lines of its empty roller coaster from the Ninth Ward off Interstate 510 while playing tourist in 2009 and begged a friend to pull over to investigate. We found an open gate, infiltrated it, and proceeded to sneak around the eerie, ‘end of world’ Zombie like setting. An adrenaline enhanced experience I’ll never forget. It was like exploring a haunted, adult junkyard theme park on ecstasy, the sick criminal cousin of Disney World. In a good way….I could have spent days, if not weeks taking pictures on the lonely grounds.” Photo #11 by Keo 101
Just in case you don’t know the scoop on what Hurricane Katrina did to New Orleans and Six Flags, this photo is of New Orleans, LA, on Sept. 14, 2005. This was Six Flags Over Louisiana still submerged two weeks after Hurricane Katrina caused levees to fail in New Orleans. Photo #12 by Bob McMillan/FEMA
2011 – this is abandoned Six Flags in New Orleans now. Photo #13 by johnvoncurd
Unlike the bleak amusement-less park above, some photographers can still see and share with us the echo of magic in the abandoned theme park Six Flags – even 6 years later in 2011. Photo #14 by © FLLETCHER
The photographer wrote, “This sponge-like floor prevented many abrasions (and lawsuits). Now it serves as a sanctuary for a future meadow. What is it about us now?” Photo #15 by © lostlosangeles – facebook.com/lostlosangeles
True state of Six Flags New Orleans – 6 years after Katrina washed all amusement from the park. Photo #16 by © Christopher Dame
Graffiti – signs of life after the amusement park suffered fatal damage. Photo #17 by © Mischelle Dawn Wright
Fixing up New Orleans’ Six Flags was the road not taken. . . . Not yet at least. Photo #18 by © FLLETCHER
“Infrequent diversion.” Photo #19 by © lostlosangeles facebook.com/lostlosangeles
HUrricane Katrina called on this amusement park, abandoned now for 6 years. Photo #20 by © Mischelle Dawn Wright
Once upon a time, Six Flags was filled with children’s laughter – but now it’s sad, silent, and surreal. Photo #21 by © FLLETCHER
Weeds and rusting out rides, but it’s a long way still until nature reclaims abandoned Six Flags. Photo #22 by © Mischelle Dawn Wright
Abandoned Six Flags amusement park in New Orleans wrecked by Hurricane Katrina in 2005; submerged at one point under 6-8 feet of water. Photo #23 by Keo 101
No lines for dead rides. So-called “flat rides” at Six Flags New Orleans that are still standing but not operating include: Catwoman’s Whip, Dizzy Lizzy, Krazy Krewe, Gator Bait, Lex Luthor’s Invertatron, Mad Rex, Zydeco Zinger, Joker’s Jukebox, Lafitte’s Pirate Ship, The Big Easy, Jocco’s Mardi Gras Madness, and Mardi Gras Menagerie. Photo #24 by © Mischelle Dawn Wright
I scream, you scream, but now no one screams for ice cream at Barbe’s Ice Cream Shop. Photo #25 by © Ron Foxx [Ron Fuchs, Photographers Mate Third Class, USN (Vet)]
Arcade & ferris wheel – The Big Easy is eerie at abandoned Six Flags New Orleans. Photo #26 by © Mischelle Dawn Wright
This creepy Jester over the abandoned and spooky haunted house is holding out “prized” Mardi Gras beads as if trying to tempt urban explorers to come closer. Photo #27 by © Cree Garrard
Watch out for that tree! This ruined green wreck is the Jester. Signs of purple paint underneath are hints to the Jester’s former life as the Joker’s Revenge. Nature is working hard to push a tree up through the tracks and to have the last laugh and revenge. Photo #28 by © Christopher Dame
“Urbex.” Photo #29 by Brain farts Joschua
Katrina washed out the color and the fun at abandoned Six Flags in New Orleans. Now it’s creepy. Photo #30 by © FLLETCHER
Deserted, desolate, defunct amusement park Six Flags. Zydeco Scream roller coaster in the background is a “boomerang†steel coaster, meant to take riders forward and then fling them backwards for the thrills of upside-down loops and drops. But for six years, it’s been scream-free. All the rides are left to rust, the attractions rot, and the buildings crumble. Photo #31 by © Ron Foxx [Ron Fuchs, Photographers Mate Third Class, USN (Vet)]
Katrina killed the bumper cars. Photo #32 by © FLLETCHER
No one wants a ride? Granted, the Krewe of Kreeps ride was probably never supposed to be this creepy. Yet the trains sit parked, waiting for phantom riders to test out tracks that are now nothing more than a rusted wreck. Photo #33 by © Richard Thompson III
Nightmare amusement park. Photo #34 by © Cree Garrard
Six Flags New Orleans has been left to the roaches. Photo #35 by © Mischelle Dawn Wright
“Under The Sea” probably never was envisioned to literally be submerged by the sea like when Hurricane Katrina attacked. Now the merman is headless as if he couldn’t bear to watch abandoned Six Flags be further ravaged by the elements and be unmaintained. Photo #36 by John Morrison
Sponge Bob’s shattered dreams at defunct Six Flags. Photo #37 by © Mischelle Dawn Wright
Six years after Katrina, you can no longer see the scummy waterline where 4–7 feet of rainwater and sea water soaked into Six Flags for a couple months. Photo #38 by © FLLETCHER
I left my heart in New Orleans after Katrina killed Six Flags. Photo #39 by © Mischelle Dawn Wright
Nightmare at Gotham City – Calling Batman, New Orleans needs you. Photo #40 by © Mischelle Dawn Wright
Smashed glass and control panel. Photo #42 by © Christopher Dame
Imagine bumping into you? Photo #43 by © lostlosangeles facebook.com/lostlosangeles
Six Flags officials claimed the park was 70-80% damaged or destroyed. The defunct amusement(less) park is too expensive to rebuild and too expensive to abandon, so it sits in New Orleans and waits for decay to claim it. Photo #44 by Keri Nash Watson
Zone of Cool no more. Photo #45 by © Mischelle Dawn Wright
No jazz left in Jazzland aka abandoned Six Flags New Orleans. Photo #46 by © FLLETCHER
Looney Tunes Playgrounds Apparently Suck. Photo #47 by © Christopher Dame
NOLA rising – abandoned Six Flags – New Orleans. According to the photographer, “Something that I’ve only seen is New Orleans so far is the hopeful graffiti. A lot of the graffiti throughout the park spoke of love and renewal…and cockroaches.” Photo #48 by © lostlosangeles facebook.com/lostlosangeles
Rusted roller coaster tracks – view from the top of the tallest hill on the tallest roller coaster. The “Mega Zeph” – this wooden hybrid roller coaster, first opened as Jazzland’s signature ride. It has been decaying, the wood rotting and the steel rusting. Riders would climb a 110-foot lift hill before plunging into the first drop. Photo #49 by © Christopher Dame
Haunted Roller Coaster? Doubtful, but you never know what ghosts or zombies roam in the desolate park after dark. The delightful and magical sound of riders’ excited screams has not echoed through the abandoned park for 6 years now. Photo #50 by © Cree Garrards
2011 Main Entrance of abandoned Six Flags New Orleans. Photo #51 by © FLLETCHER
Muhahahaha still waiting for brave souls, or urban explorers, to enter at abandoned amusement park Six Flags. Photo #52 by © Cree Garrards
Graffiti and broken windows Photo #53 by © Ron Foxx [Ron Fuchs, Photographers Mate Third Class, USN (Vet)]
No more fun and games at defunct Six Flags. Photo #54 by © FLLETCHER
Skycoaster – fly no more. Photo #55 by © Mischelle Dawn Wright
Signs of urban explorer life after Katrina killed New Orleans Six Flags. Photo #56 by © FLLETCHER
Signs of rusty and crusty creeping in. Photo #57 by © Mischelle Dawn Wright
Yet for the surreal beauty that does exist, there are that many more rides that are rotting in New Orleans Six Flags. Photo #58 by © FLLETCHER
Plenty of graffiti artists have tagged the defunct amusement park. Photo #59 by © Mischelle Dawn Wright
Katrina Killed the Coaster in New Orleans. Photo #60 by Keo 101
Melting fans and a painted heart – “Because I’m too cheap for roses.” Photo #61 by © Mischelle Dawn Wright
Streets of Six Flags New Orleans are trashed. Photo #62 by © Mischelle Dawn Wright
Still hauntingly beautiful – “Jazzland” – abandoned New Orleans Six Flags. Photo #63 by © FLLETCHER
Abandoned Carriage House Mercantile. Photo #65 by © Mischelle Dawn Wright
Merry-Go-Round in now merry-less. Photo #66 by John Morrison – subism
No more happy kids at defunct swings. Photo #67 by © Mischelle Dawn Wright
Distorted dreams of Six Flags New Orleans. Photo #68 by © FLLETCHER
Headless merman close to overgrown roller coaster. Photo #69 by © Mischelle Dawn Wright
No more games or gifts – arcade area at Abandoned Six Flags ‘Jazzland’ Park, 2011. Photo #70 by © Richard Thompson III
No happy times left in Looney Tunes area. Crumbled and decayed Six Flags New Orleans is now dark, desolate, and dejected damage. Photo #71 by Keo 101
Closed forever and not just for the storm – Six Flags New Orleans. A gloomy reminder that Six Flags will probably never regain the glory and good times of its hey-day. Photo #72 by Dr. Warner
Exit Abandoned Six Flags ‘Jazzland’ Park, 2011. The place is as deserted as a ghost town . . . except for brave urban explorers. Photo #73 by © Richard Thompson III
The exit sign in the New Orleans Six Flags. This photo was not taken in 2011, but in November 2010. Most of the photos are an up close and personal snapshot of how abandoned Six Flags in New Orleans looks today in 2011. Have a great day! We hope you enjoyed this extensive coverage by many terrific photographers, a virtual urban exploration. Photo #74 by Kelci C
Darkness falls, fade to black. The Big Easy Ferris Wheel at abandoned Six Flags in New Orleans still paints a pretty picture against the sunset. But the curtains closed six years ago on the final show at this abandoned amusement park. Photo #75 by Keri Nash Watson
Cool photos, but too much HDR and too much over saturation. It’s already surreal enough without the added bits.
I was grateful the photographers let me use the really recent photos. After some dude did a video and sent it viral by saying Six Flags was about to be demolished. As you can see, it wasn’t.
Can I please have the names/email of the photographer. I would like to put some of these sites (imags) on mine.
than ks
Steve
Follow the links, click on their names, and it will take you to Flickr where you can contact them. They were all very, very kind.
how can I get there? who do I contact to get permission to get in and photograph? or do I just crawl over the fence?
any guards? any fines?
thanks
There were guards when a couple friends and I went to take pictures. Apparently they had just finished filming a Planet of the Apes sequel there and we just drove up to the gate and asked them if we could take pictures there. They said sure but not to go past a line not 20 feet into the park.
Long story short, we ended up befriending the guards and they gave us a once in a lifetime tour and showed us all around the park.
We got really lucky, maybe you can too.
If not, then yeah, I hear you can be arrested for trespassing.
DO you know if this was once “Pontchartrain Park?” It used to have a coster called the “Ragin’ Cajun” and we went there a lot in the early-mid 80’s. Great pics.
Wrong
RIGHT… I live 3miles from this site…the city of new Orleans had it slated for destruction in January of 2011. It was halted because the six flags and new Orleans joint venture on the old jazz land site used federal money. Until that writ is paid off, the site cannot be used for anything else. So at this point, the six flags is still standing. I will be providing new photos within the next week or so.
The site was recently used to shoot some footage for a movie… They did some renovation on the entry way and turned it into bourbon street for a shoot that took several nights. The production had several condors with 12k hmi lights mounted and were shooting well into the night.
Don’t be an ass and tell someone they are wrong when you have no idea what you are talking about.
I hope it was a Zombie movie. Cuz…that’d be awesome. Although Zombieland already did the whole amusement park scene. It wasn’t run down and shotty. I think this place could and should be preserved as 1) a reminder of our losses from Katrina and 2) a great place to shoot movies and photography. Then maybe it can make money rather then just sit around doing nothing. This pictures (though heavily edited) are proof that this place can be turned into something useful, for free.
Thats such a great idea to do photography there, some people could make some awesome photoshoots!
hopefully most likely for AMC’s The Walking Dead which takes place in run down near future southern US
Umm he was saying the comment about the saturation was wrong. Take a deep breath.
The comment about the saturation is wrong? Please. It’s obvious some of those pictures have been Photoshopped with significant saturation. There’s no way after all this time those colors are still that vivid.
Umm, umm, lol. I think he was talking about the photographers being nice OR being able to access them easily through the directions given. Why in the hell did that knowitall get so defensive? Now I wonder what is true…no need to start calling peeps asses when your the one acting like one! I love mankind.<3
The humanity captured with each click of the shutter on this property is attention getting. Great subject,keep ’em coming.
Given your proximity, how dangerous to explore is it in reality? Are you likely to get car-jacked or get your shit stolen? I’m from out of town, but I will be in NOLA again in about 2 months and i’d LOVE to be able to sneak in there and see it for myself, but I don’t especially want to get myself into trouble with anything more than maybe a security guard.
You did see the word “ILLEGAL” in the title, didn’t you?
I don’t recommend trying to sneak in there. My friend got caught doing so and wound up on 3 years of probation. Not worth it. If you decide to anyway, park your car far away from the entrance and good luck. And no I doubt there is any risk other than police since it really isn’t close to many subdivisions.
They were filming ‘Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters’
The gravity and magnitude of the Katrina disaster has never been expressed so eloquently.
I have to disagree. Photographs of Katrina’s aftermath on the private businesses and homes in New Orleans are more effective and powerful to me than photos of an amusement park owned by Six Flags
rachelf, ELOQUENTLY. look it up..,
JUST DO IT.
i agree, the photos say enough without being touched up, it makes them too cheesey being HDR’d, but the rest of them are good
I loved the photos… I love that they were touched up… Thanks for posting… Do you have more photography?
Glad I wasn’t the only one who thought so. Most of it was poorly done too; the original pictures would have been much better.
I don’t necessarily agree that touching them up was wrong. But, the vast majority go far beyond that and ruined the impact. The first two are by far the best.
I agree
Agreed nothing about these photographs looks real…sadly they relied way to much on photo tools and not enough on good photography.
Agree. The first two and the fourth. the others have an amateur look.
u dont need pics, just ride by the park. the sight says enuff. I live down South. Katrina took something Beautiful from us all who enjoyed Jazzland. I had good times there. It sucks having to drive to Atlanta or Dallas to experience big thrills. I say fuck those that didnt know Jazzland or who has an opinion that dont know shit….
yall didnt experience Katrina, we did, and enyone else thats in my boat can tell ya, it want a picnic….come get some, then talk shit and complain….
What the hell is HDR? I think that the increased saturation is fitting for the subject matter.
Love the pictures. What a trip. Wish I could tour.
A HDR image is an image which comes from amalgamiting multiple images at multiple exposures to greate a perfect or HD image, it at times is a sign of a bad or lazy photographer who cannot complete a good image in camera and has to use editing software.
Some of these images are HDR and some arent including the heavy saturated ones. so tis a mixed bag.
HDR stands for High Dynamic Range – the dynamic range of an image is the range of blacks/shadows to whites/highlights. by using multiple exposures a photographer can layer images using highlights from one and shadows from another and thereby expand the range of that image. in other words the image data is being stretched to cover more ground. common tell tale signs of HDR manipulation is the shadow effect – it is especially evident in many of these. there is nothing inherently wrong with HDR, just as there is nothing inherently wrong with salt in food. too much can ruin a dish, or a photograph … dig?
you pompous ass.
r3, you are 100% right on, though you got slammed for being pompous. HDR (and tone mapping software, which is really what gets those wild effects) is often overused, misused, and abused. It is no substitute for good composition, lighting and exposure. I can run any crap photo through tone mapping software and make it look “cool”.
Great explanation! Thanks so much!
Hey, thanks a lot for the excellent explanation. I didn’t know what it was either and was curious.
I appreciate your making the time to educate us.
Perfect description of HDR!
nothing wrong with how a photographer choose to express there style. thank God we are not all the same how boring would that be. art is expression of who you are and your creative. if you don’t like don’t look. i know several portrait photographers that believe in heavy saturation and blowed out skies. it’s not my style i don’t care for it. be glad we don’t have the government telling us how to take images and how much saturation we can apply.
I dig that you are a fucking asshole.
Why is he a pompous ass/a fucking asshole? Because he explained what it is? You’re a fucking asshole.
Gtfo.
Oh so many high and mighty photographers… HDR is an “Artform” and very well suited to this kind of photography. It enhances the message and plays on the former glory. Not an easy technique to master either.
Lazy(but well paid) dedicated Photographer and HDR fan!
HDR refers to high dynamic range. three to nine images of different exposures are combined by software to take advantage of all tonal and light ranges. Certain programs allow various means of colour mixing, saturation and other manipulations, which can add great effects but which can also be overused.
HDR takes practice to perfect, like anything that is worthwhile doing.
Photoshop can merge images in its Automate dialogue. Photomatix, a stand-alone product will mix specific images or will batch merge a file of images.
In order to create an HDR image, one must have a digital camera capable of bracketing (Auto Exposure Bracketing) and of shooting multiple photos with one click of the shutter. Most consumer or consumer-pro level cameras currently available can do this. Point/Shoot cameras rarely have this capability but that is beginning to change.
You don’t have to do bracketing or have multiple photos to do HDR. All you have to do is take one photo and use photo editing software to create two more versions, one with the brightness turned up a couple of notches and another with the brightness turned down a couple of notches. Then you use Photomatix to combine those three versions to make one HDR photo. It is really useful when you have an old photo that is overexposed in sunlit areas and underexposed in shaded areas. You make the three versions as above and use Photomatix on them, and you magically have a photo where the sunlit areas are automatically darkened a little and the shaded areas are lit more. This can make some old amateur photos look like they were taken by a professional using perfect exposure and fill flash. It is a great tool, but can be overused on color photos and make them look cartoony.
Recovering highlights will only work if you under-expose the image. CCD’s have a large range of “black” colors, even when something is dark, it still retains most of the color information. On the other hand, highlights peak very quickly leaving only white in it’s place. Take the photo as a RAW image on a DSLR underexposed and you can manipulate that image seamlessly to produce 3 perfect exposure levels.
If you try to do HDR as you stated above, blown out highlight areas will turn gray and flat. It’s always wise to underexpose and then bring the light back later.
shit looks sick he mixed it up a little bit calm down
He said he liked the photos, dumbass. I’d say he doesnt need to calm down. You on the other hand probably need to.
