EYEBALLING KATRINA

The most astonishing photos you're ever likely to see of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina were taken throughout the week by news photographers whose work has been distributed by the Associated Press. Some of them have been published in various dailies, some not. Click the links to see them. (Give them a chance to download. There are so many, it may take a while.) They show the stunning human drama, the physical destruction, and the rescue efforts that stretch from Louisiana and Mississippi across Texas, from Alabama and Arkansas all the way to Arizona and Oregon: first set, second set, and third set.

[Sept. 4: Those links are dead at the moment, possibly because the site has been overwhelmed by traffic. -- Ed. note]

[Sept. 5: Since those links remain dead, go to the photo galleries posted by the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Roughly 100 galleries so far are clickable, with more than 1,500 photos shown in reverse chronological order from Aug. 28 on. -- Ed. note]

The photos left us shaken. But we chose to display the one below, taken on Wednesday, because of what it says not about the catastrophe but about the dignity of some survivors. It seemed to us unique in its homely understatement. [The photo has been taken down for copyright reasons. -- Ed. note] You see no floodwaters, no raging fires, no wreckage, no rooftop rescues, no wounded refugees, no triage centers, no police or National Guard -- the other photos show all of that and more -- only Samuel Thompson, 34, of Charleston, S.C., playing a piece by Bach as Leonard James rolls past in a wheelchair inside the New Orleans Arena.

Thompson, who was stranded during the hurricane, also played for refugees inside the Louisiana Superdome.
-- Tireless Staff of Thousands

Postscript: We've since obtained this photo of Samuel Thompson playing in the New Orleans Convention Center.