Across the country, individual photographers and photography organizations are offering help to their peers who suffered losses as a result of Hurricane Katrina.

The National Press Photographers Association and the National Press Photographers Foundation, a nonprofit charity that provides educational grants, have come together to start a fund for photojournalists in the hurricane area.

"We just wanted to be helping photojournalists, because that's what NPPA is about," says Tony Overman, vice president for the NPPA and a photographer for The Olympian in Washington.

The NPPF will collect money through October 7, then a committee appointed by the NPPA will distribute the funds. Priority will be given to NPPA members, but other photojournalists will also be considered. Photojournalists affected by the storm may apply for relief via the NPPA web site beginning September 16.

Information on the fund, including a link to a donation form, is on the NPPA web site.

The NPPA also plans to hold three print auctions during its annual Flying Short Course in the coming weeks and will contribute the proceeds to the hurricane fund.

The NPPA/NPPF fund is just one of many efforts underway.

The Advertising Photographers of America is working on a plan to help, and will post information on its web site in the coming days, says APA national director Constance Evans.

Meanwhile, APA member Linda Ford, a commercial and editorial photographer in Los Angeles, has started her own effort that will become part of the APA's plan.

Ford is compiling a list of photographers who have extra equipment they're willing to send to photographers in the hurricane area. She invites anyone willing to donate equipment to e-mail her at linda@lindaford.com.

She's also working to wrangle corporate donations of photo equipment, software and office supplies.

"Basically, the barn is burning, get the bucket brigade out," Ford says.

In New York, the New York Press Photographers Association is also collecting supplies that it will send to New Orleans area photographers.

David Handschuh, board member of the NYPPA and a photographer for the New York Daily News, says his group is collecting gently used photographic equipment, clothing, and cards, banners and notes of encouragement.

"We're hearing that 50 percent of the [New Orleans] Times-Picayune staff lost everything they had," Handschuh says.

The NYPPA is collecting supplies at its office, 225 E. 36th St., Suite 1P, through Friday, September 16.

Photographers displaced by the flooding have told PDN they've received unsolicited offers of shelter, studio space and equipment from their colleagues.

"I've had offers of studio space and places to live by a lot of photographers from around the country," says Jackson Hill, a commercial and editorial photographer whose New Orleans home was flooded. He says he gets one or two calls offering help every day, but so far hasn't taken anyone up on their offers.

"We're lucky enough to have family in Mobile, so we have a place to stay," he says. He continues to shoot assignments with some cameras and lenses he carried out when he evacuated before the hurricane. What he really needs, he says, is more work.

Outside the hurricane area, several photographers are selling prints to benefit flood victims.

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