From a “Non-Photogenic Eye”…. Breath-taking Photograph’s !!! That Photographer Mischelle Dawn Wright ,I personally would pay $$$ to Tour and Explore New Orleans and Especially Six Flag’s… Awsome – Sad- Real Narration !!!!! Thank You ALL !!!
I have to agree. Some literally look like Clown Vomit. Others benefit from it.
Six Flags should be made to clean that up and level it or get it back up and running. Its not like they don’t make tons of money off their other ventures all over the country.
Actually, no. If you didnt read it they said “too expensive to rebuild/ too expensive to abandon” it’s people like you who have no concept of the numbers behind the money and any organization has got “tons of money”. Truth is, they have other parks to maintain, and doing anything with this one will accomplish nothing as it was already 75-80% ruined 6 years ago.
From a realistic point of view, no they should not.
Agreed, Bacon, excpet as a safety issue this should be torn down.
From an artistic standpoint I wish they could keep it there, mouldering, forever 😛
Safety issue? Really?
“911, what’s your emergency?”
“I was walking up the maintenance path of a rotting roller coaster, in an abandoned theme park, in which I’m most likely trespassing, and I stepped on a rusty nail. I can’t believe Six Flags didn’t have the forethought to see this happening, and preemptively demolish all remaining structures.”
“Sir, I hope you get tetanus. *click*”
“Too expensive to abandon.” What the heck is that? To expensive to tear down maybe, but walk away, yeah that’ll cost you a left lung.
i’m sure the property taxes are out of this world for zoneing for a theme park, if any land is not producing some sort of profit then its costing you.
They are not rebuilding it but they did test out the rides a few days ago. They still work.
Six Flags actually filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy a few years ago. They’re out of it as of last year, I think, but that doesn’t mean they’re raking in the cash. If anything they need to be more cautious with their expenditures nowadays.
Not that I think everyone’s better off leaving this old park there. It would be nice if they would do anything about it, but I really doubt they’re in the financial position to do so.
Uh, no. They don’t. In fact, they had to close the park in Louisville, KY because they couldn’t afford what the lease was on the land, and to operate it too.
It may reopen, but only because Louisville is now seeing the loss of revenue that park brought to the city.
That said, my local park, Holiday World, doesn’t mind that 6 flags 90 minutes away can’t operate. They’re having bumper years for visitor volume!
I’ve been to Holiday World though. The only really cool things are Splashin’ Safari and maybe the roller coasters and the swing ride. Other than that it gets kinda dull there, so of course they’re happy they lost that competitor :).
HW is my fav. park hands down. so relaxing, fun, and free soft drinks! Best unkept secret in Indiana.
Except for Purdue 😉
Boiler up!
One of the reasons Six Flags had trouble in Louisville is because one of their rides cut a young girls foot off!
Tearing down a park like this could cost a pretty penny. In order to make sure it’s done safely and properly you’d have to hire a demolition crew. And theme parks are not small. It would probably take a lot of time and a huge crew.
What I am curious about is if anyone could sue Six Flags for injury if they wandered into the park. Although perhaps I’m answering my own question here, maybe Six Flags would not assume any risk there as it is Illegal activity to tresspass on their property.
However, would their insurance policy not cover foreclosure costs due to a natural disaster? Would that not include possible demolition?
Amazing photos. I’ll agree there was too much HDR in some shots (eg. Gotham City photo). However, I liked HDR in many of the photos. Great job!
I would think they could be sued since it is not properly secured. i can’t be sure of course cuz i’m not a lawyer but i would think they could be held liable in some kind of way.
as far as should it stay or go, i honestly believe they should get rid of it. i may not live in new orleans but i still live in southern louisiana and we need to be able to move on. and i don’t mean to offend anyone if this does offend someone. its been very close to six years now, new orleans and louisiana can’t get back to normal when everyone stills harbors over what katrina did so long again. they people who were seriously affected by it have plenty of reminders they can’t physically get rid of so they don’t need all these other reminders of the destruction.
as for the photos, yes some of them do look cool.
I hate seeing a perfectly good theme park go to waste. I vote rebuilding, as a sign that NO is moving on from Katrina, and rebuilding, becoming, for lack of a better term, better because of it. A ray of hope in such a terrible disaster.
“No trespassing” signs should be enough to ward off any legal battles.
You could not sue Six Flags; the property is now owned by the City of New Orleans.
Actually, even if there are “No Trespassing” signs, if someone gets hurt on someone else’s property, the owner of said property can still be held liable.
Even if you break into someone’s house and you fall down their stairs or fall through the floor, you can sue them for physical damages.
It’s a messed up system.
Fantastic photos though. Most of them were just fully black though, and I couldn’t see anything. Hmm.
They would not be able to sue Six Flags, because Six Flags does not own the park or any property on the park. The park and everything that still stands is owned by the city of New Orleans since Six Flags paid $3 million in 2006 to exit the lease early.
Their insurance only covered them up to $24 million. The damage in total was around $200 million and they actually had to sue to try collecting the rest of the money.
Again, they cannot touch anything else on the property, and even the two rides they did remove, was technically done so illegally, which was why they were ordered to put the rides back, although they refused (I don’t blame them honestly). They were ordered not to remove anything else from the property or else they could be held legally responsible since the city owns everything now. They should have removed what they wanted first and then exited the lease. Would have been less messy.
Actually if you remember Six Flags was in the news a couple years ago for filing Chapter 11 or Chapter 13 Bankruptcy, so NO they dont make TONS of money…They were billions of dollars in debt. I dont understand why people have to sit here and name call eachother because of a thought or idea they throw out. As far as the photos, I think they are great! Six Flags in it’s glory days was somewhat Cheesy and over done so to have photos that represent that as well on the “finishes” they put on them is fitting. The whole point is to enjoy the pics for what they show not how good or bad the PhotoShoping was.
I agree! Six Flags has had a rough time of it since the late 1990s-all six flags parks. I WOULD like to think that insurance covered most-if not all of the damage-but then Katrina was the worst…..and flood damage probably has exclusions, etc. For the City of New Orleans to own it, it sounds like they TOOK ownership of it, possibly because of bankruptcy filings. Who knows! Anyway, pictures were awesome-and Sad. Bulldoze it to the ground….it obviously is in a Flood Zone and should be given back to nature once the structures are gone. As for the nit pickiness of so many readers and viewers of the photos. Come On-Give it a Break. This guy took some chances in even getting these photos and I say-so what if he enhanced them or whatever. The overall note is one of sadness and decay. Move on New Orleans-move on. A sad chapter of History-just like the Chernobyl amusement park that opened and then closed the next day due to the melt down.
whoopty shit with that thought……that is a reminder of how bad shit can be, and how far we have come….put money into it and make it a symbol of hope, that anything can be rebuilt and that our fellow new orleanians should come together and re unite this city and get it booming again…
Sorry but that’s never going to happen. First off, Six Flags no longer has rights to the property; they exited their 75yr lease only a year after Katrina hit. The park is now owned by the City of New Orleans. Second, it would cost WAY too much to repair the place which is why they salvaged what they could and made an early exit. The total damage and costs to fix everything comes out to around $200 million ($80 million of that is the loss of flatrides and buildings alone), that’s way more than the park, the lease, and the property is worth. Spending that kind of money would be too much of a risk and Six Flags as a brand would probably go under. In the grander scheme of things whats smarter for them as a business? Spending $200 million to bring it back or just paying $3 million to exit the lease early? The latter sounds better to me.
They have been talking about building a shopping center called Jazzland Outlet Mall, but they cant find anyone to take on the venture, every time someone has stepped up, they end up stepping right back down once they realize the magnitude of the damage.
As for some of the rides that are still there (the Jester, the Zydico), the reason they were not removed is because once Six Flags exited the lease, they lost rights to whatever still remains at the park. The Mega Zeph was built before Six Flags ever got a hold of the place so they couldnt do anything with that. They were even asked to return the Batman Ride (which now operates at Six Flags Fiesta Texas as Goliath) and the Road Runner Express (now at Six Flags Magic Mountain), because technically those were removed AFTER they exited the lease. Though they have (obviously) refused to do so.
I think it would be cool if they just made it an official urban exploration site (since for now its unofficial, hence actually illegal to enter), maybe offer guided tours for a small fee, and lease it out for filming and photography so that they could still make money. Maybe urban explorers could pay a small admission fee to roam freely without worrying about cops coming after them for trespassing. There is an abandoned amusement park in Berlin called Spreepark that was abandoned a couple years before this place, and they have done something similar and it seems to be working for them and bringing in money.
what the hell is an “official” urban exploration spot? the entire point of urban ex is entering forbidden unregulated spaces – counting on your own wits to navigate possibly risky but rewarding environments. if they made it legal they’d have to clean it up to remove all the dangers (to avoid the possibility of lawsuits), which would suck all the fun out of it.
i’m assuming you’re the kind of person who likes camping at KOAs and fishing in stocked ponds, right?
Growing up I lived in Bay St. Louis Mississippi. It was about a half an hour away from six flags, many summers of my youth were spent at six flags with my sisters. it will always live in my memory as a fun happy place, its hard to see it abandoned.
i miss it and wish to win the lottery…..i would repair it and reopen it
pictures are amazing!!!
totally agree, needed to chill out with all tha, takes aways from the feel of the photo’s being disturbing.
Yes, I agree with the overuse of HDR. In a few photos it was used sucessfully to show the creepy factor, but in most I think it actually worked against the photographer’s intent, adding a dimension of vitality and frivolity to the images. Too many effects. Some straight work would have been good to see.
I agree. Too much touching up. Some of the HDRs were nice(mostly on the swing ride), but the burning and dodging in most of them was obnoxious, and the over-saturation was unnecessary.
Sad, just down right sad, 6 years later and still sad
i don’t it’s possible for anything to be “surreal enough”
OMG, life after a category 5 disaster… most excellent photos…
it was cat 3
It was a cat 5, love.
No, love. When it hit South Louisiana it was a Category 3. Playing the expert doesn’t suit you well.
Cool photos. However, I feel that the altering of the photos take away from the real destruction/chaos.
i bet there aint one bit of copper left in that place and i bet every thug in town has stuff from the gift shops and what ever they could sell
so you would rather that copper and gifts sit in an abandoned state of disrepair to decay than for the people whose lives were devastated by katrina to benefit from it at all? also we all know ‘thugs’ is racist coded language for ‘black people’ in 2012, man. if you are going to say racist stuff, have the balls not to couch it in coy terms.
Maybe if you unbunched your panties you wouldn’t be so cranky. Taking things from somewhere that does not belong to you is stealing, period. If you want to “benefit” from stealing shit from somewhere and reselling it rather than trying to work like everyone else then, yeah, you’re a thug. No matter the color of your skin. Because those people won’t think twice to steal from your ass, either.
RGL – I don’t know where you get that “thug” is racist coded language for “black people” in 2012. That is the most asinine thing I’ve ever heard. Perhaps you need to polish up on your grammar a bit. The actual definition for “thug” is a brutal ruffian or assassin. The use of the word “thug” is not a racist comment. I love how people now-a-days like to attach anything to the word “racist” to suit their argument. Get over it already.
You are correct, all of the copper is gone. They have even gone as far as taking the power lines that run overhead and bring power into the park. All the wiring in the building are gone. But, someone comments during the beginning of this topic about how the saturation on the pics was too high, that there was no way the colors could be this bright still. If I recall the comment was make sometime around 2011. I was there a month ago and the colors are still vivid, even in the rain.
I live in a city where if an abandoned house is left sitting it turns
into a meth/speed house, and they strip out the copper wiring.
they are mostly white people. race has nothing to do with drugs or theft.
It is sad to see such decay in a place where so many people had memorable moments. Consequently, it is far more sad to see that the photographer felt the only way they could make the photos look good was to over-saturate, over-tone-map, and overly process these photos. It comes across less as a tool to add accents, and more like a crutch.
-R
I completely agree; perhaps for a poster or framed print the saturation might be cool, but I prefer the actual shots w/o any enhancement.
Amen! I was just about to post that comment too. I don’t like all that HDR editing too. Takes away from the photo, in my honest opinion.
i love the color in the photos. great photography!!!!!!!!
I cant belive i was here like a month before Katrina. My dad wanted to go because it was such a short drive from where i lived in mississippi. now its destroyed…beautiful, but destroyed.
i completely disagree you bellend.
I agree. Some of these photo’s are way over edited.
People should just let the photographs come as they are.
Not make each one something they are not.
Wayy to much over saturation.
could NOT disagree more. These photos are INCREDIBLE. You’re being too critical. Appreciate photographs like these for the story they tell. Really look at them and put yourself into this world. That’s what photography/photojournalism is all about. The technicality of it all really doesn’t matter that this level. Just appreciate it and enjoy it…don’t over think it.
At last someone who appreciates the art and poignancy the HDR brings to these photos!!! They are incredible!!
I think the altering of the photos … even if off a bit…made them look even more creepy than if they were unedited. good job, the photographer has an artistic eye ! i thought for sure i was in a stephen king novel ! thanks for sharing : )
I agree. Some off the photos were photoshopped to death
YES MATE. NEED TO LAY OFF THAT HDR AND PHOTOSHOPPING!! epic pictures though
The photoghraphers capturing these images did a great job its devastation at its worst – mother nature is the Boss lets hope she takes it easy on us! Here in Mass. i experienced my 1st n hopefuly last torenadeo(6/1/11) but we could use some great photographers to capture our pain n devastation ! Keep taken great pictures ! i apperciate them !
I completely agree with you. The photos would have been totally fine without all that craziness of HDR and over saturated levels. Good try though. Maybe work on that composition too.
Words won’t come for what I feel after looking at you pictures. It breaks my heart. Here in Alabama, we just experienced another kind of storm, the tornadoes of April 27, 2011. I wonder, as we move forward, what part of our history and daily lives will be left sadly abandoned, just like Six Flags in New Orleans. Keep up the good work of urban exploration.
Sincerely,
Bethany Evans
I must agree with 7LeagueBoots way to much over saturation on the HDR shots. Some shots even get fuzzy/unclear cause of way to much HDR effects. Would have been nicer with some more unaltered shots overall.
I would like to see it again in like 5 to 10 years if it hasn’t been demolished already by then.
Wrong.
Great job
Wrong.
Wait, you call yourself Leica-swinger and you are defending bad HDR? You have got to be kidding me. Why bother to use a high quality camera and glass only to digitally degrade the image with poor tone mapping? I am not sure you understand your tools or why you use them.
Wrong
Wrong
Not wrong at all. The HDR and saturation is horrible in several of these photographs.
Gee, “Leica-swinger,” no room for different opinions, huh?
agree – the overuse of HDR really killed it.
I’m glad to see someone mentioning the HDR, because that’s what hit me when I started looking at the photos. On a couple of them, the HDR is effective, but on most of them it ruins the shot for me. And many of them look way too saturated with color.
P.S. I do want to mention that there are some really good photos here, and I enjoyed looking at all of them.
Nice.. cool pics …
Never seen anything like this before. There is nothing like this in the UK. Every piece of deserted land, structure and machinery is automatically claimed by the govt or related organisation. The rides here would have been dismantled for their metal and electronics and recycled. The land would have been sold to a developer and hope there was no more flooding.
I find it incredible that there are so many abandoned properties in the US. In the UK everything is pulled apart for resources.
On a technical note there was too much HDR, no need to be honest. Composition is a little off but the ones that are good I like.
That’s because in the US the government is not presumed to own the land and everything on it, the owner is.
We don’t have a King–or Queen–who can simply ‘reclaim’ what they want. Thank God.
The King/Queen doesn’t do it, the government does. Our Queen has little or no power.
Thank God, really? You’d prefer parts of your cities to look like Detroit instead of getting re-developed into something beneficial for the public?
It’s not like the Government can reclaim land without any compensation of some sort and it rarely happens. If it does happen it’s usually because something that benefits the public needs to be built there (i.e. dams, roads etc) I’d much prefer that than having a derelict waste of space and metal parts. It’s a very sorry sight.
“look like Detroit”??
have you even been to my city? granted, these types of photo ops are all over, but the whole place isn’t crawling with ruinous roach motels! this city is beautiful, lively, artistic and full of innovation, history and potential (admittedly, among other not-so-happy things). come visit and you’d see so much more than killer street art, bad graffiti, drunken homeless folk and bad baseball games.
now, on these photos: enhancements aside, some of these have great composition and are very well done. sadly, though i spent a long time in LA, i never got to visit New Orleans pre-Katrina.
thanks to all the advanced and tyro photographers who brought us these images! :]
The US gov’t can reclaim any land it wants. How do you think they expand highways… It’s just that the US gov’t is so broke it can’t do shit with its desolate land.
Who you calling broke? F**K all you crybabies I got mine! Oh by the way thanks for not voting sucker lol…
The US Government can and does have the right to reclaim land. It is called eminent domain. Unless your property has a special codicil that states otherwise (and you must get that from the government and you must check with the realtor who is selling the property to see if there is one on the land) then the government can and will come in and reclaim the land if they see the need to do so. The Government is not broke take a really good hard look at what is going down in our government and you will see our government is not broke.
watcher1592 if this was a status on facebook I would “Like” it.
government claim, reclaim, take, hide, lie…what’s the dif?
any natives of the first nation want to speak on this issue? oh, right, you’re all too drunk, diseased, disempowered, and destitute to answer. thanks, government.
Take the time to look up Eminent Domain. It happens in the US, all the time. But only when certain lobby groups fund the right politician.
Actually this land is owned by the City of New Orleans and was only leased to Six-Flags. The city has the power but not the resources to recover this area.
Also the US isn’t as populated land mass wise, so there is no need to recycle our land yet, but as we become as overly populated I imagine that will start happening.
Actually, what happens in the U.K. is the same thing that happens in some U.S. cities. There are laws that say that abandoned or uninhabitable structures must be repaired or torn down. The government does not claim ownership. In fact, if the owner doesn’t heed the government warnings, the government tears it down and charges the owner for the cost. It is a matter of public safety and health. So far, New Orleans has had more important land to clear than that of an abandoned amusement park.
I loved the photos and am grateful to have seen them. I think it is great how the UK recycles everything and keeps everything looking nice. We are very wasteful in the US
How true.
then move if its so horrible here!
ok…oh WAIT! I don’t have a job (I’m a teacher in Texas, where rather than use a $6+ billion fund called the “Rainy Day Fund,” which was created to save public education in a recession like this, the GOP decided to cut school funding, resulting in increasing class sizes to truly unmanageable levels…so maybe I’m not too upset about not teaching next year, after all), therefore no money to move, especially after paying the medical bills I owe for my terminally ill child. Who would be covered in a country like the UK. So how exactly am I supposed to leave this awful place? I guess I could pull myself up by my bootstraps, as goes the old American story. Would you like fries with that?
