I have several “favorite” cities…and New Orleans is certainly one of them!
I had mentioned this wonderful city in a previous post here. Well, once again, in my “better late than never” fashion, I have found yet more images that I have deemed worthy of publication on my website. I had uploaded them to my facebook page album here and am getting them posted on my website now.
Several of these images are quintessential New Orleans to me.
This was shot on one of the days we were walking around the French Quarter. I thought being a balcony with beads on it made it a perfect New Orleans vignette.
Beads and Balconies
We stayed out in the Garden District so we walked around there a good bit also. This is one of many incredible doorways we saw in the area.
Classic Doorway
Of course we had to try a Muffaletta from the Central Grocery in the French Market section of the Quarter, so we had a nice walk in that area. I thought this had a nice juxtaposition of the American flag and the Natchez life saver.
Natchez and Flag
It just serves as a reminder that I need to get back there…I truly do miss this wonderful city.
Upcoming Events!
Just an FYI about some events coming up where I will be showing my work.
Saturday, April 30, 2011, 10am-7pm Life is Art Fest in Boca Raton, Florida
Friday, May 6, 2011, 6-9pm East Village Uncorked in Pompano Beach, Florida
Come on by, see my work in person and say “Hi!” All the work I sell at events is hand signed by me on the spot and I can even personalize gifts with the name of whomever you are giving it to 😉
Analog Soul Photography Booth at Riverwalk Blues Festival
Better in Black and White
Recently I have been going back through my photographic archives. I have brought up images that I thought were okay and converted them to black and white and I loved them. I was amazed that this simple conversion could make me go from “like” to “love” with a simple Ctrl/Alt/Shift/B stroke.
"Rue Bourbon" shot with Pentax ZX-5
It started with my aforementioned images from New Orleans and more recently some that I had taken with my pseudo Rollei Pearl River twin lens reflex camera. I had some shots from our Fisheating Creek, Florida camping trip and some others from that camera.
"Emerging" shot with Pearl River TLR
And just the other day, I picked up a roll of film from the processors that I shot in my Olympus XA (c-41 that I don’t develop at home) that was color. I got home with it and didn’t even scan it as color, I went straight to black and white…and the images were great! I’m amazed at how much just doesn’t work as well in color and once it’s made black and white, it becomes “art.”
"Alfa I" shot with Olympus XA
So, from now on, I am only going to be using black and white film (unless I get a crazy good deal somewhere) and process myself. That way, there’s no question…it’s black and white and that’s it. Also, the film itself is predominantly less expensive and home developing also is much more reasonable in the long run. I am the “starving artist,” after all 😉
Going through the archives and editing shots from New Orleans
It all started on Thursday night when a friend mentioned that a restaurant owner might be interested in some of my images for decor in his business. I knew I had a handful of good shots I got with my trusty Pentax ZX-5 in 2005 when we went for a friend’s 50th birthday celebration. I also have some from 1990 when I was there with my parents and was using Dad’s Olympus 35DC rangefinder, but that’s a different story for a different day.
I went to my flickr account where I have the majority of what I consider my “quality” work uploaded first. I was surprised to find that I had not uploaded many shots I had remembered from that trip and had to dig back into the backup drive to find them. I located the file and began the process of deciding which images were worthy of uploading to flickr. It certainly is a bittersweet task, as we had visited a short 4 months before the devastation of Hurricane Katrina hit this beautiful gem of a city.
The images I see are those of city rich with history, music, and culture. They are a reminder that this tragedy will not take away the spirit of New Orleans as it is far bigger than a hurricane. That spirit touches all who visit the city and is carried with them to far away locales the world around. My only hope is to be able to visit soon and once again get my fill of the intoxicating brew that is New Orleans.
Analog Soul Photography 