A respected professor and photographer, Thomas Neff has lived and worked in Louisiana since 1982, when he was hired to teach at Louisiana State University. Schooled in the “zone technique” of Ansel Adams, Neff prefers the slow, contemplative process of the 5×7 inch, large-format camera. Neff’s technical proficiency is immediately evident in his photographs of Louisiana’s landscapes, which are characterized by dramatic angles, looming shadow, and immense scope. Nevertheless, Neff’s images are never without a human, narrative element. This tendency in Neff’s work flourished fully in his documentation of Hurricane Katrina. In 2007, Neff released the highly-regarded Holding Out and Hanging On, a meditative, sympathetic series of black-and-white portraits of and interviews with New Orleanians in the wake of the storm.