I wish there was a “like” button for this one I would love to move as well but the way things are set up to keep a lot of people down makes it kinda hard to leave.
I have recently heard that New Zealand has a shortage of certain types of skillsets – teaching being one of them. I think you can get assistance moving, and residency. Might be worth checking into.
My thoughts and prayers are with you ( I Wish) I pray God provide for you in a incredible way, and also heal your child. I pray God Bless your family. No matter what our government does you can still call out to God and he can do something for you despite the economy .
If you rely on the government to tell you when you can “up and leave” you will reside here for… well… forever. the beauty of the American ideal is that those who are content can stay with no push to leave since they chose to “idle”. The problem with your thinking is that you “deserve” a middle class life with running water and hot meals. Sorry to crash your party, love, but the majority of humans living on this planet we have been forced to share do not have either of these. Moreover, lacking any form or shelter or lodging.
@ Thomas Henriques
Says the man with internet access
@Juan
Thomas Henriques was making a good point. I will agree and say that it isn’t great in the U.S. these days, but we need to be grateful for the freedom we have been given. It seems that people are starting to believe they are entitled to food, shelter and free will. Not true. There are people that don’t have any of the things some people take for granted everyday.
That was the point he was making. Just because he has the availability of electricity does not necessarily mean he takes it for granted or feels entitled to it.
gladly. Unfotunately after whats been going down i have no respect left for this country
same here
Um, the UK does not, in fact, recycle everything. Truly, it does not. The government simply cannot uphold a policy as expensive and time-consuming as such. I really don’t understand how this arguement got started, and why people feel it is necessary to insult our United States of America simply because we were ravaged by a horrible natural disaster, and have been slighted by our allies in the past so our economy is not up to par. We are in a slump because of generosity not returned, and so for the time being our government has bigger things to worry about than a single grief-stricken amusement park, which is, in fact, not owned by them but by the Six Flags company. I’m sorry, but your ignorance is extremely insulting to me, and if you feel like your freedom isn’t worth having a single abandoned amusement park, and a dedicated government who may be making unpopular descisions that will eventually help us, then you can go move to your precious UK and recycle whatever the hell you want. If you have no respect for this country, we don’t want you here.
“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
Some American you are. 😛
Ironic…quoting an Englishwoman to tell how un-American she is.
I disagree with your opinion, but I will defend to the death your right to go f*** yourself.
Better?
That was Voltaire… He was french.
hey hey i love freedom and stuff as much as the next guy, but to throw in my personal opinions, we created our own country at the beginning with the help of france, then in the war between france and england we refused to help them(first ignorant move) then skipping ahead a bunch of years we claim victory to a war that never happened, the cold war, which was our doing in the first place, then furthermore we embargoed cuba simply for supporting russia(don’t blame them), and now present day-ish we invade iraq for their oil. please do not reply just to bash my political opinions, which i admit, many people would not agree with.
Uh, the U.K. is free.
I have to take issue with this. The UK does not recycle everything left behind. There are plenty of industrial areas– coal mines and shipyards in particular– that were abandoned and left to rot. There is plenty of rusty machinery on the island, just not roller coasters.
@bibbles – the UK has scores of industrial properties, etc that have been abandoned and not cleared out, for various reasons, just like in the US. But I can assure you, this is not common practice in the US, and anyone who says that we do this because we are wasteful or have more land area, is being ridiculous. We don’t have vast areas of abandoned properties and structures just lying around because we’re all wasteful and fat and inefficient. The US does the same thing as the UK, and abandoned or destroyed structures are dismantled, torn down, sold as scrap, etc.
It all depends on the property, as well as government mandate. Most property is valuable (especially in big cities, coastal states like CA or NY, prime locations, etc), so of course most of the time, an abandoned or otherwise destroyed property would be quickly returned to a usable or salable condition and sold…because the owner isn’t stupid. Just like in the UK. But this Six Flags park is a unique case because 1) the property has very little value because of of its swampy location, and 2) the costs associated with dismantling it are greater than the value of the materials and the land itself. Also , I would add 3) it’s not in a location that has caused a state or local government to require the removal for any particular reason (if it was in a populated area or had hazardous materials, the gov’t would take action). So it sits, until a more economical solution is found.
apparently you haven’t been to Detroit lately.
Love this reply, “apparently you haven’t been to Detroit lately.” Detroit is some what surrealistic. Seemingly bombed out buildings and neighborhoods mingling with space age architecture. Kinda like this amusement park only on a much larger scale with the addition of people living in it. The rest of the state is absolutely beautiful, neighborhoods, no matter where they are on the socio-economic ladder are well taken care of clean and bright. There is something very poetic about it. It makes me wonder if this isn’t being left undone on purpose. Lived here all my life, 60 years, would not even consider moving to another state. America the beautiful, and diverse resides here, in Michigan.
As a photographer I do want to visit Detroit. Sounds very interesting.
amianda, google ruins of Detroit. There are many pictures of some of the most amazing architecture. I spent many years as an urban explorer in the town I grew up in. I still love that city and miss it dearly. It never ceases to amaze me when I read that people hate Detroit. Yet they have never been there and don’t know the first thing about it. Detroit is now a high tech incubator. It was created with local funds and attracts some of the brightest minds from Michigan universities. Google just built a large campus on the outskirts of the city. Two new stadiums have slowly revitalized the down town. I know, I worked at GM headquarters. Lost my job in 2008 and had to leave. Its an amazing downtown to visit. The surrounding neighborhoods had very large, solidly built homes that can be had cheap. Many do need some renovation, but they are not the burned out shells that the press likes to show. If enough jobs are created there, I will be the first to return and buy one of these amazing old homes. You can not build a house like this anymore. There aren’t many stone masons to do this kind of work. I now live in Florida where there are only maybe 4 types of distinct house models. In Detroit neighborhoods, many houses were uniquely created with one of a kind stone carving. I hope you get a chance to experience one of the truly great American cities. Bring your cameras. Peace
Hear, hear, Jeanine.
One other consideration: it’s only been seven years. It’s not going to be in significantly worse shape now than it was immediately after the flood, and if, for some reason, the population returns to a level that would support such a park again in the near future, it would likely still be cheaper to clean this one up than to build from scratch.
And meanwhile, of course, there’s no pressing need for the land for any other purpose.
Yeah, plus in England, the places are there but people act so much worse and try to burn anything down that’s been abandoned. And you get addicts living in them, etc. The abandoned places, whoever owns them, then have to have security patrolling which costs money.
So very quickly things change and someone buys it and turns it into more flats….
Do a little research before you write your opinion. There is an abandoned amusement park in the UK. Dreamland in Margate!
cancel that shit….there is gonna be flooding in NOLA, always
Wow, truly some incredible images. Wow.
If they’re not using that roller coaster, can I have it?
i want a bumper car
That’s what I thought! The first thing through my mind when I saw it was “I how many people it would take to carry that thing.”
I noticed that all the carousel horses were gone,
I was wondering the same thing about the horses. No doubt those were still valuable, even if almost ruined. I wonder if they were looted or if Six Flags actually recovered them to renovate and use elsewhere?
They did take what they could salvage to use elsewhere. I don’t know if that was the case with the horses in particular, but I know Six Flags chose to save anything worth saving.
Me too. or two…or three.
Was wondering the same thing! Saw a post from someone said that they “had tested the remaining rides and they still worked”, I wonder if that was true?
Reminds me of my emergency vehicle transit behind the lines of 6 flags Los Angeles where I got to see the neglected alternate universe of an amusement park in full-throttle life. They transported me along the backside of the park. There were giant cobwebs and a huge plug in an oversized surge protector. Bad hotdog? Maybe.
Thanks for uploading these. Really enjoyed them. Do you mind people using them for stuff? (record cover)
These pictures were taken by photographers – each one credited to the right photographer. Many of them are copyrighted, so you would need to ask each of them as I did.
So, is the copyright valid if the photographer was committing a crime to get the original source photo?
The photographers took the picture, risked arrest to get in there and take these shots. The photos belong to the photographers and yes they own the photos and the copyright is valid.
OK, so answering someone’s question above, it is illegal to be on that property, correct?
Yeppers.
but they were taken illegal so there is no way that they are copyrighted…..only the owner can approve a copyright, and im sure that didnt happen
The copyright goes to his work and capturing the image…it does not matter that he was on the property illegally as far as the copyright issue.
As far as the editing and HDR….photography is an art form and these individual photographers have created their own art in their vision. It is how they wanted to see it. Appreciation for art is personal preference and not everyone will agree on what good art is. Although some may prefer black and white or less color, it may not of had the same effect and these pictures were as the creator wanted them. There will always be those that will arm chair quarterback and say…would look better this way. Then they should go create their own vision.
this is so weird to see..i grew up near new orleans and remember going to this park when it was still called ‘jazzland’. i havent been back since it turned over to six flags, it’s probably been 8 or 9 years, but i still recognize and remember those rides pictured, especially the swings and the mega zeph and the mermaids. To see it like this is surreal, and a little sad.
I grew up in Luling in St. Charles parish and these pictures make me want to cry. I went to Jazzland a bunch when I was little and its so sad to see the place of so many happy childhood memories desolate and abandoned. Its the railings that really get me, for some reason the purple green and gold are just so vivid in my mind it brings tears to my eyes to see them now.
thought the same thing, I’m from St. Landry Parish and going to Jazzland was the only family vacation we ever took, it was seriously a big thing to us. This is so sad.
I was thinking the same thing when I was looking through the pictures.. I used to spend much of my summers there when I was in middle school, we had season passes when it was still Jazzland. To look at the pictures and remember what it was like in all its glory is extremely eerie. I was given a free ticket to go to the park the week before Katrina hit, and I was planning on going after the storm, not knowing it would never reopen. I wish I would’ve gone one last time!
Looks like it WAS a very nice park to go and have some fun in.
same here. i miss jazzland.
Oh God, the HDR.. it burns!
The subject matter is fascinating and you’ve got some solid compositions here. Please do yourself a favor and stop using HDR as a crutch, it’s not helping anything. Abandoned things benefit from gloom and contrast, radioactive color ruins the mood – unless for some reason you want the viewer to feel like they’re on shrooms.
HDR isn’t a crutch, it’s an art form. It brings detail and attention to details that would otherwise be lost to the eye. I think this is a great collection – nice work!
Nope. You’re wrong on this one. HDR is a technique to produce an aesthetic, not an art form unto itself. The aesthetic is there to inform and support the artwork. The question you should be asking is, “What does the image say to the viewer once HDR is added that it did not say before, and what other techniques might be employed to say the same thing better?” These are questions that should be asked about every aesthetic technique in your arsenal. Whether you ‘like’ the aesthetic is beside the point.
Personally, I do not see how HDR added anything to these images. Most of the photos it was used on would have been better served with a change in composition, a different lighting situation, a little old fashioned tone adjustment, etc. However, that would have required artistic vision, foresight, and image making skills. HDR on these photos seems to be an attempt to add visual interest that the image was otherwise lacking. Therefore, HDR is a crutch (in these images).
mike, your commentary’s sound. where could check out your work?
I am afraid that I have gone old school and stopped posting online (no traffic directed to my vanity site), but that may change. For now, I am printing everything. To be honest, going back to printing has really changed my perspective on photography.
Amen. Preach it. I would like to add a few of things to what you said.
1. No technique is good or bad on its own. It is how appropriate it is to use it.
2. HDR gives pictures a sense of the hyper-real with extreme detail and over saturated colors.
3. The pictures up above scream SURREAL. At best adding hyper-real visuals muddles the message. At worst it contradicts it.
4. HDR is like all the old Photoshop filters. People see it as a “make it pretty” button. Good photos take work.
Amen right back at you. Exactly what I was trying to say, only more clearly stated.
Mike wrote “going back to printing has really changed my perspective on photography.”
@Mike– I am curious. In what way?
Can’t speak for mike, but i have had the same experience.
Printing:
a)causes me to edit my images much more ruthlessly (as in use only the best ones)
b)think of images as permanent instead of deletable
c)made me really think about purpose. some look great at 5×5 on a monitor, but others look great at 36″x24″ on a wall.
How can an OPINION be wrong… They don’t like it… No matter the facts that you throw out there, their opinion is theirs, and not right or wrong…
Also… T all of you saying that effect requires bracketing capabilities… It can be done in three steps in photoshop from ONE image source and not compositing…
People can have wrong opinions. Opinions require data (fact) and analysis. If either is flawed the opinion is flawed, without merit or value, or wrong. Basic debating standards. They said HDR is an art form as a basis for their opinion- by definition, wrong.
It’s an art form when it isn’t overused and when it’s done properly; unfortunately, that is not the case in several of these shots.
LIKE!!!
I really get worn out of people telling others what’s wrong w/their photos.
The photos here are hauntingly memorizing. Regardless of saturation and someone’s
view of art. Art is an expression. Start accepting others ways of seeing things.
That’s the beauty of this.
AWESOME job, love all the photos. Wish I had the chance to do this!
Agreed!
i completely agree
WRONG.
(at least, that’s what everyone seems to be saying about everything. I thought I’d give it a try! did I do it right?)
Notice, no one has said anything negative about the non-HDR pictures. Adding something so profoundly changing (and controversial) as HDR to an image without obvious justification is bound to bring about comments. The photographers are bound to know this (or are really naive). Discourse is good.
And people don’t criticize art? Please.
It’s not hard to imagine there was an Atlantis when nature reclaimed this so quickly. Only 6 years and it’s like it was 30 years ago…
In a hundred years it will be covered with vines and trees and home to lots of wildlife. Life after people….
Wow, those pictures are… at a loss of words. I enjoyed the added effects.
Those pictures are freaking terrible. Learn to take actually good photos instead of relying on Photomatix as your crutch. The effect looks terrible, but that’s beside the point that the composition and overall originality is just plain awful. Way to ruin a good opportunity.
UHG, your username sure fits. way to be a negative nancy! The effects were great, and brought aspects out of the scene that some would otherwise miss. this is not a photography competition, it’s a documentary.
Actually, its a photo-documentary which makes his comments on the photographs valid.
ACTUALLY, it’s not a photo essay.. It is a collection of photos from a collection of photographers. A photo essay is rarely composed by different artists.. There are a couple exceptions I can think of, but an essay is composed of an over riding theme and shot with that theme in mind… This was not done that way.
As Feral said – “It is a collection of photos from a collection of photographers…”
…So for those of you who worded your comments in the form of attacks on the photographer… you are dumb. Try reading the captions (where you would see different photographers names) or even that tiny little introduction paragraph at the beginning.
Ohhh wait… we’re Americans, we don’t know how to read because our education system is failing so miserably. (Not to mention the lack of funding in the art departments in schools- proven thanks to those of you who don’t even know how to constructively critique art)
Photo essays by form can be made by any number of different photographers. It is the theme or vision of the compiler/curator that holds it together. Being a collection and essay are not necessarily mutually exclusive.
im not dissagreeing, but im tired of hearing this. if you pay ANY attention to the pictures you certainly WONT miss any aspect of the scene. making one third of these colorless, one third overly colorful and sturated, leaving the only about one third either straight up or edited well, kills two thirds of the photographs, because this is illegal, many of these pictures will never be seen the way that they really are because the ones recovered are over edited and few other people will make it in there and be able to come out with out a hefty fine and a confiscated camera
I am from South Louisiana, and seeing this is very nostalgic. Looking at the pictures of the entrance is haunting. I remember exactly what it looked and felt like before Katrina. It was so live, vivid, and beautiful.
Also, you should be thankful you didn’t get into trouble because I recently ha a friend who was arrested for breaking and entering at this Six Flags.
wow this is just like the scooby doo cartooons. they always were finding ghosts at those abandoned amusement parks…wow and now its come to life.
people, read before you post. these photos aren’t from one person. each is taken by a different photographer at a different time. who cares about hdr or whatever other technical terms you want to throw out there. the actual photographers didn’t make this post.
personally i enjoyed looking at these photos. i worked at “Jazzland” the first year it was open. it’s very haunting to see these images even though things are destroyed you can still see the way things were. brings back a lot of memories. it’s amazing that they haven’t done something with the place yet. every time i drive by it’s like a constant reminder of how slow the whole rebuild process really is.
thanks for the post.
I care about HDR. And I don’t have a problem with it. What I don’t like is problematic tonal mapping in a multi-image, HDR compositing engine imposed upon otherwise serviceable photographs. Or for those that don’t like technical terms: really bad pictures. “Really bad pictures” annoy me the way comments about them annoy other people.
Generally I liked the post. Too bad the “really bad pictures” were so damn distracting that it dulled my enjoyment of the work of so many different photographers from so many different times.
I agree with you Kristi, it took me back to the first time I stepped foot in Jazzland so the HDR doesn’t really matter to me, it’s the memories that mean the most.
Wish someone could post any pics of when this park was actually open. Make a neat contrast.
Agreed. That would be a good contrast for those of us unfamiliar with it.
These pictures are amazing. I feel like I’m there, which doesn’t seem like it’d be a good thing.
Wow.
How on earth did you get that guy up on the tracks – or did someone else put him there first?
Sadly, most of New Orleans resembles what you captured in the photos – graffiti, gangs, lawlessness, decay, voodoo, fear & death. Over the last 10 years, I’d say that to visit New Orleans, it has been “enter at your own peril.”
Day or night, I feared the long drive from the airport to NAS Belle Chasse; I held my breath when having to stop at a traffic light. There were times, even when walking in a group of the finest Marines and their spouses after dinner in the French Quarter, that I think I would have rather swam across a gator-loaded swamp than continue onward.
Your photos were bravely captured, haunting and very nicely done & appreciated.
wrong.
As someone who lives and works in New Orleans I have to say what a horrible and incorrect characterization of New Orleans you’ve made, Kim!
Sure, there are parts of New Orleans that you wouldn’t want to walk (or drive) through at night, as is the case with most major cities. However, the areas surrounding the airport and the French Quarter are as safe as the streets of any other city.
New Orleans survives on tourism and it’s fallacious accounts like yours that keeps people from coming here. I don’t doubt that you may have been scared, but to say that most of New Orleans is over run by “graffiti, gangs, lawlessness, decay, voodoo, fear & death” is insulting and flat-out wrong.
reNew Orleans
How far up your a** is your head? Are you at the pseudo-New Orleans in Disneyland?–or maybe in Metairie? That is “the area around the airport,” which is not even in New Orleans! All that stuff is what gives us our soul & what people want when they come here. Maybe those things don’t exist on certain parts of St Charles Ave or the CBD or out in the suburbs and exurbs, but step into the real part of the city.
