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The Gulf Oil Spill

On April 20, 2010 a catastrophic blowout on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig off the Louisiana coast resulted the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry. Spill estimates placed the daily flow from the broken wellhead between 35,000 and 60,000 barrels of oil per day. The explosion ultimately sank the drilling rig, killed eleven oil workers, and spewed oil into the Gulf of Mexico for three months before being capped on July 15, 2010. The long-term impact of the spill has yet to be fully ascertained, although it has significantly impacted tourism and fishing industries throughout the Gulf region as well as damaged critical fisheries and marshland habitat. BP has admitted mistakes resulting in the spill.


    The Political Conventions

    Matt Slaby is a photographer based in Denver, Colorado. Before turning his attention to photography, he traveled the western United States as a wildland firefighter with the U.S. Forest Service Hotshots also working winters as an EMT with a metropolitan ambulance service. Slaby interned at U.S. News & World Report covering the 2006 congressional elections and the Washington, D.C. political circuit, including the White House and U.S. Capitol. He has a background in writing and literature and holds a J.D. from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law. Slaby brings his diverse background to the field of photography and journalism and is particularly passionate about making the unique and multidimensional culture of his home in the western United States accessible to a broader audience. Slaby's current body of work has received honors from PDN, American Photography, Communication Arts, Center, and LOOKBetween. A selection of his clients includes U.S. News & World Report, Time, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, Smithsonian Magazine, Mother Jones, The Bureau of Land Management, Audubon Magazine, National Public Radio, Days Japan, The National Interagency Fire Center, The Department of Defense Military Health System, BD, Discovery Communications, and Human Rights Campaign.