in of deadliest and most destructive storms in us history, when the storm hit, photographer randy taylor, 59, lost more than 30 years worth of photography work the 59 year old had photographed some of the biggest stories of the 20th century (from princess diana’s pregnancy to mick jagger’s relationship with jerry hall), but when hurricane sandy struck new york in october 2012, flooding taylor’s entire storage facility, almost all of his work was destroyed but the pulitzer prize nominee salvaged a fraction of it by dipping hundreds of negatives in alcohol   resulting in them taking on a new psychedelic form scroll down for video royal revival: prince charles and princess diana greet fans in palm beach, florida in the 1980s  colorful collection: the late princess diana, pregnant with william, vacationing in the bahamas  iconic: singer mick jagger plays guitar on the beach in barbados in 1983 with pregnant jerry hall by his side  twist: actor kevin costner and his ex wife cindy silva at a gala event in the 1980s  iconic image: an american soldier stands guard near wall street at the new york stock exchange on opening day following several days of closure due to the attacks of september 11, 2001  in the pink: singer julio iglesias performs on stage in miami, florida in the 1970s  two models stand stoically by a home in east hampton, new york in appreciation of the classic painting 'american gothic' purple haze: the statue of liberty in new york city is given a new twist as the alcohol altered the color  lights on! a photo of the cape hatteras lighthouse in north carolina  turning a page: a young girl rests her chin on her arm as she reads  final farewell: a coroner rolls a body to the morgue  he said: 'alcohol kills mold so i came up with this process to literally dip the pictures in alcohol and immediately kill it off 'it also froze the image at that moment in time it was like taking a snapshot of the picture in that damaged state taylor said the entire experience has 'been a roller coaster of emotions' ‘[it] started off as a sense of total loss and devastation but ultimately this has been a wonderful experience; a lot of great art came out of it and i'm happy with what was saved' taylor, from new york, usa, has enjoyed an amazing career that has seen him cover some of the most dramatic events of the 20th and early 21st century some of his photographs include a photo of a soldier standing guard over wall street after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and a pregnant princess diana walking along a beach in the bahamas picture this: mold covers an image of the statue of liberty in new york city  salvage selection: a page of 35mm color slides are destroyed from the floodwater  green: fidel castro speaks in havana opn the 25th anniversary of america's failed attempt to invade cuba  country living: a young girl skips rope while running down a country path in utah  family portrait: randy taylor's young nieces whisper to one another on christmas in the 1990s  sultry scene: a photo of central park in new york city taken from the reservoir looking at the upper west side  look into my eyes: the eyes of a worker on the docks of istanbul, turkey  artist: randy taylor checks out damaged slides at his office in brooklyn taylor, 59, lost more than 30 years worth of work covering some of the biggest stories of the 20th century when his storage facility was flooded  determined: the pulitzer prize nominee salvaged a fraction of it by dipping them in alcohol   resulting in them taking on a new psychedelic form  drying out: some of randy taylor's pictures drying after hurricane sandy in 2012  special speech: fidel castro speaks in havana in 1986 on the 25th anniversary of america's failed attempt to invade cuba at the bay of pigs  a splash of color: a photo of the firework display at disney world  diverse collection: (left) mickey mouse and annette funicello at walk disney world in florida in 1989, years after she was famous as a 'mousketeer' and child actress in disney movies (right) a hooded member of the ku klux klan stands in protest on the 20th anniversary of the civil rights march from selma, alabama monkey business: a 35mm slide of the silhouetted face and arms of a captive gorilla is distorted and damaged from the flooding caused by hurricane sandy in 2012  no rain on her parade: a photo of a woman at carnival in brazil  eastern promise: two turkish workers take a break on the docks of istanbul, turkey  it all began aged 22 when he snapped a photo of a shootout at the iraqi embassy in paris in 1978 he said: 'it was a pretty amazing moment i had the honor of being nominated for the pulitzer prize for that one 'i then traveled around the world and i covered all kinds of major stories, celebrations, politicians, sporting events   it was an amazing era 'i had done a number of travels with the pope, i had covered the olympics in moscow, the world cup in argentina, and the invasion of grenada' but his legacy of work was swiftly destroyed by superstorm sandy, which struck new york in october 2012, flooding the lockup where taylor kept his archive works of art: two geese wander through a field look as though they are on another planet  runway: spectators line the hilltop at kill devil hills, where the wright brothers first flew  splish, splash, splosh: a woman running on the beach looks other worldly thanks to the effects of the alcohol  when he eventually gained access two weeks later, he found virtually all of his 30,000 images either destroyed by water or mold he said: 'there was 300 square feet of storage and everything had been floating for a while and then had sunk down to the bottom 'thirty years of my life was down the drain and gone and it had a big impact on me 'there was also the loss of my family's legacy i was designated as the family archivist and told my family to give me their pictures so i could take care of them and restore them' to recover his work, taylor first attempted to wash them, but found it washed away the emulsion leaving a blank negative he then dipped them in rubbing alcohol to clean off the mold and halt the deterioration it also resulted in giving them a new psychedelic appearance a lifes work: press clippings from the career of photographer randy taylor in a bin of dirty water from the flooding of hurricane sandy in 2012  soggy story: folders containing some of randy taylor's images are water damaged from the flooding of hurricane sandy in 2012  a face like porcelein: the face of a baby girl as she sleeps  almost washed away: actor and martial arts expert chuck norris before entering an offshore power boat race near miami, florida in 1990  history: a photo of a gas chamber in a museum for police artifacts in miami, florida, once used for executions  randy said: 'it was a painstaking process of cutting the pictures out, dipping them in alcohol and setting them aside to dry 'you didn't really see what was going to happen until after it truly dried 'there was then a moment of transition from it being an entire loss to realizing that some of this could actually be quite artistic' out of the 30,000 photos in his collection, taylor was only able to save about 300 more than 70 examples of his art will be displayed at the stadthaus ulm, in ulm, germany, from march 26 the man with a method: randy taylor checks out damaged slides at his office  soul destroying; press clippings from the career of photographer randy taylor in a bin of dirty water  gut wrenching: files destroyed in randy taylor's storage facility after hurricane sandy in 2012  on message: neo nazis pose in front of a burning swastika during a rally in florida in the 1980s 
taylor randy taylor pulitzer prize mick jagger diana 59
pulitzer prize nominee randy taylor, 59, has photographed everyone from princess diana to mick jagger  mold and water destroyed almost his entire life's work  taylor realized some of his photos could be restored using alcohol  the alcohol gave his pictures a psychedelic appearance 