I was born and raised in the New Orleans area. I used to love it. A few years ago I was mugged leaving the French Quarter, so don’t tell me that the city is safe. It’s a crap-hole since Katrina. Stop hanging on to an idea of what the city used to be. I got out of there and I suggest every sane person do the same.
Sal’s a puss.
Seriously, New Orleans isn’t a place that you need to be fearing for your life every second of every day. It has its problems just like anywhere else, but you need to learn to appreciate the beauty and history it has to offer. Katrina was a natural disaster that caused the levees to break, thus causing Jazzland/Six Flags to flood. The destruction to the park is too much to be able to fix and reopen, and curious people take advantage of abandoned places. Any abandoned building or area anywhere in the world is going to attract graffiti and lawlessness. New Orleans has a different outlook on arts and history than many other places in the world, but different doesn’t necessarily mean bad. It just means it’s different. And if you seriously dislike the area that much, you swimming across a swamp riddled with gators will probably do us a service.
thank you. You more or less have to go looking for trouble to find it in New Orleans, there are places not to walk around in, and if you don’t know where they are, then you probably shouldn’t leave your hotel. For everybody bitching about the pictures and their effects, Fuck You. Did the colors give you some false sense of living, breathing existence in that park? NO. they are pictures of an abandoned theme park, it doesn’t matter if they are black and white or bursting with color, the message is pretty damn clear.
You are my favourite.
Matt… I disagree… And I agree… Fr the most part it is safe… But like any urban sprawl, there is crime. But it has become more common that you don’t have to go looking for trouble to find it,.. I will cite that last year we had a multiple injury shooting on CANAL off of royal…
However, those people that think it is a dangerous place, are idiots… Most of our crime comes from idiot tourists who think that they can get away with murder. Ulike most people that defend the city, I live in the lower nine… Not only that, but i am white and live in the lower nine. If any combination were to get someone shot or brutalized for no reason, it would be that, but 5 years back and still kicking.
To all you that think that a place is dangerous, I suspect that you don’t have a basic respect for those around you, but that is just me.
|| To all you that think that a place is dangerous, I suspect that you don’t have a basic respect for those around you, but that is just me.||
Exactly… Thank You. And that not only goes for New Orleans.
kim, you couldn’t be more wrong with your stereotypical response about New Orleans.
I happen to like lawlessness and voodoo.
you are so sadly driven by fear.
NOLA is a gorgeous city. If you’re smart about your actions, you’ll be fine.
LOL….you are a typical tourist who listens to all the spooky stories of any grand city. I’ll bet you fear NY due to people getting mugged and San Fransisco because you will be attacked by a flaming homo.
I just hope and pray that you do not have children or influence on any living soul… what a narrow-minded, ill educated view you have. Always nice to know that there are a few of these silly, easy-to-manipulate people left on the planet. You goofy lot are VERY entertaining and keep the reality shows in business.
Thanks for sharing your invalid and thoroughly misinformed opinion.
P.S. The Wizard of Oz was NOT based on a true story
Looks like it’s more infested with negroes than roaches… they’ll even try to ruin things already ruined!
just because there are tags and graffiti doesn’t mean it is negroes. way to stereotype. I’m a graffiti artists and I’m not a negro, nor is every negro a tagger. nothing is ruined by graffiti, the only thing that is ruined is your perception.
You are not a “graffiti artist” you are a vandal and a criminal and you along with those who did this should be arrested and put to work cleaning your damage and scrubbing shower stalls in state prison instead of ruining the ability of others to enjoy their property. Tell us where you live so we can come and vandalize your property with our “art”. Grow up, buy some canvas and learn to paint if you want to be an artist.
I must agree with Bob. Although graffiti is pretty in some places… This amusement park is not one of them. It is so sad to see that vandals have taken over. In 2 weeks I plan on going to browse the old Six Flags but I will do nothing but take photos. People should respect the beautiful nature of this park and not vandalize it. It’s sad what this world has come to….
And on another note—these pics are absolutely AMAZING!!!
On the other hand, a “pristine” untagged abandoned amusement park in the swamps would be I believe less interesting in photographs.
I live in L.A. and I think tags as well as what some people would consider “Grafitti Art” are all interesting. Of course, when it’s on my building, that’s another story. There is a time and place for everything.
Helsinki.
BRING IT.
GRAFFITI IS ART SHUT UP
Graffiti is art that cost $1,000.00’s of dollars to remove!
Bob, I think you take life far too serious. Who are you to tell Judy she is not a “graffiti artist?” Have you witnessed her work firsthand? Do you know her personally? You seem very closed-minded and in no place to even say what a “real artist” is. I don’t know if you’ve even seen “real graffiti”, but I think if you’re going to sit there and mash your sausage fingers into your keyboard, you should pull your head out of your ass(which seems to be puckered so tight, I’m not sure how you got it up there in the first place) and look at some of the absolutely beautiful graffiti running through cities such as Los Angeles before completely bashing it.
however, Judy, it is not completely true that nothing is ruined by graffiti. You being a “graffiti artist” should know that there are toys, and they do ruin things. like a lot of the graffiti in these pictures. some adds to it, I will admit, but certain things should be preserved the way they are.
Graffiti artist does not = guy who tags public property. That is graffiti, correct, but many graffiti artists are commissioned for their work. I.E last hour of “Exit Through the Gift Shop”
Bob… You are a closed minded idiot. I have seen many things painted on canvas that could no qualify as art any more than your post could qualify as brilliant prose.
Part of your point was valid… It is criminal, that doesn’t make it NOT art… Hell, you looked at these photos which were SHOT illegally. It is in the title… Don’t get high and mighty when you are guilty of enjoying something illegal
As illegal taking these pictures may be; the photographer does his/her thing, walks around exploring for some time, enjoying the mystical spheres, then leaves again; no harm done, all stays the same.
That is by FAR more acceptable then to ‘illegally’ go in there -and- spoil everything permanently by putting graffiti on everything.
And indeed, there are examples of truly beautiful graffiti-art, but those as seen on these pictures are -VERY- clearly _not_.
I think that the graffiti on these buildings just gives the park another eerie feeling. It shows the decay of what was once there.
It doesn’t detroy the property that, in all honesty, won’t see life again, it just adds to it.
In this scenario, I don’t think that it takes away from any of the beauty of the decay of this park. It’s giving it some life after death.
I understand the graffiti art vs vandalism argument, blah blah blah. Personally though as someone who appreciates urban ruins, I’m sick of “professional” taggers painting all over these kinds of places. I actually miss the days when graffiti was just vandalism by local kids, instead of giant murals by people expressing their “art.” I know that some of my favorite abandoned places in ATL have been discovered by the tagging circuit, and it really takes away some of the magic.
Normally I’d agree about it spoiling everything… but in this case, it was spoiled already. Pretty well everything I can see in those pictures with graffiti on it is below the waterline; had they decided to renovate and reopen the park immediately after the flood, those walls and such would still have had to be replaced or repainted, so there’s no damage done by adding a bit of spray paint.
Graffiti in our area is removed at a high cost..the other day I saw new graffiti completly covering a public washroom building and concession stand…it was not art only large ugly initials and vulgar words…it took a commercial company 2 days ,2 guys to remove this eyesore…cost was thousands…we have a group who seek out graffiti lawbreakers at night in the act so we can teach them a lesson..sort of a graffiti removal crew in action…great fun.
fuck the police spraypaint everything
Shame on you, Jake for blaming an entire race for these problems.
Hey, I have an idea! Let’s go to a great location, take pedestrian photos, and make them ‘better’ with eye-melting HDR ‘techniques’. BRILLIANT!
These totally remind me of the Carnival map on Call Of Duty MW2.
Totally Agree, most of it the rollercoaster part and the challets all over the place!
An amazing collection!
Reminds me of the ruins we see in Detroit City. Now that the communist Chinese have the upper hand over America and we owe them so much (Proverbs 22:7), even Ford of America is planning a 350 million dollar (US) transmission plant in China,(not here at home. They own us, they get to pick now!) to match GM’s engine plant their. Will America’s vast pool of unemployables even know the difference? (American education, shamefully admitted by President Obama as 39th in the world) Do Americans really care at this point? Can they even see through the pot-smoke, the crack cocaine, the booze, the crime, the corruption, the turn-style jail system, that is America?
These photos, a reminder of better days in America, when we Americans owned America, before the great loans, at ‘too good to be true’ rates enticed our ‘money-men’ to sell us out.
This park, never to be re-built, a sorrowful reminder of the latter days of the last, the greatest, Caucasian empire the world will ever see?
America now regresses to a Third World country, owned and operated by communist Chinese interests through dummy ‘multi-national’ corporations – even the American peons’ votes will be weakened by corporate influences on elections, with the paid-off courts full approval, now, in these latter days.
America’s older blue collars weep! We gave you Studebaker, Willy’s, Oldsmobiles, Packards, Desotos, Pontiacs, Fargo trucks. Did you find a way to evolve these into front-wheel drive 4 cylinder miracles? Front wheel drive, 4 cylinder high efficiency Studebakers? Oldsmobiles? Hell No! The superior Asian engineers had to show you the way, with Honda, Hyundai, Datsun, Nissan, Toyota, Subaru. We gave you a head start, good education, good food, sports, time to study, good schools, and you gave us sweet fuck all! Now the whole country is owned and operated by the very ‘gooks’ we tried to stave off, invited in by lazy-ass college grads who though they had a good deal: Dumb-Fucks! The financiers among you sold us out to the commies!
Be reminded: America cannot be rebuilt. China has decided to cut back on loans to us, even sell off our securities, dropping the U.S. dollar in value, making gasoline, oil, in communist China, relatively cheaper, more plentiful, than in America! The mining riches, the forests, even a good part of the original American farmland, the fresh clean water, all the easy fruits of North America have been picked. Our nuclear efforts have proven disastrous, witness: the unfolding radio-active decimation of all Japan. America will never sell another GE-MK5 reactor again in this world! America has little oil, less drill targets, with poorer chances than ever of success. Even Canada tries valiantly to economically mine its Tar Sands, and finds this a very expensive process indeed! The strong, frugal, hard working, hopeful, Christian, European, stock that built all we see laid to ruin, will not return, even Europe has run out of strong backs to exploit.
America, world’s largest debtor nation – in all the world’s history, beholden to Asians mostly, and many others around the globe, is desperately trying to reduce its debt by devaluing its money then paying debts back with near-worthless paper – but the debtors have cut short the loans! Suddenly an America dependent on others generosity for its astounding prosperity, finds itself stalled, printing ‘funny money’ furiously, struggling just to pay interest on its loans, facing super-natural inflation! Yes! It will so hit America! and sooner than you would like! Just look at gold, soaring to $1500.00+ per oz. as investors seek refuge from the impending crash, the astounding paper-money printing going on in America today! In my day, the ‘rule of 7’s’ applied to savings in American dollars,in American banks. Today, u.S. dollars have less buying power by the end of the week than they did on the Monday when you earned them.
Peppered by racism, but true nonetheless. I have no clue why this post has inspired such an essay, but I wanted to chime in in agreement (with everything except the ignorant racial remarks, that’s just inappropriate). Americans have let their country be sold away, on every level, and we didn’t even notice or care.
I’m an American living in China, and while you’re right about the staggering loans they have on us, the rest of your tirade is ridiculous. America seems to be worried China will take over the world. They are still developing and most of the country is still dirt poor. China has as many issues as America, they are just different. Also, the world won’t end and we won’t necessarily wind up a sad broken starving nation if we fall from first place. China is very complex and while many things about the country frusturate me (ever heard of the Great Firewall?) it is still a country that deserves respect.
TL;DR wtf are you even talking about
You had your head up your ass then, and you have it there still. Your “good education, good food, sports, time to study, good schools” was really just an education in how little your generation cared to look to the future.
Your “good education” was an education all right. It was an education in how to be forced to take classes you didn’t need to meet a gen-ed requirement while the rest of the world took only the classes they needed, focusing on the goal, eyes on the prize the whole time. No money wasted on classes, books, tuition that was never wanted, no burnout before graduation. A student took – still does!- what he needed, and got his degree spending less time and money, and with a greater GPA and rate of graduating students than Americans. Thanks for that.
Your “good food†is full of preservatives and saturated fats and additives. While the rest of the world stuck to fresh markets and whole foods, your generation brought us TV Dinners and Fast Food. Fat America thanks you.
Sports? Have you the actual self respect to sit at your desk and tell us that the sports heros produced today are something we should tout to our children as role models? The sports role model your generation stereotyped is a drug addicted steroid ridden criminal in the court of law more than the court of his sport. Thanks.
Time to Study? Well of course. All of our college graduates are undereducated and have plenty of time to study for their next degree while they are unemployed. See my prior point about “good educationâ€.
Good Schools? You must mean the homeschools, because the public school system has been failing for many years. The teachers are underpaid, the students that don’t succeed are passed along anyway to be someone else’s problem, and the ones that do manage to learn something only learn how to pass the state standardized tests well enough to get the school better funding. I’d thank you again, but you seem to be more a victim of schooling than a cause of it.
Congratulations, you deserved every thrust of the sweet fuck all that you got, and I hope you didn’t get the lubed end of the stick.
ARE you really saying that? DO YOU realize America IS the most powerful country in the world? OR are you the exact person your wining about? THERE ARE countries out there with NO education AT ALL!!!! WE HAVE freedom many nations DO NOT. THEY buy WEAPONS, food, vehicles, ammunition, ALL kinds of stuff from US!!! WITHOUT America, the world is very very screwed. Before North America, before the government, I wouldn’t even call this a world. Every nation in the world would crash easily without the United States. SO think before you start RANTING about fucking bullshit you do not even know about!!! YOU need the motherfucking education!!!
[…] See pictures here from → Uncategorized ← Super Zoom..? LikeBe the first to like this post. No comments yet […]
Wow…what a rant but so accurate !
You got that from pictures of an abandoned six-flags? All I saw was an entertainment corporation deciding that running an amusement park in a hurricane riddled flood plain was a bad idea? Maybe I should look again. Are the ‘gooks’ hiding behind the roller coaster?
I have to agree with you lol. Really…Gooks? BEWARE THE FOREIGN OTHER!! lmfao
i think this rant is what “told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing” is referring to.
Agreed. This long-winded rant shows no indication of “racism” or an America is Superior attitude, hey?
Couldn’t agree with you more!
great letter…hopefully people will read it and see what has happened to this country…
The pics are of a natural disaster, the tar sands are a man made disaster. Greed is the problem, eventually it’ll catch up in Asia as well, what do you suppose will happen when those billions of people start demanding a decent wage?
Marilyn ,Don t u worry greed has already reach Asia as a whole…..but in fact this is the main problem:All of this is linked to money ,power,life time politicians,and other trick of this “modern world”…But u right,sharing wealth is an idea,a very utopic one ,as a Frenchman,i suggest,u read a translation of “les Droits de lHomme et du citoyen”,it s been writen after 1789 revolution,and are still inspiring,U.N ,and the “free world”.IN France this is the equivalent of your constitution act.A very optimistic,belief in the futur,but never meant to really ,be applied…And so u will see,that,idea,in that context are just :bla.bla!People are just expandables and so are their dreams….That said,the photo on this amusement park are just great as a reflect of what our society does, when it does not want to remember…lucky! sun is still shinning…today!even on that park i guess….so!from ANGKOR CAMBODIA (great ruins!in the jungle)Hi to all.
Makes you want to cry!!!
Another example of our city in decay.
Im young, but i am a Katrina evacuee, this almost made me cry, I was a weekend visitor, every weekend. The jester was my favorite rollercoaster.
So incredibly sad and the photographs have a haunting element. Technically, I really like the photos, they portrayed things exactly as wanted.
Nature always wins….
Took my son there before way before Katrina and it was doomed by poor management then.
As for the water world pics. You know they drained a swamp to build the worlds fair there in 1984.
When we were there the lake was closed due to alligators and snakes and >half the rides were closed.
But that’s just some of the history.
Aside from the history lesson these are great photos. Photographer has a keen eye for shots.
Not true the location of the 1984 World’s Fair was in the Warehouse district of the CBD near the Riverfront and Crescent City connection. The featured attraction was an aerial gondola ride that crossed over the river and brought passengers to Algiers, where Mardi Gras World is.
The location of the ’84 Worlds Fair was in fact the CBD (Central Business District). I was born, raised and lived 40 years of my life in NOLA 6 miles from the site of the Worlds Fair. Because of the job situation brought on by Katrina we moved to Houston. I remember the ’84 Worlds Fair. I worked for Showbiz Pizza and had to dress up as the characters Billy Bob and Fatz. Chuck-E-Cheese purchased Showbiz that year so we were in the process of the merge. But yes, it was in fact in the CBD. I remember being dressed up in those hot suites on hot days on floats parading through the streets in the Worlds Fair. And the cooler fans inside the suites were broken. Despite the heat those were fun times.
Now I’m confused; I thought the 1984 World’s Fair was in Knoxville.
This is pritty sad. It deffinatly reminds me of the images of detroit in national geographic recently. Desolate and haunting.
*pretty
best place to play paintball ever
THANK YOU!
i was thinking about that same thing since the photo number 3. that would be an awesome paintball park, or a zombie-related thing reenactment.
Dave, the worlds fair in 1984 was built in part of the old warehouse district in New Orleans. The land was high and dry before construction started, and stayed high and dry for the most part even with the flooding from Katrina. Why shoot your mouth off regarding things you obviously don’t know a thing about.
The pics are really something.Our family went there in 03′.Had a great time-it is very sad that they will not do anything to replace it.Thanks for the memories.P.S—-IS THAT A GHOST ON THE COASTER????? SOME MIGHT WONDER.
Perhaps this is where they got the inspiration for Dark Carnival in Left4Dead2.
I find this kind of stuff VERY beautiful. I love pictures of dead and decaying society. Every time I see an old abandoned building I have an incredible wave of happiness wash over me. I love it…
This is emotional for me, because I know exactly what this place used to look like before the storm. It was lively and vibrant and amazing.
These are all great pictures, but as someone who lives in New Orleans, I just hope that people who haven’t been here recently don’t still imagine it all in this way. New Orleans is coming back, and many locals have rebuilt. Most of the places that are still abandoned are owned by the big businesses, not the real New Orleanians. I hate to see people have the wrong impression of what’s really going on here.
Anyways, really nice pictures. Brought back memories.
these pics are too cheesy !
You know what would make this theme park fun again? adding zombies..
[…] While the “Rapture” didn’t happen this weekend as speculated by so many I thought it would be appropriate to show some fantastic images of what things would look like following an apocalyptic event. These images were taken at the Six Flags Theme Park in New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina. Just goes to show that there is beauty in almost anything if you can just capture it. The full series can be found at Lovethesepics. […]
Twunts: This would be so much cooler if I’d done it better, and I could if I wanted to, I just won’t ‘cos I’m too cool to be judged by all you lowly average people who wouldn’t appreciate it anyway because you’re not as cool as me ‘cos I’m just coooooool!!!
The rest of us: Ooooh!
Critics: I believe the subject could have been better served. There are several arguments that can be made about the message and impact in the wasted potential of these photos. I care about photography as an art and would like to see this subject represented in a more complete way, sometime in the hypothetical future.
The IDIOTS: I LIKE IT. FU FOR NOT LIKING IT.
Everyone else: I like it and am glad for it. I got something out of it.
Which of these categories do you fit in?
This really reminded me of Chernobyl which was abandoned after the nuclear meltdown, both are incredibly eerie. This could be a potential set for a zombie apocalypse movie!
I notice many people commenting on the HDR & the quality of the pictures but that wasn’t the first thing that crossed my mind. The first thing that crossed my mind was the pain and devastation that we felt. Every one o those pictures brings back a tear filled memory for me because I was living less then 5 minutes away from Six Flags at the time of the storm. I just want to let the photographers know that they all did an extremely wonderful job and I appreciate it so very much. XXXOOO<3<3<3
This really reminded me of Chernobyl , the pictures are too large!!
I can’t believe people are really commenting on the editing of the photos and the question of who owns land/if it should be demolished or not. Isn’t it obvious to you that these photos are merely showing what mother nature is capable of doing in a matter of days? Good work.
To all those complaining about the photo criticism– When you go to a movie you really want to see and the people behind you talk through it, do you come out talking about how good the movie was or how much better it would have been if you hadn’t been distracted? Suck it up. They criticize the few bad photos because they care about the good one and the subject. The ugly guilded lillies distract from the overall post.
Most of these aren’t even true HDR (which actually takes some effort, regardless of whether or not it’s a good idea to apply the technique). These were made using Topaz Adjust, a 1-step Photoshop plug-in. Ruins the appeal to me, wish they were more natural.
I’m actually surprised its in as good condition as it was, considering all it went through. A lot of the ugliness (overgrowth, graffiti) is from abandonment, not directly from the hurricane.
Great pictures. I should’ve visited the park when I had the chance when I was in New Orleans for the ASTM F24 committee on amusement rides and devices conference.
As a casual photo taker, I’ve no idea what HDR is, but all I can say is thankyou for posting so many incredible pictures. It’s weird to see it as such a ghost town, although living in the UK I hadn’t heard of it before anyway. However, it’s like something from the documentary Life After People.
Fantastic set of pics and I was gripped from start to finish. 10/10!!
hard to believe that this place once brought so much laughter.
Thanks for the pics.
i think even through all the ugliness and sadness it is still amazingly beautiful
honestly the amount of graffiti and vandalism that has occurred in the past 6-8 months is disgusting. it’s not art when it looks like a 3 year old could do it. i only saw once decent tag when i went. this place was amazing to explore before this happened.
and as for the pictures, learn to not use crutches. hdr photography is fantastic when done right and not for every picture. this makes me want to throw up. go back to the basics and work on compositions for better photos.
you photo snobs are annoying as fuck. The photos are good, and abnormal. if you want some cut and dried proper use of equipment go look at a jcpenny catalog or some cafe slurping yuppie scum’s poor excuse for a portfolio. over saturation didn’t kill this, it captured it in a way that you’re not going to see many other places.
PS: you know how many fucking diggs this page has? Magicians have to stop scrutinizing the way other magicians go about their craft, because they’re all just pulling rabbits out of a fucking hat. You’re arguing about which hat and how hard the rabbits being pulled out. Fucking eat it, i’m sick of it.
thank you – you took the words right outta my brain. amazing how everyone today’s a fucking critic…
So….. how is your criticism of their criticism any more valid. What kind of an expert are you to contradict their critique? You do realize the site is called love these PICS right? It’s about photographs.
Typical. Shout down the people you don’t agree with. Try to invalidate their voice instead of discuss their point of view. There is a lot of well argued, well reasoned points (and some not so much) about the poor quality of some of the photographs. Let’s hear about why they are not poor quality. BTW, I like it is not an appropriate argument for quality.
Seriously? How are you better than all the photographers that are critiquing these photos by bitching about them? Guess what? You’re not! Can’t stand legitimate criticism? Don’t read it! Jesus!
Hopefully the photographer or (photographers) actually read and understand the criticism. Because, you know, thats the goddamn point of criticism.
There is a difference between artistic constructive criticism and ruthlessly tearing apart and insulting a picture. Which is what a lot of people are doing. Smh.
I’m with kaitlin on this.
constructive criticism is fully welcomed, but the comments along the lines of “Your photos suck!” and even “HDR is just a crutch because you’re a horrible photographer” are just uncalled for. maybe if those who made the comments explained why the compositions were so horrible then maybe they wouldn’t get called out on their ignorance. (which is actually quite funny because most seem to go into a total rage when they can’t defend or explain themselves)
Don’t remember anyone calling anyone a horrible photographer.
A lot has been said about the photos being HDR well I took all my photos using a simple Canon point and shoot and I did not do any HDR. I simply did a little tone adjusting and cropping of the images and that is all.
The photo of the Gothic City was done in Adobe Photoshop CS5 as a gift to my sister who collects Batman memorabilia.
I am very honored that my photos have been chosen to be in this article. I thank the author for allowing them and including them here. I hope I have clarified some of the suspicions about my work being HDR or not because it is not. I do not even have an HDR program nor do I even have a nice camera to work with. I do the best I can with what I own and this is the end result of my work. Thank you for viewing them.
I don’t care what anyone else says, I found it very eerie and interesting. Evidently, no one read your post, or they would shut up. I’ve never been to New Orleans. Someday I hope to. Thank you for the photos.
michelle, your pics were amazing! some did seem a little too bright, especially when i thought all the pics were gonna be like the first two shown at the top. but overall, they were beautiful! thank you for taking them
They are obviously not talking about your photos. Bad HDR becomes obvious once you recognize it.
Mischelle I went back and looked at your photos specifically. In most cases I will have to say that yours are among the best. However, a few of your pics (specifically #57 in this series and the one with the telephone and the nemo plush) rely a bit heavily on tonal effects and the #57 photo does look sort of HDRish. The Gothic City photo is also of course heavy on the effects which, it sounds like, was intended for a specific audience (your sister).
One of the early photos of yours in this series, showing the large coaster behind the fun zone or whatever it was called, is perfectly framed. I do love the composition in this photo.
I think for the most part, your photos got mixed in with some other photography that over used HDR to a painful degree, and thus any over use of tone or effects in your work was more easily noticed than if, perhaps, your work stood on its own. I hope you can take this critique with the spirit of help and explanation it was given. Good luck with your photography as you continue.
PS, “good cameras” and equipment are secondary to a strong artistic eye. Many renown photographers worked with basic equipment with phenomenal results. You’re doing fine, keep up the good work.
WRONG!!!
Ok I’m kidding (seemed to be the word of the day).
amianda this post was truly the most constructive, objective and well worded response on this page thus far. Your individual case study of a single artist accompanied by you ability to back up every observation with fact and reason has truly set you apart from the rest of the commenters as a true critic. It is very evident that you put time, thought and research into you post before you began to type the first letter, as so many before you have failed to do.
As a person who finds myself typically only reading of all these post, mostly for their ironic comedy, it is truly refreshing to come upon a post that is the epitome of constructive criticism. Thank you for giving an example of how to critique and I hope all who read your post see and know that it can be done without eliciting feelings of anger and malice from the subjects being criticised or observers reading the criticism.
Michelle should be honored to have such a response to his work as I know I would be.
Ps awesome pictures I wish I could see it for myself. I guess this is the next best thing.
Mischelle, I was a photographer in the Royal Canadian Air Force, and have taken pictures since I first got a Brownie in 1936 when I was 10 years old. Let me congratulate you on your Photo Journal! I have never visited New Orleans, even though I lived in LA for a few years. I rank your photos with
any of the best that I have viewed, eg: Detroit, a city that I have visited many times. Born in the city of Toronto, but now living on Vancouver Island BC. I trust you will ignore all of the foul mouthed children who felt compelled to spew bad language in their posts, ignoring the beauty of your shots and what they portrayed. Truly, we should look upon this photo journal as what it portrayed, the violence of nature, and it’s aftermath. Thank You!
Cheers,
Doug on Vancouver Island BC Canada
I’m so sad. I used to go here with my family before Katrina, these pictures of a place I loved so much as a kid showing the ruins its in now breaks my heart.
cool, but quit with the stupid HDR photos!
You would think they could auction off some of this stuff! Pieces of the merry-go-round, bumper cars, and a lot of those signs were really cool. Anything really! I think a lot of things there would make some really interesting additions to people’s homes.
I like most of these pictures, but I’m not a photographer. I’m more into film, and I would literally die if I ever got the chance to shoot/produce a movie there.
So much potential…
I still have in my wallet all my season passes to both 6 Flags Nola and Jazzland. I lived very nearby and me and my friends went at least three weekends a month. It breaks my heart and brings back such fine memories. Thanks for posting it, wish someone would open it back up!
Great photos! Unfortunately most of them have been ruined by ghetto graffiti, not the hurricane…
been there done that…once you get to the top of the sky coaster come talk to me and the rest of the YOLO crew
cool pics though
I’m interested to know how people get into the park and what kind of security they have. I’m an urban explorer myself and would absolutely love to make a trip out there!
go find out for your self “urban explorer”
These photos are gonna be creepy whether there’s too much HDR or not…. Maybe it’s just me, but pictures of any kind of abandoned place gives me chills.
All the people here are jealous they didn’t to photograph the Zombie Six Flags..
Since Six Flags isnt going to build there Ever Again and they ARE an Extremely Wealthy Company Why THE HELL DONT THEY CLEAN IT UP AND REMOVE ALL THE LITTERED Machinery!? Lame-oid Money Hungry Faggits! For Reals.. Come ON, do the Community a Favor and Clean up After Yourselves… Dont Just leave it there! Corporate Losers Need to Do Their Jobs and be Responsible.. Jeebus! lol 😀
They have every right to leave their property there, its their piece of land. If anything, no one has the right to trespass that land and vandalize it.
i agree. they should leave it there. it’s awesome 😀
The land belongs to New Orleans. I’ve seen alot of people on here spouting off stuff they don’t even know about!!!!
Someone else said that because there is still a lien out on some of it, none of it can be moved until it is all paid. Which sounded accurate, but then I wonder why they didn’t write it off like every other business.
More than likely, they are using the park as storage. They will eventually sell or relocate all the usable rides and materials. Unless it is leaching chemicals, their only responsibility is to fence it off for safety.
They cant remove anything else because they were ordered by the City of NO not to do so. It is no longer Six Flags property because they paid $3 million and made an early exit from the lease, which means they have no rights to whatever is left on the property. They are also no longer obligated to pay the nearly $200 million it would cost to repair and rebuild. What was able to be salvaged was salvaged (the Batman Ride which has been repainted and operates as Goliath at SF Fiesta Texas and Road Runner Express which has been moved to SF Magic Mountain). The other two large coasters that probably could have been removed were not since they’d already exited the lease.
Mega Zeph was never theirs to begin with, it was a part of the original Jazzland and built in memory of the original Zephyr coaster from the defunct Pontchartrain Beach (a park that opened as racially segregated but became integrated in the 60s and ran up till the 80s), which is now apart of the University of NO.
Anyway hope that sheds a little light. Its unfortunate that a lot of people dont seem to know that Six Flags no longer has rights to the property, if you have a problem with whats going on complain to the City of New Orleans, not Six Flags as they have nothing to do with the current condition of the park and whatever’s in it.
Really great shots. eerie and beautiful at the same time. Good Job!
I love all the HDR hating comments! HDR is a technique, that’s it. I shoot film and HDR, getting equal views and comments for both. The comments are often about great composition, so I’m left to wonder, what’s really going on here? Pettiness, jealousy, and the kind of bravo that only comes from sitting behind a computer.
Is it a crutch when I use film because I cross process? If I ask the developer to push the colors? If I buy a 5D, replacing my 30D, is that a crutch because I’ll be getting more detail? Oh I get it, HDR is a crutch because it’s not what you do. I’ll take the promotion that I get from sites like this, LAist, LA Times, flustermagazine, etc. anytime. If the only price is the weak critiques of frustrated photographers, it’s totally worth it.
Word
HDR is not bad by itself. Bad HDR is bad, just like any other technique. If your technique draws more attention than your subject and what you have to say about it, your technique needs to be re-evaluated. Good technique is subtle, if not unnoticeable. The same is true of any art form and medium. Obviously, the HDR above stands out to some people. If a technique draws that much attention to itself, even if you personally like the look, isn’t it the wrong technique to use? Aren’t the number of people who noticed the bad HDR instead of what the photographer was trying to get across enough of a reason to not use it?
Congratulations on your recognitions. I looked at a few of your photos and liked them very much. I think you are a little defensive of your technique.
Very cool. Creepy and post-apocalyptic.
[…] might have found a way in to take some better pictures. As it is, I’ll have to settle for looking at these or these or […]
I don’t understand why everyone is complaining about the HDR. I think it looks fantastic on my computer screen !! That’s all that matters to me lol. Awesome photos, awesome find. I would love to see this place for real someday.
[…] Posted by coldcheese six flags new orleans… I'm guessing you Stumbled Upon those pics? Man that would be an awesome place to paint. […]
BTW – #48 is Fuji Velvia, lol!
And that matters why? I don’t think anyone had any complaints about that photo. Are we a little insecure?
Six Flags should be required to remove all this equipment, not just leave it there. Living in Nashville, I understand flooding. Lost my house and had to gut and repair, but I wasn’t allowed to just leave it. They shouldn’t be either. Remove all the equipment and allow it to be empty, but don’t leave it as a junkyard.
if this was facebook, i would “like” your comment!
I’m impressed, the eirieness (is that a word?) really screams out. I’m new to HDR but for what its worth – I think you did a phenomenol job with it.
Thanks for sharing
What is HDR??
I take pictures. I do a little cropping and brightness adjusting for effect.
Most of the photos are excellent.
Some people just need to find fault with anything.
Less power to them.
I’m only 16 but I was born and raised in New Orleans. I still have my season pass for Jazzland with a picture of me when I was 4 and remember every thrill I had there. My friends actually explored this and some of their graffiti is in these pictures. I’m not going to argue about photo quality or give you a sob story of my Katrina experience. To the creator of this page, nice dramatic captions and thanks for putting these together. To the photographers, thanks for bringing back memories and making my friends’ art internet famous. To anyone who bashes New Orleans, Fuck You Sincerely.
well said
ditto that
these pictures are so cool. i didnt even know that this place was demolished. its like a scean from a movie
Why don’t we do anything about this?!?!?!?!
[…] of Hurricane Katrina, Six Flags New Orleans is rotting and rusting its way back to nature. And the pictures of the park’s present state are simply stunning. Related Posts:10 Awesome Abandoned Zoos7 Awesome Abandoned Brewies20 Amazing […]
Please give credit on your website, thanks.
your pics are absolutely amazing! i love the editing you did, and i love that you went on a gray, cloudy day; really makes the pictures more eerie and beautiful
WTF? Strictly from an economic standpoint, why hasn’t anyone hauled off the scrap? Let’s not even get into the obvious environmental issues here; the tens of thousands that could be reaped from recycling all that steel could go into a renewal fund, victims’ fund, big-ass concert for the hell of it, etc.
SHUT UP YOU’RE STUPID IT’S COOL
HDR looks sick.
HATERZ GONA HATEEEE
I think you misspelled ‘Haiti’. And why are haters going there?
These photos were great. The effect of sad neglect was strong. I was thinking that someone should do some work to make the place safe and open it as the biggest haunted “house” ever. Actually the paint ball idea was good too. At least there would be some fun times going on again.
if anyone knows how to get authorization to go walk around i would be very grateful. I am a student majoring in photography and photo journalism. Having grown up in New Orleans, visiting our now abandonded gem would be a blessing. Please be helpful if you can. Thank you.
Unusual set of pictures that tell a truely sad story. How strange that the place has been allowed to go to rack and ruin but makes for great pictures.
HDR HDR HDR HDR HDR HDR HDR HDR HDR HDR HDR HDR HDR!!!! Shooped the shadows are all wrong!!!! The point is the photographer went and took pics, posted them so you can sit and look them over. Of course the internet must retort with a regurgitated mess of unfitting photographer lingo. Even as I type this I know some little nerd will get red in the face and wildly type with their lightly salted cheeto dusted finger tips about the reasons I am wrong and why HDR is outright killing American families.
For those denouncing the photographers use of image altering software let me say this. If the image had been created by an artist using palette and canvas you would not be saying “doodley-squat”. The “say it in the camera” school of photography is as old hat as the “Hudson River Valley” school of painting. A photographer should use every means available to create the final image he sees in his mind and if that includes Photoshop software then all I can say is “have at it”.
As for this essay the photographer created and conveyed the garish idea of a fun park less the fun seekers. Very powerful idea. Could have used some editing and maybe a few more days in shooting but all in all very moving and sad.
Yes, a photographer should use every tool they have. Let them start with their brain. Deep analysis goes a lot farther than poor technique.
Lynne is brainy!!!
damn i kept telling myself to go check this out and take photos but now i’m so in awe of these people’s work i don’t know if i ever will… maybe it was just too creepy but if i can get a posse up i will still go do it, especially knowing some of these photos were just shot this year. i mean, i live about 3 miles away, duh! but thank whoever put this together for a great show!!
[…] amidst post Hurricane Katrina debris sends chills down the spine! Check out the rest of the series HERE.Tweeting or Liking this automatically enters you to win an original piece of art signed by […]
These are some really cool but creepy photos,since i’m into sci-fi,horror,mysteries etc. i can see a zombie movie or two being shot there especially the black & whites,i couldn’t find myself there taking photos alone,i can imagine if there are any bodies buried in those swamps their ghost must have great times after dark enjoying the park,wow! imagine going there after dark to take pictures very scarry,Emmett North Jr.
[…] Pour visualiser toutes les images : Cliquez ici […]
Sad. 🙁 Neat pictures though.
Reminds me a lot of the abandoned theme park in the anime film Paprika.
How sad but what an amazing collection of our life. Breaks my heart. Beautiful work.
BANKSY please take a holiday to Six Flags NOLA.. I’d really like to see what you could do there. Cheers.
oh god, that would be incredible!
I might just give my left arm to witness that 🙂
He is an amazing artist and I think anything he would put there would be wonderful.
Just for the record — it was not Hurricane Katrina that caused the levees to fail and destroy Six Flags & much of NOLA, but the design, construction, and maintenance of the levees by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. (Might want to check out Harry Shearer’s film “The Big Uneasy”
Jeeze people are trolls… Missing the point of the photos entirely with all their crap about HDR… whatever!
I love these pictures! They’re really beautiful and expressive! I’m a casual photographer in my free time, and I would absolutely love to be able to make wreck and ruin look so surreal and fantasy-like!
Really, well done to all the photographers involved!
Wow! So much criticism! I think these are most interesting and a good interpretation of the subject.
To folks wanting to go in person – DON’T. Snakes, snakes, and more snakes. Plus the occasional poisonous caterpiller, and you will be miles from the nearest medical care. Cutting yourself in the wildly unsanitary conditions out there could get you MRSA (New Orleans is much more humid than the rest of the U.S. so germs stay viable for a LOOOOOONG time.
I have not been there, but I have been traipsing around New Orleans East. It is one hopping place, at least for microbial life.
ive always wanted to go on a date at an abandoned amusement park 🙂
HAHA!!! me too man! me toooo!!!!!
This breaks my heart on some other kind of level. I love all things dark and scary horror oriented things . . . but this hit’s home and it’s too sad
I grew up going there. it’s so strange to see it like this, however, i don’t look at is as a scary thing. when my friends and i drive by, even today, we just look at it and remember our first roller coaster rides and never remembering to wear sunscreen. It’s never freaky, just something positive to think back on pre-katrina havoc.
i dont know what you guys are talking about i think this is the most beautiful thing ive seen in a while
[…] at LoveThesePics – see all 75 of them here. Related Posts of Interest Serene Surf Photography by Jaider Lozano If you thought surf […]
I Loved all the pictures as they were displayed. HDR was awesome.
I love most of the photos. I love how many of them are edited to look “old timey” and sepia toned-ish. i felt that the artists taking the photos did a wonderful job capturing the destruction still left in New Orleans. I do agree with some comments saying that the HDR was a bit overdone. The tonemapping should have been adjusted differently so the colors weren’t so saturated and contrasting. But this is only about 3 photos, in general, i feel these are wonderful shots! my favorite is the one viewing the ferris wheel through the chains! The symbolism is great and i love the way it shows the ferris wheel almost bound by the chains the way the city was bound by the hurricane. also, i love the use of something so confining ,chains, and something so free and innocent, ferris wheel, in the same frame. Wonderful shot!
[…] those abandoned monuments in Eastern Europe or the pictures from Pripyat – except now in America Creepy, Crusty, Crumbling: Illegal Tour of Abandoned Six Flags New Orleans [75 Pics] 2006 Suzuki DRZ400S GO HOKIES! Taking the long way home <- updated […]
I think the Photos are great. but What is going to become of the forgotten theme park? If there was a way to restore new orlens (sorry my spelling sucks), I thimk maybe a way to get the money to do so could be to auction off the stuff to whom ever would bye , you never know what people like to collect. or even buy property as is with every thing that is there part of the deal and sell tours of it you know like a historical thing. It would be the coolest haunted house atraction ever and i bet people would pay to check it out . and if it was a community investment by the people who live ther and they had rights to it then they could use proceeds to rebuild neew orlens . this just sounds like babble im sure , but there is lots of potential
i think the pics are very well done. However, it really is a sad topic in that they portray a sad time in America. They are haunting images; yet one wants to see them all.
true..I’m sure more to come from recent tornado’s too
The tornadoes didn’t hot New Orleans.
yeah def abandoned and creepy at that! too bad it’s not open anymore 🙁
This collection is awesome. Given the flooding, is there a major mold problem there in addition to the rusting, etc? One featured photographer wrote, “This sponge-like floor prevented many abrasions (and lawsuits). Now it serves as a sanctuary for a future meadow” but it’s not clear what kind of meadow s/he was talking about…
I went through so many of these comments and all I can say is different strokes for different folks. What some think is art, others don’t Some like HDR, some don’t. So many semantics here, aesthetic vs art form, blah blah blah. One client may like more natural photos, while others want that “other touch”. That is why no one photographer or style is sufficient for the masses. That is what makes each of us unique. Have an appreciation for the difference in each photographer’s eye. I say the photographs were beautiful. I could see the HDR, and it did not detract from the photographs themselves. Where there was a greater amount of HDR or oversaturation, I tried to put myself inside the photographer’s mind to see what they wanted to convey. Free your mind. Sometimes there is more than what is initially visible.
Wonderful story that can be seen through these pictures. This brings back so many memories… :'( Beautiful work, I feel like the few over-done HDR images help to give the photos a more impressionistic and surreal feeling to the story line. It’s a reminder of the joy and happiness that was felt throughout the park for many years, but is also a reminder of the devastation and ruin left behind for us to “enjoy” now.
I like it. It fits the subject,although I agree that it isn’t appropriate in every situation
eerie, haunting, memories of a past… hardly something you can call out the racist card for. the manmade disaster (katrina) that caused this, and building on a swamp? are what caused this. Many friends have gone out there to photograph. These photo’s are wonderful. I enjoyed each photographer, and could care less about you critics…could care less about the racist rant, the political rant, and all you trolls. Especially could care less about those spewing wrongful information. I love my THIRD WORLD NOLA, and as I watch us RISE above all these negative energies, I can still find beauty in something like this. My all time favorite comment regarding New Orleans, “She is like a Phoenix, rising from the swamp”… “Watch New Orleans, for what happens there? could happen anywhere”. The only thing I see? are people who are resilient, and rebuilding… out of their own pockets. Oh Beautiful Storm… I wouldn’t trade you for anything, what you taught me? Has opened my eyes… and all I see now? is beauty. thank you all, for these photo’s…
Amazing photos, thanks for sharing them.
You’d think this place would be a hobo city by 2011…
Well ok everyone has different preferences, but I like several of the images for dramatic effect whether they have been digitally enhanced or not. To me, artistic photographic images are not there just to replicate reality – if so, what would be the point? Good stuff and well worth a look.
Its just very scary to watch those pictures, how so fun place became a night mare WOW.
[…] pictures that were taken of the abandoned Six Flags amusement park in New Orleans. Pretty creepy. Creepy, Crusty, Crumbling: Illegal Tour of Abandoned Six Flags New Orleans [75 Pics] Only the insane have the strength enough to prosper. Only those who prosper may truly judge […]
I pass this ghost every day, visible from the I-10 interstate. Creepy, creepy, creepy……..thanks for the shots – they are amazing.
Monochrome, kodachrome, even your basic b/w could have done justice to many of these shots. HDR can be very useful and make an image interesting when used correctly but over saturation can also be the outcome. I think many of these images are o.k. but some have had just a little bit too much “artistic” enhancement added.
A lot of that tagging is way too hipstery. Banksy would have blast in this place.
Absolutely beautiful pictures. You have found peace and beauty where tragedy has monopolized livelihood and childlike enjoyment of what life should be.
Thanks for creating this online photo exhibition! I like some of the pictures, and others not so much. Reading this discussion thread has been almost as interesting as the photographs. If any of the photographers or commenters want to compare contemporary HDR and Photoshop technique with classic, pre-digital color photography, please check out pictures by William Eggleston (who also shot the decaying American South,) Joel Meyerowitz (who did an amzing book of pictures of Cape Cod beaches)and Nan Goldin (who did very gorgeous and harsh pictures of New York club kids and personalities in the late seventies/early eighties.)Enjoy!
me and the band i used to be in went here sometime last year towards sep or so. its amazing to find this and see some of the same pics we took for promos haha. check them out on facebook. From Shore to Shore.
[…] of abandoned Six Flags New […]
Typical. “I’m better than you, and your oversaturation.” The dude took some cool pics. Shut it.
Honestly, I’m tired of photo-elitists telling a guy his photos aren’t good enough. Drag your fat butt out there and snap some pics then.
The Enchanted Forest down in Baltimore where I am would be another great one. All of your childhood fairy tales destroyed in a fire years ago.
I think the HDR is perfect for some of these images, it adds to the surreal quality and grunge. Amazing place!
These pictures remind me of how much fun I had and how much I miss this place.
Amateur HDR usage.
[…] fotográfica con una recopilación de 75 imagenes del parque de atracciones Six Flags, en Nueva Orsleans que fue abandonado tras el Huracán Katrina, dejándo a su paso escenas […]
You can thank the Army Corps of Engineers for this travesty.
Creepy as fuck! I want to visit! and this pictures are sick from a non-photographer’s eyes! legit dude.
Uh. This was posted on my facebook by a friend who “thought it was cool.” I agree that it is cool. But it’s sort of blowing my mind that everyone is freaking out about the effects and editing applied to the shots, especially since they were taken by different photographers. So, a couple photographers decided to apply the same effect. Obviously they liked it. So what’s the problem? If you don’t like it, fine. But is it such an issue to call for tearing apart these shots? Why can’t we all just take them for the “cool” things that they are and enjoy them? It kind of makes me sad :/
Adore the photos – I want to explore it myself. It reminds of me of an amusement park near Boone, NC with a Wizard of Oz theme that only opens once a year and remains empty the rest.
I’m stunned at the racist comments, however, and even more shocked that people are agreeing with it. Gooks? Negroes? SERIOUSLY?!? Grow up and join the real, diverse world full of individuals.
I Love the HDR. I’m an old traveler who never squatted there for some reason. I’m going back in October for halloween and fucking staying there.
How the hell you gone say it’s ‘WRONG’ to edit a picture? it’s not ‘wrong’ if you want a regular picture go to new orleans yo’self’s & take yo own damn picta’s .
Thanks NONE YOU BIZZ, lol!
The editing was great. Chill out.
I don’t think that word (editing) means what you think it means.
I’ll never forget when Jazzland opened in the summer of 2000. My family made a trip down there a few days after it opened, we didn’t have the money to go to a MAJOR theme park. Every night they had this amazing Mardi Gras-themed Parade and they selected a family to be the Royal Mardi Gras Family. We had costumes, beads, candy and all that. We were one of the first, and I was 10. Thank you so much for posting these pictures, it means so much to me.
WOW!! I’m speechless… just stunning!
After looking at these photos and reading this comments I felt I had to comment.
In april, my family and I took a week-long trip to New Orleans. My mom, who is now 50, grew up in New Orleans with her mother (technically, she lived in Algiers then moved to New Orleans.) My little brother and I had never been there, (we’re 19 and 16) and It was very important to her to take her children there to see where she grew up. We went by her old houses, and all of the places she remembered as a child. It was very emotional for her, and really, all of us. I can honestly say that this city is NOT a pool of vandalism, crime, and a place you should be fearful in. It’s beautiful and rich in history. I loved walking around and exploring by myself (during the day). Sure, every city was areas where I wouldn’t walk around by myself n broad daylight- that isn’t unique to NOLA. I would go back and visit in a heartbeat. I think back to when the footage of Hurricane Katrina was all over the news, and she was glued to the television- I can’t imagine how helpless she felt all the way in California while her childhood stomping grounds were being destroyed. These pictures make me really teary eyed. I think it’s really inspiring, though, how much optimism is had in this city. NOLA Rising 🙂
NOLA Rising, amen!
The City of New Orleans is so screwed up. My city would have saved and rebuilt
this park.They actually turned an attraction into an eyesore. How sad is that. Only in the “chocolate city” (as the former mayor would call it.. I don’t know why anyone would invest in that hole of a city
I am inclined to say that someone didn’t “invest” enough love in you as a child. With thousands of people dead, and many thousands more displaced from their livelihood and homes, Hurricane Katrina was one of the worst natural disasters our country has seen. Yes, the government does not have the time to force the Six Flags company to do something with the park. They are too busy trying to help people, and trying to restore the city and its inhabitants to their former selves. If you hate the city or the park so much, then do something to change it. But don’t sit there and complain, because the only thing that does is make things worse. If you had a shred of decency, you would either do something to help the city or you would shut up, either way is fine, though both would be better.
That being said, the pictures are hauntingly beautiful. A lot of time and thought went in to many of the shots, and I am not a professional and cannot say whether the editing was “right” or “wrong”, all I know is that I like the photographs. And besides, perhaps an over saturated effect is what the photographers were going for? There’s a lot to be said for constructive criticism, but telling someone they’re just wrong is a little rude.
Well said and thanks for the props!
[…] Creepy, Crusty, Crumbling: Illegal Tour of… […]
Wow. I had to look at them all twice. What beautiful captures. These are what real photos are made of. It seems as though each photo tells a story.
Thanks
fu the haters, i liked the images too many HDR snobs
Thanks John Smith!
Oh, so you liked it… well, then. That renders all the arguments about quality, art and communication through a visual medium invalid.
You are truly the new Susan Sontag.
And Mog would have nothing to do if these photos were not posted. Oh wait, Mog would be “critiquing” someone else’s work. Where’s your work Mog? Let’s all trip on over to Mog’s spot and see how it’s really done!
My mistake, Mok. Go ahead and critique me.
BURN!!!
Not sure you understand how critique works.
By your standards, no one can judge a book before they have written one, defend or criticize religion before they lead their own church, etc.
Most critics (including the much respected and mentioned Sontag)are not producers.
If you would like to join the grown ups in discussing and refuting their criticism, feel free. However, don’t feel obligated to contribute to something you don’t understand.
I don’t care what all the other people were bitchin’ about, I wish that I could have been there to look around and see all the amazing sights.
I live a good 45 minutes away from here, it truly is a astonishing sight to behold, it has a mystifying,and yet creepy atmosphere around it, it still leaves me fathoming,…what if? You know?
I really enjoyed the photographs. It so surreal. I liked the photo effects used to enhance the photographs, but I would love to see the untouched originals.
I find it amusing that these pictures were taken by illegaly entering the premises but yet the photographers have their names on the pics!
My name isn’t really lostlosangeles, lol!
“You’re so vain, etc., etc.” CARLY SIMON
I must admit the eerie feelings and surreal qualities of the abandoned park must be quite a rush when you’re there. Personally, I could spend forever in a place like that, exploring the bits brokenness. Great photos, the graffiti really adds to them too. Too bad they aren’t some better pieces.
I love the use of HDR but there were a lot, so quality of the HDR wasn’t the best, probably done very quickly. My guess is that they used to many photos to compile together to make some of the images muddy, and there were a lot of very saturated photos. But remember, HDR is NOT necessarily intended to look real. The cartoonish effect strengthens some of these images.
These are absolutely gorgeous. Very well done.
Anyone bitching about it being HDR is a sign of jealously. I know I am.
You have now made it a mission for me to find abandoned amusement parks. Thank you =)
It’s sad enough that the place was just abandoned. Sad enough that Katrina even happened and disrupted the lives of the entire country. Sad enough that even still today, New Orleans is still in shambles.
What I find the saddest is in the aftermath of a tragedy, the people of New Orleans turn to vandalism and graffiti their own home. As if it weren’t depressing enough it happened, you go to these ruins and piss on the graves. Have these people no shame?
How did I piss on these graves exactly?!
WARNING: There is scarce mention about the fact that anyone entering the abandoned park is TRESPASSING. There is no way to get permission or “authorization” to enter and photograph here (unless you’re working for the current owners or something), so enter at your own peril. The NOPD regularly arrests people who are in the park. They don’t just warn you and send you on your way, they fully ARREST YOU and take you downtown to the OPP. I know, because it happened to me and 13 unrelated people in March of this year (2011).
According to one officer, they arrest an average of 1,000 people who go into the park. Why? Because of posts like these, that fail to mention the risk, and entice people to check it out for themselves. I am all in favor of taking calculated risks to obtain a photograph (especially those we may argue about, HDR or otherwise :), but unless you’re prepared to spend the night in a very unpleasant holding cell, experience the sheer madness that is the NOLA detention system, and cough up some $165.00 in bail money, I’d recommend being very, very cautious about photographing here. And don’t be reassured about other people already being there, the NOPD can arrest twenty people at a time, if they must.
I’d also like to say that for all its decayed beauty, there are people in NOLA who would prefer not to have non-residents coming to their city primarily to experience the ghosts of the recent past. Experience other parts of the city, off the beaten trail, not just in the tourist areas. Have a drink, eat something, meet some locals, and ask them to tell you their stories. There’s so much to see in New Orleans, and they are so willing to share it, that it’s a shame that some people simply “stop by” the area only to see this icon of neglect. It’s the people that make it real, not the empty carnival rides.
Well put! Sorry you were arrested. The other 50% of my trip (not very photo worthy) was a foodie wonderland. I definitely encourage peeps to vibe on the live scene in NOLA. It was so amazing!
Somehow I don’t think these photos of empty carnival rides were taken in an attempt to make the city of NO real. It makes for great conversation, and I especially like to hear the stories of people that have been there when the park was in all it’s glory.
And this is why I want to be a photographer when i grow up
Sad and haunting. A powerful photo documentary.
What I want to know is: why did they not recycle some of the pieces of their rides? Seems to me that there is still a lot of good material there!
Because of saltwater intrusion. It wasn’t pure freshwater that flooded the place, and saltwater corrodes. I believe I read in the wikipedia that only 1 ride was rated for such, and that it was taken out for use elsewhere.
The Superman roller coaster (renamed) at Six Flags Fiesta Texas (in San Antonio) was recovered from this park. Apparently it was the only one expensive enough to be worth the cost of moving and renovation.
These are truly amazing pictures. I absolutely love them and can totally appreciate the photographer. Awesome work!
The photographer did an amazing job capturing the emotions one might feel walking through an area such as this around the Ninth Ward. HDR is an effect, and photography is an art form. A photographer makes the photo his own by adding certain characteristics. Personally, I find these photos to be hauntingly beautiful but also a sad reminder of the after affects of Hurricane Katrina.
Interesting photos indeed!!! I absolutely LOVE NOLA!!! It’s my most favorite place to be. As a photographer myself I love going into abandoned buildings. There is something about what WAS and something mysterious and artful at the same time. I’d love to photograph this abandoned park.
[…] Six Flags, Nueva Orleans hace un fiel recuento de las circunstancias actuales de El Katrina. Creepy, Crusty, Crumbling: Illegal Tour Of Abandoned Six Flags New Orleans fue realizado en este año 2011 de manera ilegal por fotógrafos […]
awesome (: i really like these.
A glimpse of the future.
Hmmmm …. can anyone say TRESPASSING??!!
We didn’t know that Dave…TRESSPASSING?!
I so envy this photographer! The HDR and/or tone mapping is incredible! Sensational pics! Thank You So Much!!
honestly… if anyone were to do anything… leave it jus the way it is… and use if for a paintball territory… break it into sections, open a paintball rent/shop… and start doing business… i would easily pay 30/40 dollars have a paintball war in such a real environment with my friends for an hour or two
This would be the best Squat ever.
Creepy and sad!
[…] These views of the destroyed Six Flags New Orleans is made extra-creepy by the fact I see so many similarities to the local Six Flags. […]
[…] Read more… […]
The City of NOLA could charge admission to this place, and make enough to do something with the property. They could charge like $20 to get in for a few hours, and take whatever you can carry out!
[…] * Illegal Tour of Abandoned Six Flags New Orleans […]
its a shame that the six flags corp. is letting these rides go to waste ..they should find higher ground or sell the rides that are good to other parks ….please let me know if im right or wrong cpost
[…] 2. Ilegal Photo Tour of New Orleans Six Flags […]
It’s sad to think I was at this six flags the weekend Katrina hit. I survived all those hurricanes that year. but that six flags was really gross. alotta standing water around with mosquitoes after you and the standing water smelled like something died in it. and some areas that should’ve been blocked off from people, like under certain roller coasters where the coast could take someone’s head off which happened 2 years ago at a six flags because of this.
snif
dsk
!
SICK BUT NEED LESS SAT
Is a shame to see it looted.
I really wish I lived close enough to see this place first-hand. I love visiting places like this.
They need to make this a “Haunted Amusement Park” and open it on Halloween. I think it would scare the shit out of people..I would go to it!:)
KOOL IDEA!!!
am from tx but i got to see all of this in person! we worked over there to help the people!!! i passed right by this place!!! its a sad moment……
with what we can help
[…] Six Flags New Orleans Creepy, Crusty, Crumbling: Illegal Tour of Abandoned Six Flags New Orleans [75 Pics] […]
I could care less about HDR and its use or overuse. Thanks for the pictures. They are shocking and informative.
HEY! STOP BEING SO CRITICAL.. IT WAS THE PHOTOGRAPHER’S CHOICE TO TOUCH UP OR SATURATE.. I THOUGHT IT WAS AWESOME ALL AROUND!
Thank u! who cares what the hell HDR is? look at the meaning of the picture and stop crying so much about the ‘touch up’. Its the thought that its abandoned and pple wanted to share this with everybody. I think the photographers did a great job. And thanks to them i got to see what happened and the outcome.
And why are you the arbiter of all that is holy on the internet?
That’s right, defer to Mok.
It seems like the low life graffiti slime that slithered into the park
have done more damage than Katrina. With that many low class ignorant
hoods around, the park didn’t stand a chance even without a hurricane.
for someone who lives here and can drive past this almost everyday, it is sad and crazy to think of what was there and what is still there… i had so many memories, most that i remembered while looking at these pics.. please stop saying that these pictures look fake or that you dont like them for this or that reason.. just enjoy what they show, remember the memories and pray for all that has happened over the years… please and thank you
it was up to the photographer how he wanted the picures to look, the angles to be, and the overall final product… it is not up to us to rat or say all these bad things about it, we should just appreciate what they represent..
thanks
This was the funnest place ever even though i was a little kid……….its hard seeing this i was born in slidell,Louisiana and i would always say one day i would go there again to bad katrinia….ruined it
That was amazing and unreal!! I really enjoyed going through the pics and still made my eyes a little watery to still see things abandoned and untouched years later. I’m really glad I saw this and for a moment still saw what people there see everyday that some of us have no clue what it is still like there in New Orleans. Its the little things that hit so hard!
People who went through Katrina will never forget. It’s just a shame there is always constant reminders like this and all the disrespectfull graffiti in this park. Part of life is loving and losing. We just have to press on and hope for more for New Orleans in the future.
It was chilling yet awesome to see these photos professional or not. Glad I had the opp.
I recently visited the park to work on the Nic Cage movie “Medallion” It is was very depressing. I spent many days at the p[ark with my kids before the storm. Beautiful work on the pictures I have a few I took myself while I was filming there.
I think the photographers did a very nice job of capturing the ‘shell’ of what Katrina left behind in that little portion of the city. I have never been there, but my heart has mourned the loss and suffering everyone has had to endure – are still enduring – and these images are a stark reminder that help and compassion are still needed.
I read a comment made by another person in this line of posts that the Six Flags leased the land from the city, that they did not own it. Knowing how much the city has on its hands right now and that there are a list of priorities, I believe that Six Flags should do the morally right thing and offer to tear down the park and remove all materials themselves. I see danger hazards all over the place and it would not be uncommon for some teens having fun to go drinking and then climbing the roller coaster for fun, which could end in a fatal fall. There are many other dangers that are plainly in view, as well.
I do not know about professional photography or about ‘fixing’ images, but I do know that the photographers present very strong evidence for my argument of Six Flags being responsible enough to take care of it. They (the photos) were sad to view, but I keep hoping for the future LA when some normalcy can be returned for the people who still call the area ‘home.’ God bless.
[…] out the rest of the images < here […]
Fantastic photos, its really great to see ruins from our own time. It give a perspective of what people in the future will see when our time has passed and some of our gathering places close and age. They will explore our areas we consider common place and look at them with amazement, just as we do to our ancestors.
The ones I enjoyed the most had the little to no HDR, personal opinion, I understand that modern ideas of a HDR image is still trying to “find it place” in the photo world.
The actual technique of layering different exposed negatives to get a “proper” overall image with a dynamic range is very old, it was 1st used by a name by the name of Gustave Le Gray to capture the entire range of his landscape photos.
Even then, after this technique was found out, the public had an outcry about it saying it was trickery.
So modern HDR today is going to get some flack just as the great grandfather of the technique did.
I feel it can add but its like one poster explained, “its like salt, its good but too much can be a bad thing.” very well put.
The problem with modern HDR isn’t what it does, it is the digital artifacts it creates like blurriness, super-saturation, and the halo effect.
I, for one, didn’t really care about the techniques/tools the photographer used/didn’t use. I went down to New Orleans to help with the rebuilding effort post-Katrina but I didn’t see this. If I had known, I would’ve gone to check it out. I’m glad these pics were posted, now that I live in the northeast, so that I can see what a place like this is like once the majority of human contact (outside of the gangs/graffiti, which are fascinating in themselves) is gone.
To the people yammering on about cameras and photography techniques–go find a photography forum where you can all stroke each others egos and compete for that moment of self-actualization where you prove yourself the absolute authority on something.
To the people debating politics–way to go off on a pointless tangent.
To the people who, like me, just looked at the pictures at face value for what they are–pretty nifty, no? Powerful stuff.
I don’t care about you or your helping with clean up. See how this works? By the way, this is a photography website. Check the name.
Settle down there little feller. We locals appreciate all good folks who come to help out. Your premium critiquing skills are nolonger needed. You’re not from these parts are ya?
These are a fantastic set of photos. Thank you for taking them and sharing them with us all.
Definitely heartbreaking.
Will
I thought the pictures were very good. Beautiful colors. New Orleans isn’t bland like Houston and Texas are. The whole place must have been beautiful. Why did it go out of business? The economic downturn? I’d never even heard it existed. I’d like to have gone.
Why did it go out of business? Really….really….really?
Have not you heard of the hurricane Katrina, the impending failure of levees in the New Orleans area, and whereas the park is concerned, the flooding?
That’s kinda creepy… no wait… I take that back… that’s HORRIFYING. It’s a complete ghost town!
“…we hope you really enjoy this virtual urban exploration tour into the defunct amusement park Six Flags New Orleans”
Yes, and thank-you for taking the time to post them.
Question: What happens to a place like this? Are the owners responsible for removing it?
If there is one thing NO doesn’t need it’s another eye sore…
I think it would make an amazing paintball “arena”
So sad, that theme park actually looked really original compared to most six flags.I would have liked to go when it was still open. These pics are awesome and give such a creepy zombie vibe.
[…] Creepy, Crusty, Crumbling: Illegal Tour of Abandoned Six Flags New Orleans [75 Pics]. […]
[…] davon: lovethesepics, pics Keoni 101 cc […]
i love how many people are bitching about the way these photos were taken when this was the after math of a terrible tragedy.
looks like most of the destruction was done by graffiti “artists”
Why would you want to fix this up so badly? It’s beautiful
[…] http://www.lovethesepics.com/2011/05/creepy-crusty-crumbling-illegal-tour-of-abandoned-six-flags-new… […]
[…] Since I moved to New Orleans for school, I’ve wanted to go to (sneak into) Six Flags New Orleans, abandoned since Katrina.  Several others have gone before me and taken many extraordinary and surreal photos.  Enjoy the collection over at Lovethesepics.com. […]
great pictures even though they are of a tragedy. it was a great place and i had lots of fun there as a kid.
I really enjoyed these photos. I like the colours – they are surreal and freaky. The guy on the roller coaster startled me actually!
Actually there is renewed interest in reviving this once great park.
[…] Creepy, Crusty, Crumbling: Illegal Tour of Abandoned Six Flags New Orleans [75 Pics] Large amount of pictures of the abandoned Six Flags New Orleans. Makes me want to visit sometime soon. __________________ "I demand a REAL Starcraft MMO!" "but how do we-?" "I'm not the how guy! I pay you to be the how guy!" […]
[…] PermalinkLike little kids, we all experience a happy rush, a delighted thrill, when going to play at an amusement park. Yet when an amusement park is abandoned and an eerie silence settles over the rusty and crusty decay, the setting seems to twist the atmosphere of enthusiastic excitement into a suffocating blanket of dread. The place takes on creepy vibes and freaks people out. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and ripped the heart of fun and the amusement out of this park. Almost six years later, Six Flags in New Orleans is unnaturally silent, no lines and no laughter. This 140-acre surreal setting has morphed into a nightmarish land of twisted dreams. It seems as if the post-apocalyptic atmosphere might be the perfect place to make a zombie movie. As if lured by a distant echo of scattered screams and the ghost of good times, urban explorers venture out of curiosity and capture the moments and crumbling scenes. They share with us in a virtual urban exploration tour of this creepy abandoned amusement park – Six Flags New Orleans. Most of these photos are very recent, as in taken during 2011, nearly six years after Hurricane Katrina tried to swallow New Orleans and Six Flags. A special thank you to the urban explorers who risked arrest, and possible zombie attack, to go in and shoot these current shots of Six Flags, and then gave us permission to use their copyright photos. This is about twice the size of a normal post here, so we hope you really enjoy this virtual urban exploration tour into the defunct amusement park Six Flags New Orleans. [75 Photos] Eerily silent in the forsaken amusement park, the Cool Zone is creepy; it’s like an ominous omen of what is to come in the forlorn and forgotten abandoned Six Flags in New Orleans. Photo #1 by © lostlosangeles / facebook.com/lostlosangeles […]
[…] The devastation of Hurricane Katrina left this New Orleans Six Flags creepily abandoned. Makes for some awesome photos and a setting for countless zombie horror stories/Law & Order episodes. Check out more here. […]
All you need to calm your shit, these pics look good. That’s that.
Oh, okay. Everybody can now quit talking. Jennith says they are good. Discussion is over.
I enjoyed the photos and the informative exchange regarding HDR.
I would like to address comments about the disaster being a “natural” one, caused by Hurricane Katrina. Please note that this is actually not true. Various areas were devastated by Hurricane Katrina’s high winds and storm surge, particularly the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Horrible destruction. However, take some time and check out some well written articles, books, Wiki, levees.org, or any number of informed sites. You will learn the true story lost in the “disaster” headlines– that the damage caused throughout most of the City of New Orleans was caused by the Army Corps of Engineers’ levees failures!
We New Orleanians continue to try and get the word out and get an official 8/29 Investigation into the levee failures.
Just check this out: “In 29 August 2005 there were OVER 50 FAILURES of the levees and flood walls protecting New Orleans, Louisiana, and its suburbs following passage of Hurricane Katrina and landfall in Mississippi. The levee and flood wall failures caused flooding in 80% of New Orleans and most of St. Bernard Parish. Tens of billions of gallons of water spilled into vast areas of New Orleans, flooding over 100,000 homes and businesses. Responsibility for the design and construction of the levee system belongs to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; the responsibility of maintenance belongs to the local levee boards.”
Six Flags Amusement Park is situated in hard-hit New Orleans East. Sadly, “The primary mechanism of failure for levees protecting eastern New Orleans was the EXISTENCE OF SAND in 10% of places instead of thick Louisiana clay. The primary mechanism of failure for the levees protecting St. Bernard Parish was overtopping due to negligent maintenance[10] of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, a navigation channel, by the Army Corps of Engineers.”
That’s just some of the compelling story, this info on wiki.
Thanks for listening. Keep exploring and shooting, all. It’s an adventure!
This is good photography, you did a good job, the touch up on the photos is still good, and very artfully done. Some of them are outstanding .. Keep up the good work. And I would love to buy some of that abandoned material, they left ,large plant pots and some of the neat architectural on the buildings are neat and can be reused. I like the photos neat to look at ..
The photos definitely had an impact on me. I can feel the devastation from Katrina, and I sense the sadness of the people who once enjoyed this amusement park. As a child and teenager I went yearly to Six Flags over Texas. It was a great joy in my early years as I’m sure this park was for the people of Louisiana.
I thought that the pics were very artistic and interesting. By the way, do you think we can move beyond blind patriotism in our country and work together to make it a better place to live for everyone? I thought striving to be better was the American way. “If you don’t like it, you can get out”? Whats wrong with you people? Try this: if you don’t like it, then make it better.
Sad. The City of New Orleans should sell the entire complex outright for dirt cheap, like $20 million, and attach a guarantee of no property taxes for something like 80 years to lure in new investors. Just add one clause that whoever buys the property must either improve the land by restoring the park or completely demolishing the existing buildings/ structures. It would be a win-win scenario for the city, especially the lower 9th ward.
thats an awesome pics. which make me happier……..
i am sad what had happened with it….
I’ve been conducting a Movie based on the Game Fallout 3 for the past 6 months with about 75 minutes of story already. This would be such an amazing setting, anyone agree?
Whats an “urban explorer”? Some cowardly punk with a spray can?
lmao… agreed!
Amazing and sad
Will they ever rebuild this theme park?
Sad, just down right sad, 6 years later still sad
Amazing shots men! these photos are incredible! its so sad to see that all the park is falling down in that way…
Best Regards
Net_Kid
empty amusement parks are always horrifying. loved these photos…i was absolutely captivated! thanks for posting
All were good, some were great; a few were outstanding. But copyrighted? How do you claim the protection of law for pictures taken while you were trespassing? Pretentious and stupid.
WOW! I live right by six flags and have explored it myself. These pictures are really how it looks. Great job!
These are some amazing shots, the editing made the pictures pop even more. I am thoroughly impressed with every photographer that shot here. I live in Canada and would love to go down to New Orleans to expand my photography. These pictures are truly heart breaking and and breath taking.
Ubelievable.
Hey you goose-biscuits! Quit getting your panties in a wad over whos government and plot of dirt is best. These pictures should be celebrated for what they are, true inspiration and imagination coupled with the unwaveringly vicious hand of mother nature. Instead you’re over there playing with yourself in a diaper full of excrement, wagging a chubby finger at one another claiming your dad is the strongest.
Don’t you people have any thing better to do than argue with eachother?! I mean really.. grow up.
No, i don’t.
…. hey… I see what you did there.
it’s very very sad, all that hapines makers out of service.
People got pretty huffy about the photo editing, geeze…
It’s quite obvious the photographer wasn’t taking photos for a newspaper..I like the different edit styles on all of the pictures, it made me want to look at them.
At this point I’d rather look at destruction turned art than just a picture of the broken building…CNN already gave me those.
<3 Kudos to the photographer/editor.
exactly… anyone can point and shoot at things, and a lot of people will find a different vantage point to shoot
Anyone know whatever happened to those cats? There was like a shelter near the exit and I used to visit them all the time, so does anyone know if they were evacuated before the hurricane?
Hauntingly beautiful. This is a reminder of what things will be like long after we are gone.
i love all the funny graffiti and the headless merman.
i Love this picturers very much!
[…] Creepy, Crusty, Crumbling: Illegal Tour of Abandoned Six Flags New Orleans [75 Pics] Creepy and Sad and Surprising. I didn’t even know that six flags existed in New Orleans. It is amazing how fast and how bad things have gotten so quickly. […]
Just because you can afford a dslr (most people can these days) does not make you an expert in photography. The fact that you are asking for definitions on photography terms proves you are not a professional, educated, or even and expert hobby photographer. BTW it’s called art, photography is an art form used as an outlet to project the images as the artist sees them. This is how the photographer saw them and quite frankly, there are maybe 6 or so that could be HDR but most of them are just working with color levels. I think the photos are great. Thanks for sharing.
Yes, but there is effective art (good) and less effective art (bad). Both of which are contingent on among other things, technique.
Art, essentially, is an expression of opinion or impression. However, not all opinions are equal. My opinion may be that space aliens killed JFK, but you would, rightly, not value that opinion as highly as that of one more founded in reality.
Awesome! I lived in new orleans for years and never knew about this place. I recognize some of the graffiti though. These are some amazing images.
[…] have infiltrated the site and produced eerie photos of the defunct place of fun, 75 of which form a phantasmagorical display at the lovethesepics […]
[…] http://www.lovethesepics.com/2011/05/creepy-crusty-crumbling-illegal-tour-of-abandoned-six-flags-new-orlean... […]
Southern Star Amusement has been working hard to aquire the park. They even gave a proposal to New Orleans and created a lease. I don’t know if they obtained the rights to the park but they have some good ideas.
Southern Star claims that the original park could be open for business in 2012. Can’t find any additional information posted since Jan. 2011.
Art is not an “anything goes” field. It deals with communication through imagery. And, like all other communication it has vocabulary and grammar. How those are used is essentially how it is evaluated. Poor use (or unjustified use) equals poor art.
Essentially some of these pictures are a the photographic equivalent of LOL speak. U C wut I MeEnz.
this is completely amazing. it would be incredible to do this.
i feel like THOR was filmed there…
How sad . just to see all that equipment just rotting away . i work at a six flags. to bad thay wouldnt let independant investors come in and buy some of it . fix up secions of it and make it useful .
Saw the graffiti in one of the photos ‘nola rising’ and thought I recognised it. They have been to New Orleans recently as it happens! http://nolarising.org/projects/
The person who said that people never talk about the consequences of trespassing is correct and I couldn’t agree more. I’ve read article after article, forum after forum and gazed upon picture after picture and video after video of this park. I always hungered for more. I couldn’t get this place of out my head, it was like a subtle addiction. I always wondered if I would have the chance to visit. I live in Florida but I typically visit central Louisiana once a year for family things. I was ecstatic to learn that I was headed that way for a wedding and knew I had to make my move.
I found this page a week before I was ready to make my trip to Lafayette. I was glad to see that people were still getting into the park for pictures, since they were taken this year. I tried desperately to dig around for people talking about ways to enter and when to go. Of course, no one openly discusses it. I pieced together a little bit of info from what I had read, studied Google maps and was ready. The day came to leave my town and it was now or never.
The things that I had read made it seem like getting caught was a rarity. The Wikipedia site states that the city of New Orleans has no budget for security in 2011 and everyone else comfortably repeats that. It was going through my head, but I was still worried. The thought of no security on site was confirmed in my mind when I saw that people were still getting in this year. I never mentally prepared for the worst that could of happened (law-wise… not the rumored rabid wild animals, snakes, vagrants and thugs – I had pepper spray on hand for those).
On my trip home I was mentally preparing for everything that was going to happen at the park. Our drive typically doesn’t run through New Orleans but we took that route this time. I had no map on hand so I kept frantically staring off in every direction to see if I could spot it. Suddenly it appeared out of nowhere and left me speechless. I had read that highway signs still existed for it, but I had no idea that it was so close to the interstate (the first time I saw it driving through New Orleans in 2007, it was far in the distance so that’s what I was expecting). My plan was to enter through the employee area in the back because it’s where most people were getting in (it worried me because it was extremely close to another highway). Problem was remembering how to get back there. The main gate area was fenced off with a massive chainlink fence. Around the corner is the bus/rv entrance that used to be fenced off but the fence was busted on the entrance lane. The park’s security gate a few yards away was also wide open on the entrance lane. Was it a trap? Would they really be so careless to not fix the fence to keep vehicles out? A car with 4 people was seen leaving out of that driveway. So it’s safe to enter? That road has a bit of car and bus line traffic being surrounded by neighborhoods. I’ll spare the details on my journey.
Inside, there was a Jeep with no passengers parked behind the ticket booth areas. It looked like it was supposed to be hidden. A set-up, perhaps? I saw no people at all on the entire premises (unless they were on the complete opposite side of the park). I rushed through and left. I was saddened that I didn’t get to see it all but I never got on foot. On the way out, we passed not one but two NOPD cruisers driving very slowly up the back employee entrance road. They didn’t stop us. We immediately got on the interstate and left. Did they know or was it random? I’ll never know, but the threat of getting caught is very real. However, I saw zero “no trespassing” signs on the property. And the gates were wide open. I could of just missed seeing the signs in my excitement, but whatever the case may be, I’ve narrowly avoided jail. I couldn’t get my experience out of my mind the entire drive home. Seeing it in person is so surreal. It’s a beautiful disaster. I’ll gladly visit again if I’m able.
As far as Southern Star taking over… did you know their website is always down? I’m surprised that it’s back up. It’s been down for 2 months. I’m not holding my breath for them being able to buy the property to fix up (although their proposals are nice). And as far as the pictures posted on here goes… I loved them the first 2 times I looked at them. Now, all the hideous effects disgusts me. The park is grim enough on it’s own, there’s no need for any adjustment. There were new disasters that happened to some of the well known landmarks in the park (it was very stormy that week I was there) and I might be the first person to have captured them.
I’m from Oklahoma and would love to do a walk through. I don’t need to take pictures. I just want to see it for my own eyes. It absolutely intrigues me. Is it possible to take your time and walk through w/o bothering any rides or stores. Honest answer pls. Would hate to make this drive if it is not possible. Thank you.
I think the photos are solid. I like the HDR. I like the over-saturation. Just another form of someone else’s interpretation of art — not reality.
If I wanted to see and know exactly what it looked like I could go myself.
I like thinking this is how it really looks. I know it doesn’t. But what’s the harm.
These pictures are so depressing. I worked at this Six Flags as a character, and I was there the day before the park closed for Katrina. It’s so sad to think that while I was putting everything on top shelves and trying to get everything off of the ground that no one anticipated the levee breach. I can’t believe what was once so clean and well-kept is now covered in graffiti and mold. Absolutely unreal.
[…] little on the creepy side, but Six Flags New Orleans is a dump six years after Hurricane […]
The pictures are awesome, but it’s a shame some of them have been shopped and adjusted so much. The photos themselves are pretty great and really didn’t need that level of touch up work. The worst has to be the desaturation job in photo 20. Looks like a mistake I would have made in high school.
I hope the photographer didn’t save over the original images.
These are all AMAZZZZING photos.
[…] Six Flags New Orleans: Attention Chris Q., Urban Explorer Creepy, Crusty, Crumbling: Illegal Tour of Abandoned Six Flags New Orleans [75 Pics] Some pretty eery shit in there. I think the HDR is a bit over-done in some spots though. […]
New Orleans itself is a shithole. City never should have been rebuilt. They should used demolitions to bring all the skycrapers down, and all the highway overpasses and tall structures, then flooded the remnants of the city, and turned it into a shipping Harbor.
billions upon billions of taxpayers dollars wasted on a rat and welfare infested shithole. When the next Super Hurricane hits, it’ll be the same bullshit all over again.
What’s it feel like to be so totally wrong about something?
For pete’s sake if you don’t like the photos that’s your OPINION! Art is ART and ART is SUBJECTIVE. Some of you on here are screaming that everyone who likes the pix are idiots because heaven forbid they like photos that have been edited in post. Get a grip! If you don’t like them, great. If you do like them, great. But you shouldnt sit and scream at the photogs and tell them their pix are sh!t. How would you feel if you’d poured your heart into your art and some faceless coward sits on a website and yells at everyone who says they like your work? Grow up. If you can’t say anything nice, then just shut up. No one is making you comment. You’re not an art critic. I liked some and didnt like others just like with every other photo or piece of art that I see. I have more manners than to insult the artist on the very site that is exhibiting their work! You should too!
im in agreement with impatientgirl about the photos ! i like some and some i dont ! and as for the rest of yall, grow up , get a life and lets pretend were all adults here with some maturity instead of immaturity !! how old are we ??
AMEN SISTA! Beauty is in the eye of the beholder….obviously people making such negative comments are not artist! Just ridged photo shooters.
I have read through every single one of these comments.
These photos are beautiful. They all represent how the photographer felt while taking them. That is the best part of photography, there are no rules, they are open to interpretation. Whomever is taking them, can edit or not edit however they see fit.
The graffiti only adds to the decay of the park. It’s art and it’s beautiful in it’s own way as well. Agreed that it is illegal, but if would you rather these artists be writing on your garage or here where it can be enjoyed by others? The graffiti on these buildings does not take away from the beauty of this place, it only adds character and story to it. It gives some life back to the shattered remains of a legacy.
Everyone needs to stop getting so worked up about all of this and sit back and enjoy this collection for what it really is. A tribute to all of the destruction that Hurricane Katrina had over New Orleans.
WOW! Man do people just LOVE to complain! I myself am a single mom and have NO money to travel and EXPLORE places like this. So I think its pretty damn cool of all these photographers to get out there and take the shots. Also bully on all of you telling an artist, any artist what is and what isn’t art. Art is interpretation and links like this are great for sharing compiled views of natures dominance over man. If you want to be professionals then go spend you money and throw your complaints, excuse me, critique, on a class. Then you can be all proud of YOUR intellectual prowess and acquired artistic talent.
Thank you for the images. As a PA resident I never would have had a chance to see these without your posting.
Photographers suck. How hard is it to take a picture? All of this bitching about HDR and exposure. They’re pictures of an abandoned amusement park. STFU with your high horse mentalities.. all flavors of it.
/SU, FTW
obviously you’re a moron who knows nothing about photography, or the amount of skill it takes to take a quality photograph.
photography to a photographer is an art that requires many years of learning, refining, adjustments, investing in thousands of dollars worth of equipment and lots and lots of practice.
it’s like being a gunsmith, or a machinist, or a US NAVY SEAL, or any other profession that requires an immense amount of training, practice, and refinement, so have a little respect before your spout your little 9th ward living, uneducated mouth about what you obviously KNOW nothing about.
Any idiot like yourself can whip out his cell phone or his Nikon Coolpics point and shoot camera and take a picture. It takes someone with skill, patience and attention to detail to take a “photograph”.
and In case you don’t know, if your photograph is overexposed, then it’s too bright and washed out. If it’s underexposed, it’s too dark and you can’t make out any details. Exposure in a photograph means everything, and those who shoot in automatic mode are anything but photographers. It takes a skilled photographer to shoot in Manual Mode. Exposure will make or break a photograph.
Nobody cares. Take a chill pill.
I don’t recall seeing the “picture takers” spouting off about their “art”.
Maybe if you’re such an “artist” you can brave arrest/rape/murder and sneak in yourself to take “photographs”.
I was if anybody had noticed that this is where every episode of Scooby Doo ended up when I was a child.
Taking chances are worth the risk when it comes to a good shot.
[…] Creepy, Crusty, Crumbling: Illegal Tour of Abandoned Six Flags New Orleans [75 Pics] … […]
These are absolutely incredible pictures and I commend the photographers for taking them. God bless NOLA and let us pray that one day it is built back to it’s original state.
[…] The abandoned Six Flags of New Orleans destroyed by hurricane Katrina. (more photos here) […]
These pictures, they are truly amazing! They made my heart beat faster every time I scrolled down. your editing is great too. I mean I’m sure you’ve been told all the goos stuff so I just wanted to say how amazing these photos are, they make me want to strive to take better pictures!
Good set for Silent Hill.
Such a bittersweet essay of photos telling so much of the loss and drama of the events and also it seems, the neglect of both the owners and the state. I absolutely love #15 – the flatness of it and painted quality just drew me in to look at every detail. The effect (not literate in what it is) makes me see the shapes in abstract and reminds me of something Miro would have painted, or an abandoned pirate ship of old. Thanks for sharing and my sorrow to the good people of New Orleans from faraway shores in Australia
The reason they haven’t rebuilt is probably because of water damage. They’d have to tear everything down to the ground first. Liability alone would force them to. If anybody in the future were to be hurt on one of the rides for any reason (quite possibly even if it involved drunken stupidity) and the lawyers could prove it had a part that went through Katrina, well, can you say “Cha-ching?”
I doubt it’s just pick up the trash, slap a coat of paint on it and it’s good, even right after the water drained away. More like several millions of dollars, possibly hundreds of millions of dollars, and few amusement parks have that much real profit. Costs of maintenance, food, payroll, liability insurance, rent if they don’t own the land outright, property taxes if they do, coming up with new attractions for parks that are running, I can’t see having a whole lot of extra cash laying around.
I have never been to this park. It must have been beautiful now it is just very, very sad.
What a fabulous location. i can’t understand why you chose to use something as corny as the HDR effect. The chance to make images that truly speak to people has been reduced to comic book effect.
Its so sad.Like a postapokaliptic nighmare, like Chernobil’s tragedy.
[…] Parque de atracciones abandonado en Nueva Orleans (75 fotos) http://www.lovethesepics.com/2011/05/creepy-crusty-crumbling-ill… por Saurononline hace 3 segundos […]
[…] photo tour of an abandoned amusement park in the USA caught my eye. I could add it to the list of ghost towns I […]
oh my gosh! who the hell cares if too much hdr or over saturation was used?? did they ask for your opinion? is this flikr?? no! im sure the CREATIVE, GRACEFUL critiquing is appreciated. But to be an ass about it? seriously? people people people, come on. if there is one thing in life you should learn. its that very few people in this world actually care what you have to say, so when you say something, make it worthwhile. anyone can diarrhea at the mouth negative, doushy things to say. be creative, be loving, be real or shut the hell up. what the hell have you done today?
[…] you find abandoned fun parks as creepily fascinating as I […]
[…] Illegal Tour of Abandoned Six Flags New Orleans – Almost like a Chernobyl photo set but for here in the States. […]
[…] Creepy, Crusty, Crumbling: Illegal Tour of Abandoned Six Flags New Orleans – Love These Pics […]
I’ve read quite a bit of the comments on this page, and everybody seems to be upset over the HDR or something other rather than focusing on the eerie beauty of the photos. So what if they are donr with this HDR, who the hell gives a shit? We all gotta start somewhere, don’t we? I’m sad that people rather argue about ridiculous things that don’t matter instead of seeing what happen to this city, to the city of New Orleans. I just hope in the near future that the people of New Orleans get what they truly deserve, peace of mind, security, and happiness. Like what I said, awesome, don’t like what I said, well tough shit 🙂
How sad that lowlife taggers have nothing better to do than ruin other people’s property – even if it is abandoned. Tagging is NOT art, graffiti artists don’t do things like this so to the people further down the thread who say that tagging is the same as graffiti art, you are incorrect.
Source: I am a commissioned graffiti artist. Taggers are losers who need to get a job or get an education. Have you ever heard of an educated (meaning Bachelor’s degree or higher) tagger? Didn’t think so.
Yes I have actually; I used to live with one. But that’s not the point. The point is that YOU don’t get to dictate what is art and what isn’t. Oh, you’re a commissioned graffiti artist? So you get paid to safely do what your do, whereas some people just do it because they want to express themselves, make a statement and be visible, even though it probably costs them money not to mention puts them in danger? Yeah clearly you’re the superior artist. Get over yourself. Just the amount of personality and intellect displayed by your post (or lack of both) makes me think your “art” must be extremely dull.
Anyone else want to play Left 4 Dead 2?
But I do have to say, these pictures were quite stirring, and left me thinking about a lot of things. Very good job to all the photographers.
AWESOME PLACE TO PLAY PAINTBALL!, Someone should buy it out! and turn it into a paintball field! =)
This is one of the most deep and beautiful things I’ve ever seen oh my gosh.
It’s so heart-wrenching and I’m so glad that even in something so eerie and terrifying, there is so much beauty to be discovered.
The graffiti is humorous and it also adds to the eerie factor, and to the hidden meanings of what happened to this once fun and care-free place.
This is perfection c’:
[…] http://www.lovethesepics.com/2011/05/creepy-crusty-crumbling-illegal-tour-of-abandoned-six-flags-new… […]
Honestly someone should buy it and charge to let people wander the abandoned site like they do in the Las Vegas Lights Museum. You have to call to make an appointment and sign a waiver saying if you do something stupid and get hurt, you can’t sue.
Know nothing about HDR, loved the pictures. They made me want to visit this abandoned amusement park.
Went by there to take a few photos about 2 years ago. Manage to get some nice ones just outside the gate, then a swarm of “security” officers arrived from within. They have cameras mounted to watch for intruders/trespassers. Not sure if they are still paying for security these days…so be aware if you try to get in the place.
Great images! thanks for the collection and for posting it for us.
To the stupid little boy or girl (at 16 there is no difference) that think people are bashing New Orleans, we’re not. The people that live there on the other hand, for the most part, showed their true colors during what should have been a time of a community pulling together. The police and the local political hacks, illegally disarming people that for perhaps the first time in their lives needed to be able to protect their families (from the rest of you) is a perfect example of what I’m talking about.
It’s a real shame about the graffiti and tagging, even in a place destine for the wrecking ball.
Again, thanks for the collection of images and to the photographers for their work in getting this place saved, at least in print. It’s not a place I would have ever got to see. It’s probably far more interesting as a wreck than it ever was as a park.
Wonderful photos, lostlosangeles and the other photographers who contributed to this collection. I’m truly sorry for the people harshly criticizing the photos (and before someone comments on this point, yes, I know not all of the critiques were harsh, many had merit and were eloquently put; this was regarding the slightly insulting comments that were made).
Odd thing is, reading these comments I can see both sides. From some of the POVs, the techniques used to create this might have seemed, to them, sophomoric and amateur, given their experience and time and effort put into creating their own great art. From other POVs, the time and effort put into creating THIS great art was extremely well done and generated a magical, ethereal effect.
Thus the tricky business of interpretation and opinion; what some may call “good”, other may deem “abhorrent”, and “bad” as “genius”. And that’s what this site is for, a way to see how others view the wonderful medium we call photography and to input our own interpretations and opinions (as I am, in fact, doing so right now). Lessons are learned, knowledge is gained and no matter how insulting or glorifying a comment is, it’s changed us by simply reading them. And everyone is the better for it.
That being said, I don’t know the slightest thing about photography or techniques used to enhance, destroy or simply “make” a photo, but I do know that regarding these photos, I was entranced. The photos, without knowledge of HDR or saturation or even what camera was used, from my little experience, I loved most of these photos. There were a few that even I can admit were heavily edited but even those, to me, weren’t terrible. Just different.
So sad to see our economy reflected through this park. Unfortunate that it takes money to rebuild something and money to tear it down. Money is the reason it still stands untouched. All we can do is be thankful for what we do have to be able to communicate and share, viewpoints or photos.
Sorry, I’ll move my soap box; I know it’s kind of large and obtrusive. I’ll be going now. 🙂
I like the first photo the most.
I have been wanting to visit this Six Flags for a long time, I went there when it was operating during high school. That was 02-03. I am a photographer and mainly use the lomography app Hipstamatic, and would adore to get a chance to go in there and snap away.
I am really nervous though, to get caught, arrested, or hurt there. Has anyone ever heard instances of people getting mugged or arrested visiting there? I doubt the cops patrol there much.
To those who down NOLA, I’ve lived here all my life and though it is hot and dangerous, there is no other city that is as beautiful and rich. I have never been mugged or hurt there, and I make frequent visits. Although, now I’ve got to knock on wood.
Beautiful photos.
Rae
Looks like, theoretically speaking of course, a really good place for kids to go get high and make out! When I was a kid, again theoretically of course, used to do that at Fort McComb before they blocked the entrance. Talk about creepy going into the damp, DARK, underground ammunitions bunker at night!!! It was GREAT sitting up top though, overlooking the Chef Pass, under a starry sky!
I disagree that he photographers have any copyright to the photos given the circumstances under which they took the pics. I’ll be claiming all these for my own and do with them as I want. If they don’t have to respect trespass laws, etc. then why should their copyright claim be respected. Hypocrites.
Why hasn’t this been cleaned up again?
According to a Time magazine article, Six Flags leased the property from the city of New Orleans. In Six Flags’ bankruptcy proceedings, the courts allowed Six Flags to break their lease with the city.
Seems to me that means the property belongs to the city of New Orleans, and Six Flags no longer has any right/responsibility for the area.
Link to the article: