NOTES
Books of New Orleans for Research and Pleasure (PART 2)
Part 2! Travel way back in time into New Orleans’s past with these terrific books that I am happy to share with you.
“In other places, culture comes down from on high. In New Orleans, it bubbles up from the streets.”
Clarence Millet, “Old New Orleans”
In the two weeks since I posted Part 1, I thought of many more books that I’d like to share with you. Maybe I’ll do another in the future but for now, I will stoop right about here. I hope that these lists will remove you from wherever you are and transport you to a different time, often romantic or violent or appalling but nevertheless moving.
Like all cities, New Orleans’s complicated history makes it enduring and hardens itself into the American cultural lexicon. I found these writers entertained, educated and enlightened me and fortified the backbone of my art. I think they’ll do the same for you whether you want to get lost in the city or otherwise.
Just a quick note: If you’re interested in purchasing any of these books, please consider supporting our local bookstores. I’ve made it easier to locate these tiles with links below each description. I avoided Amazon when possible.
1. New Orleans Vampires: History and Legend (2017)
Marita Woyvod Crandle
Marita is known around the French Quarter as the proprietor of Boutique du Vampyre, Potions, New Orleans Vampire Cafe and soon-to-open, The Apothecary. In my opinion, she is our local authority on this subject. Her diligent and meticulous study of vampires of the city brings to life our legends and history. Although I am not a connoisseur on the mythology of vampires, I appreciated her delving into the historical aspects of local legends such as the Casket Girls (my favorite) and the Comte St. Germain. I’ve not read a book so far that has this much history and information regarding the subject of New Orleans vampires and it’s only 106 pages.
Fun fact: You’ll be able to view my prints on the walls of the soon to open The Apothecary.
Purchase here
2. Fabulous New Orleans (1928)
Lyle Saxon
It was said that Lyle Saxon loved being called “Mr. New Orleans” as he was known to many in the Quarter. He liberally wrote and perhaps exaggerated some of his reportings than his contemporary, friend and collaborator, Robert Tallant but his passion for telling a story engrosses the reader even after nearly 100 years since the publishing of this book. Marie Laveau, the Dueling Oaks, the haunting of Madam Delphine LaLaurie’s infamous mansion and much more are covered and was widely read throughout the United States, piquing curiosities toward what may now be called dark tourism.
Purchase here
3. New Orleans As It Was (1895)
Henry C. Castellanos
Castellanos, Castellanos, Castellanos…sigh. Let me begin by saying that some of his language would not be acceptable in our timeline but it should not dissuade you from reading this book. Castellanos was a lawyer who enjoyed collecting stories. Born in 1828, he describes Elysian Fields as a literal field that he recalled from his childhood where young adults would play games together. There were descriptions of the city that the writer wanted to convey to future generations. As far as I know, this book possibly contains the first published accounts of the haunting of Madam Delphine LaLaurie’s home. His conversational style is engaging, like sitting in a room and listening to a grandfather tell stories from a time that no longer exists. Most of these reports are from antebellum days so one should be aware that there is a favorable opinion of plantation life written throughout, which could disturb some despite its insight.
** What’s interesting is that at this time the French Quarter was not known by its current name.
Purchase here
4. The Sound of Building Coffins (2009)
Louis Maistros
This is one of my favorite books. Its pages I often return to meander through the old streets and feel its energy and tongue. Louis realistic, fantastical depiction of New Orleans and its characters is a love letter to the city. The book kept me company when I lived in New York City and dreamed of planting roots into the same swampy, miasmatic, musical world that Louis’s characters live. The metaphysical blending of a supernatural world reminds me to be more present in the city; to drift into a daydream of what once was before cellphones. I can ramble on and on but I found this description from Octavia Books’ site to be better than what I could explain:
“It is 1891 in New Orleans, and young Typhus Morningstar cycles under the light of the half-moon to fulfill his calling, re-birthing aborted foetuses in the fecund waters of the Mississippi River. He cannot know that nearby, events are unfolding that will change his life forever - events that were set in motion by a Vodou curse gone wrong, forty years before he was born. In the humble home of Sicilian immigrants, a one-year-old boy has been possessed by a demon. His father dead, lynched by a mob, his distraught mother at her wits' end, this baby who yesterday could only crawl and gurgle is now walking, dancing, and talking - in a voice impossibly deep. The doctor has fled, and several men of the cloth have come and gone, including Typhus' father, warned off directly by the clear voice of his Savoir. A newspaper man, shamed by the part he played in inciting the lynch mob that cost this boy his father, appalled by what he sees, goes in search of help. Seven will be persuaded, will try to help...and all seven will be profoundly affected by what takes place in that one-room house that dark night. Not all will leave alive, and all will be irrevocably changed by this demonic struggle, and by the sound of the first notes blown of a new musical form: jazz. Maistros succeeds by populating the novel with hoodoo queens, jazzbos, tricksters, rounders, and various folks with one foot in reality and the other in the spirit world. A sprawling, complex, and ultimately absorbing work. --John Lewis, Baltimore Magazine.”
I’ll add that the discovery of what “the sound of building coffins” means was delightful.
Purchase here
5. Strange True Stories of Louisiana (1889)
George Cable
George Cable was a collector of stories. He was reviled throughout the South during his lifetime for his views of equality among blacks and whites. Despite having fought for the losing team during the Civil War, he had progressive ideas regarding equality. This book comprises dozens of stories that he collected throughout Louisiana, many of which happened in New Orleans or nearby. He’s a wonderful, witty, entertaining and modern writer who was friends with Mark Twain, if that gives an idea of his writing style.
Purchase here
If you missed PART 1, follow this link.
Books of New Orleans for Research and Pleasure (PART 1)
New Orleans has inspired generations of artists and writers. Here’s a collection of books that I’ve enjoyed.
““Never let the truth get in the way of a good story””
Jean-Pierre Lassus, “Veüe et Perspective de la Nouvelle Orleans,” 1726, Centre des archives d’outre-mer, Franc
New Orleans is the name we use to identify this parcel of land between the river and a lake. It is nearly an island both figuratively and literally, surrounded by water; water in its soil and water in the sky. It is like a minor deity who so many worship, find inspiration and joy despite its many shortcomings. Books were my entry port into its world and also my constant guide to understanding the city and its peculiar place in the U.S. What makes the city mythical are its many stories both true and false and most often that elusive “somewhere” in between.
My first foray into the mysteries of New Orleans was initiated in Florida as a teenager when a friend recommended a collection of short stories by Poppy Z. Brite called Wormwood. It was followed by a copy of a book called Journey Into Darkness…Ghosts and Vampires of New Orleans gifted to me by my sister after she visited the city in 2000. It made me curious to know a city that had so much dark history yet plentiful joy and celebration. What was this place?
It feels a relentless calling to write, read and make art from what I learn and to simultaneously interpret its stories with profound religiosity, fantasy and reverie but it’s impossible without the aid of books. The city is imbued into all of my work like an alchemical bond impossible to ignore or even reason. I believe that my job is to create a paradoxically realistic and dreamlike interpretation of I’ve learned, witnessed and experienced and make something from it.
I hope you enjoy this list. It’s a simple “top 10” (this being “Part 1”) but all of these have led me through the city, expanded my imagination or were simply enlightening reads, whether fictional or not. New Orleans is the U.S.’s most mythical city. Does truth matter?
Just a quick note: If you’re interested in purchasing any of these books, please consider supporting our local bookstores instead of Amazon. I’ve made it easier to locate these tiles with links below each description.
1. Wormwood (1996)
Poppy Z. Brite
This book was required reading for all goth curious kids at my high school. While not all of the stories in this book take place in New Orleans, it gives a fictional interpretation of some of the legends about pirate ghosts of South Louisiana such as “Sixth Sentinel”. The city appears a looming, unspeaking character in other stories, whispering an unknown language. My favorite description of the city is from the short story, wonderfully titled, “The Ash of Memory, The Dust of Desire”. Brite writes:
“Ancient, by American standards isn’t very old. Two or three hundreds years at most….and the abandoned mills and factories are no more than sixty years old. But I think of New Orleans, that city mired in time, where a whole religion evolved in less than two hundred years — a slapdash recipe concocted of one part Haitian graveyard dust, one part juju from the African bush, a jigger of holy communion wine, and a dash of swamp miasma. Magic happens when and where it wants to.”
Purchase here
2. Voodoo in New Orleans (1946)
Robert Tallant
Tallant provides accounts of Marie Laveau from witnesses and a story about her proposed mentor, Doctor John. There is also a story of her contribution to the aid of victims of the Yellow Fever epidemic of 1853 (the city’s worst) and how she conducted her ceremonies and gained notoriety. Some of the stories from this book have been refuted and some have alleged that it created a negative narrative about the history of voodoo although I’ve found that the author states that some of the stories he gathered from New Orleanians may have been exaggerated. The book also removes us back into old New Orleans and the neighborhood colloquially called Back-a-Town (Rampart Street area). One can imagine the world that raised Louis Armstrong.
Purchase here
3. Journey into Darkness…Ghosts and Vampires of New Orleans (1998)
Katherine Smith
This is a book that is commonly found in the French Quarter’s tourist shops. Many of its ghost and vampire stories are known while others are based on Smith’s first hand accounts. What I enjoy about this book is that many of its figures existed and contributed to the well known ghost stories often heard told by tour guides throughout the Quarter. It’s a fun introduction to many of the city’s dark entries.
Purchase here
4. The French Quarter (1936)
Herbert Asbury
While written in 1936 this book is one of my favorites when discussing topics of the French Quarter. It covers the foundation of the city, its ramparts, street names, notorious figures and its late adoption of electric street lamps. Many of the issues New Orleans struggles with today can be traced to the 1800s and some of these forgotten characters would be able to relate to the experiences of modern New Orleanians. I enjoyed the detailed accounts of bars, brothels, relations between blacks and whites and the conversion of the French Quarter into “Little Palermo”. This book was dutifully written to include as much detailed information as could fit into 400+ pages and is still relevant today. If you watched the Martin Scorsese film, Gangs of New York then you’re already familiar with the author’s work.
Purchase here
5. Bellocq’s Ophelia (2002)
Natasha Tretheway
This book of poetry by Pullitzer Prize winner, Natasha Tretheway is a first person narrative of sequential poems based on a photograph made in 1912 by EJ Bellocq of a light-skinned black woman working as a prostitute in the Storyville District named Ophelia. I love Tretheway’s writing and imagination. The author’s fictionalization of its titular character takes us to the beginnings of Ophelia’s career and her correspondences to a conservative childhood friend. We meet EJ Bellocq and experience the city through the eyes of a thoughtful narrator while tasting the summer rain that many of us enjoy.
Purchase here
The Year that Almost Wasn't
“It is not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they are old, they grow old because they stop pursuing dreams.”
“It is not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they are old, they grow old because they stop pursuing dreams.”
I was at the end of my wits when 2022 began. A craving to return to my craft of photography was stronger than my will to continue ownership of a plant store (We Bite Rare & Unusual Plants) so when our lease ended, I pulled the cord and ejected myself forever from the brick and mortar confines of that business. I earnestly retread my path as an artist and photographer with a mission to create works that challenged myself and the viewer. I wanted to create a body of work that would push my limits as an artist. This passing year was the beginning of this new era of art making.
This upcoming year I plan to complete the Exoricsm series that sprung from a well of anger I experienced this past June and to travel further into myself, dredge the innermost subconscious to relate the stories I want to share. I expect more exhibitions and gallery work in 2023 with an updated online store of limited editions pieces and other pursuits.
I thank all of those who supported my work this year, especially my wife, Aryn who has been my constant ear and helpful critic. It was not easy dividing myself from my plant business but I felt without choice to heed my calling; to return to the blanket comfort of art and photography.
People are Buried Beneath the Dirt Here in New Orleans
Not everyone is above ground.
Not all folks in New Orleans are buried above ground including the man they say invented Jazz music, Buddy Bolden.
Video produced, edited and scored by Carlos Detres.
A Short Rumble of Thoughts About New Orleans During These Strange Times
It has always been dark times for New Orleans.
It has always been dark times for New Orleans.
The land where the city birthed is a catch basin for all of the detritus and muck that spills off from the thousands of tributaries that flow into the Mississippi River. It’s no wonder the city attracts vagabonds, artists, miscreants, grifters and free spirits; people who find nowhere else to belong. But it has never been a safe place to live. Disease, weather, violence, war and corruption is the fulcrum upon which the balance of the city’s history teeters. It’s also joy, however that people find among the company of neighbors and outsiders from which art and tradition is made. This is the primordial soup for America of African, Italian, German, French, Irish, Spanish, Vietnamese, English cultures that coalesced and broke ground, often hating each other along the way.
This may not sound like a love letter to the city but it is. It’s a treasure despite its flaws and it won’t be around forever, a reality most of us are aware. Maybe we have 100 years left. Maybe 200 if we’re lucky but one day, New Orleans will be gone. It’ll be a legend of Atlantis and Sodom, uniquely and perfectly American.
A Night’s Walk through a New Orleans Cemetery
“Nothing breathes here except me although I’m not alone.”
It’s comfortable here, looking at stone faces, obscured by moonlight and long shadows. There are dead people inside the ovens, some with streets named after them and others who were entombed with the delusions they volunteered to die for.
A soundtrack plays along my steps between the shadows of Cypress trees. It’s so typical, so romantic, so me. “This Twilight Garden” by The Cure and I’m a kid again thinking to old fears and the mysteries.
It doesn’t smell of death here like it does at St. Louis Number 2 Cemetery. It smells of the crisp, green air of autumn in New Orleans. Herbaceous.
The moon hangs in half in the midnight blue sky, the color of the Gulf of Mexico. Nothing breathes here except me although I’m not alone. The river breeze reaches us here, whispers old voices, caresses my forehead with its cool brush.
I raise my camera.
Breathe it in.
Click.
Every invisible eye watches from the crypts. Did something crawl up my leg?
This woman once approached me at St. Louis Cemetery Number 2. Compulsion rose from her lungs as she reached a hand to her chest, “I have to tell you that there’s a spirit that always follows you. They won’t do harm but they are very curious about you.”
Life is wasted on the living.
Many choose to avoid this place, this cemetery because they only see death. There is so much life though and stories. There are funny things that happen here. Anne Rice is entombed just down the lane from her arch rival, Al Copeland. Twisted humor is a New Orleans tradition. But there is this sixteen year old girl. A poem she wrote is taped to the face of her tomb.
I get the best advice from elders. They says that our life is a fearful one, chasing green faces of dead men, dying again in one pocket and resurrecting from another.
They elders say
We should chase dreams.
Do wild things.
Get weird.
Take risks.
So here I am, at the cemetery at night in New Orleans alone, but not alone, tempting spirits and violence with a camera. The oaks aren’t old enough to be famous but the trunks are wide enough for secrets and shades to hide.
Why do they follow me?
What was in the picture I saw when I was nine years old.
Smoke?
Vapor?
I can’t get them out of my head.
Was My Artwork Cursed?
I don’t usually get this personal but it’s Halloween month. Screw it.
“The Anxiety of Love” is likely my most haunting work, the one I’ve most often been asked of its meaning and once I tell, an appearance of disappointment waxes the face of the inquisitor. There are subjects that are raw and difficult for me to discuss; lifelong fears that for years kept me awake at night, sometimes looking out of the window of my childhood bedroom, making believe that Death was outside in the dark street, the occasional car driving through his wispy form; the hooded skeleton watching me until I could sleep again.
As 2013 began I had finished a long bout of constant and agonizing anxiety attacks. It had been caused by a spark of worry, which became insomnia and thus inflamed into physical manifestation. Heart palpitations, dizziness, a numbing, tingling sensation had spread throughout my extremities, exponentially worsening every night for a whole year. And then, after a visit to the emergency room of the local hospital and several days of long rest, the symptoms vanished leaving artifacts like a lake bed that had gone dry. I went to work, collected the larger pieces then scribbled emotions and memories that I hadn’t wanted to discuss onto paper until it became a blueprint. One night, my then fiancé and I stood and sat at our places on the cheap stage I constructed in our living room to make the picture. It took perhaps twenty frames or so but the raw fragments that became “The Anxiety of Love” had been created.
Simply:
The work is about the fear of falling in love with someone then having them taken away by death. It’s not a specialized fear nor one not shared by nearly everyone you and I know, however it had prevented me from being an ideal partner and sometimes I poisoned the wells of relationships to avoid what I had perceived as the inevitable suffering. Who actually suffers when we choose lifelong solitude? Yet we crave companionship and love. I chose love then deeply drew it in.
My fiancé and I married later in 2013 then months after moved from New York City to New Orleans. I had begun selling prints of “The Anxiety of Love” at a local gallery and online. It seemed that this work would sell out nearly every month no matter how many prints of it were made. Customers would write me from all over the world via email or social media platform requesting the story behind the print. What did it mean? I was elated that something I had made resonated with so many people. I’ve estimated that at least five hundred prints of “The Anxiety of Love” had sold since it became available for purchase and then, at the beginning of 2020, I swore to never sell it again.
In December of 2019, our daughter Salem was born three months dangerously earlier than her estimated due date. A few days later, while my wife was still recovering in her hospital bed, we received news that she had a potentially life-threatening disease, which may have contributed to the early birth of our daughter.
…
Salem did well most nights while she was hospitalized in NICU but she had trouble with her lungs and breathing on her own without intubation. My wife meanwhile was in and out of doctors’ offices for official diagnosis, bloodwork and treatment options. While her prognosis improved, Salem sometimes struggled. One night while visiting Salem, her oxygen levels significantly and dangerously dropped. It’s a possible exaggeration here that the alarms and shrieking of machines plugged into our baby sounded like the inside of a cockpit of a plane that was about to crash but that’s what my memory recalls. It was a long night but she eventually recovered. My nerves had not.
There are no atheists on a battlefield. You speak with spirits, confront curses and blessings, appeal to God and make promises through prayer on the behalf of the welfare of your family. Now I have the insight to understand the compulsion to stop selling prints of “The Anxiety of Love”. It was how I could control the situation, the only thing I could do to protect my family even if it made no sense at all. Had I had somehow called my fear? Like attracts like. Ceasing production of that print meant that my fear, the one that seemed at the time to manifest would prevent its manifestation to spread to the lives of those who had purchased copies of it. My fear had become reality and I could not allow it to spread. It was not a sane belief but it was an insane time for me. I think now of Edgar Allan Poe.
Why am I selling prints of “The Anxiety of Love” now? Fear can result in a “coming to Jesus” moment for anyone. I now feel that my experiences have enriched this work. I love it more deeply than before and appreciate its journey as I do my own. There’s a concept of a “tulpa” in the paranormal world. A tulpa is a sentient and real entity that is willed into existence from imagination and belief. I look at the image now and see life surviving life, which gives me now a feeling of hopefulness that I’m still trying to understand. My wife, Aryn now enjoys good health and has completely recovered from disease while Salem attends nursery school. She is clever, mischievous, funny and an absolute character befitting the city from where she was born. People still ask what “The Anxiety of Love” is about so I hope that this post satisfies curiosity.
“The Anxiety of Love” is available now at 50% off for all sizes.
An Old Church Along Plantation Alley
Why I had to make art from this old church on Plantation Alley.
Not far outside of New Orleans is a meandering road that follows alongside the levee dividing the Mississippi River and the vulnerable land often referred as Plantation Alley. This place feels eerie to me. Is it the cypress trees? Is it the air that doesn’t seem to move with a breeze? Or is it the ghostly relics of the past? These plantations, these places of opulence and tragedy, murder and hosts for agonizing souls sent down the river as chattel, raped and made beasts of burden from black human bodies bewitch me. And it’s quiet here and there is a lot of time; nothing but time to reflect the haunting of a suffering past from which the belly of American cruelty continues to reverberate between the ancient trees of oak and cypress.
It is along this road where I drove past an old church. This place of worship has hosted its sinners, the descendants of an antebellum billion dollar industry that relied on the whipped backs of black people. The suffering is all I could think and I wanted to leave yet compulsion ruled me. A man watched from his tractor lawn mower as I parked my car along the road to photograph what drew me to this small white church enclosed by tiny white flowers.
The resulting image took less time than most of my work. I had felt something here that I didn’t like, which quickly guided me through the process of expressing emotions that escape words. I know nothing else of this church but the context of its location provided me the way through.
I have yet so many projects to pursue but I’m held fast to my temptations to return to this unscheduled series to see what more stories emerge. It’s a witchy 100+ miles of land of ruin, poverty and history that festers like a boil but is pretty too with its trees, and old structures and ruins. I used to enjoy staying and visiting these plantations but a lot that was unknown to me just a few years ago has stained my memories. I’ll eventually return to finish what I’ve begun.
It is my hope that you enjoy this finished piece and have a feeling akin to the one I had. It is printed on metallic paper and is available at 20% off if you sign up for my mailing list.
The Old Church Along Plantation Alley
2022
The most preserved plantations in the U.S. is just outside of New Orleans. A drive heading west, upriver on River Road are examples of antebellum mansions where slave masters resided, hosted guests and made their fortunes from the forced labor of imprisoned human beings. There are legends associated with these properties that also beg inevitable question: “Is this place haunted?”. In a way, yes. I’m unsure of the age of this chapel but it lies between a pair of plantations. I’m not a fan of this area yet I’m still drawn to it. It could be a desire to explore the roots of evil in America or more simply the eeriness of this region. Despite the dark history of the South, I can’t imagine working anywhere else (the exception being the arid regions of the western United States). In the South, you can find the ugliest and most beautiful aspects of humanity, which represent to me a nation in constant struggle and flux. This old chapel is a place for people to worship God and to make peace with their sins.
This unframed print is signed and reproduced on a heavy weighted 300GSM glossy luster photography paper.
The Sea Came to the Shore: Prints
Prints from this breezy mini series are now available only with this link.
Stragglers from a kelp forest off the coast of a Southern Californian town washed ashore. They made marvelous shapes on the small black and white granules of sand. They were a gift to the eyes.
These are offered in limited editions of 10 and an offering of a discount of $40 if the entire collection is purchased. I’ve plug a lot of work and resources into the packaging so that these arrive safely.
Thank you in advance for your interest in my work. This is my life and i’m glad to share this with you.
Send questions to carlos@carlosdetres.com
It has arrived
The inspiration, explanation and guide to finding secret messages in my new horror photography book, Hairnomicon: Communiques from Beyond the Chair.
Hairnomicon: Communiques from Beyond the Chair has Arrived
This is my first photography book that tells a fictional story. In this one, several amateur spiritualists attempt to contact the spirits of long dead hairdressers from beyond the grave. Its during this session in which someone makes an error, unintentionally inviting into the abandoned chapel the spirit of Zozo (a supposed real life demon that consistently shows up during spirit board sessions).
The book was inspired by classic occult cinema, the Blair Witch Project and countless hoaxed images of ghosts made during the spiritualist era of the late 1800s and early 1900s. This was the culmination of years of research, which ultimately became this book; a very fun project that I collaborated with several hair stylists of the Left Brain Group.
We photographed this throughout New Orleans, Santa Clarita, California and New York City. It took us to an allegedly haunted location, my own home and a friend's home studio in Astoria. Sometimes the spaces were confined, which required a lot of creative techniques to keep the light from bouncing all over the place. And then, when all that was done, the images were laid into Photoshop to create the final versions I had sketched in my notebooks.
It was amazing to see my vision, the one I had scrawled on hard pages, come together so easily, as if guided by something else. I had never done a book like this due to a lack of courage. I had previously made photos that were inspired by ghost photography...it was how I began my career but years of trying to eke out a living, making photographs pushed me into another direction -- an often lucrative one but it wasn't passion. I was just trying to stay out of the poor house.
New Orleans was my gateway to the inner place within my imagination. This had always been the city for me. My work was much more well received here than it had been in New York City. I found dozens of kindred spirits, those whose dark curiosities mirrored my own. I began to experiment with the breaking of the two dimensional world. How could I make work that was felt dangerous?
Like the Necronomicon in HP Lovecraft's works, I wanted my photography book feel as if one could experience a work that reached out to them. Perhaps literally. What would Hairnomicon look like? How would it feel? I reached into decades of memories, searching for inspiration from books I had read since I was a child. I remembered automatic writings and hidden messages purportedly imprinted by ghosts onto photographs or the dangers of contacting the dead without the guidance of a medium or spirit expert. I wanted my audience to spend more time on this book and look for the hidden messages that relate to the story or hidden figures lurking behind my characters. It is all here.
When you purchase a copy of Hairnomicon: Communiques from Beyond the Chair, I want you to spend time looking carefully through each photograph. Do you see anything else? Does something speak back to you? Maybe you'll find something that I hadn't intended to include or maybe you'll find something that wasn't supposed to be seen. Whatever it is, Hairnomicon is the most interactive collection of photographs I've ever produced. I hope you have fun with it.
To purchase a copy of HAIRNOMICON: COMMUNIQUES FROM BEYOND THE CHAIR, click this link.
Hairnomicon: Communiques from Beyond the Chair (The Preview)
A Q&A about my latest book including information on how to purchase your copy.
One misty night in New Orleans, a group of spiritualist amateurs attempt to contact the spirits of their favorite departed hairdressers. Their innocent conjuring is cut short when an unintended guest makes a host of a hostess.
I've had many people ask about my new book HAIRNOMICON: COMMUNIQUES FROM BEYOND THE CHAIR. I decided to do a Q&A to answer some of the obvious questions as well as how you can get a copy (skip to link at bottom if you like).
From HAIRNOMICON: COMMUNIQUES FROM BEYOND THE CHAIR
WTF IS HAIRNOMICON...?
HAIRNOMICON: COMMUNIQUÉS FROM BEYOND THE CHAIR is a photo story book that pays tributes to manipulated ghost photography of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, occult and ghost horror films.
WHY?
HAIRNOMICON was created as an offering to Bayou St. Blonde (a creative hair event produced by the Left Brain Group). It was an effort to create a narrative driven work that included thinly veiled messages, hidden ghostly figures and of course amazing hairstyles by the talented artists of the Left Brain Group. I wanted to make was a fun, cheeky throwback to 1970s occult horror films. After years of photographing hair styles I thought that it was time to do something different and story driven. I wanted to make something that I had never before seen.
From HAIRNOMICON: COMMUNIQUES FROM BEYOND THE CHAIR
WHAT IS THE INSPIRATION BEHIND THIS BOOK?
The Brown Lady of Raynham Hall. Isn't she a doll?
This work was inspired by films such as Sleepy Hollow (cartoon), The Blair Witch Project, The Legend of Hell House, the books of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren and of course William Mumler’s alleged spirit photography from the late nineteenth century.
As a child I was fascinated with ghost stories. It inevitably led to a desire to see a picture of one. In the 1980s it was rare to find these elusive photographs but once in a while I’d come across one. I remember the first time I saw the famous photo of the "Brown Lady of Raynham Hall". The image of the spectral figure descending an ancient staircase terrified me. I became addicted to that feeling.
HOW WAS IT MADE?
After years of making images that emulated the look and feel of those old ghost photographs I had yet to make a complete body of work. Many of the images were manipulated in Photoshop. Some of the techniques used by William Mumler were emulated in the creation of these photos. I tried to make it as authentic as possible, including the spirit writing written in reverse on the frames of some choice photos.
HAIRNOMICON...was shot in Astoria, New York; Santa Clarita, California; New Orleans, Louisiana. Hair by Cyd Charisse, Dante Pronio, Garrett Markenson, Brittni Scandaliato. Makeup by Javier Mena. Players: Alexis Guerra, Emily Komer, Mazzy McDaid, Valeria Ruelas, Melissa Martinelli and Aryn Detres.
HOW MANY PAGES IS IT?
There are 64 pages in the book. Photos are full-paged with plenty of detail.
WHAT'S THE RELEASE DATE?
April 3, 2018 will be the official release date, however copies will be available for $20 at Bayou St. Blonde in New Orleans and is included in the VIP swag bags. If you order a presale copy then it will be shipped on March 30, 2018.
Click the book cover for your copy.
St. Augustine, Florida -- Five Hundred Years
Five hundred years of shadows in St. Augustine, Florida.
Five hundred years of shadows, leaving imprints on the cobble stone and the white plastered walls. Ancient graffiti scrawled on the walls of the old fort are communiques from soldiers now long gone. St. Augustine, Florida -- the oldest city in America.
Welcome to 2018
A new photography book, The Saffron Scourge and a film are part of this list of updates for 2018 that include you.
From "The Ghost Who Loved Mardi Gras"
I have to first thank all of you for reading these posts, getting some books or prints and engaging in interesting conversations with me. It was a year that proved that one might actually be able eke out a living making art and finding the homes for these pieces that I often spend hours on.
So what’s next?
There are a few ideas of how to create an online presence that will make YOU feel a part of these photo shoots and the creative process. The final photographs, after all, are going into your collections or at the very least, populating your newsfeed.
A photo from the Vagabond Collection, which will soon be featured in the shop.
Here’s what’s coming in 2018:
+ A PHOTOGRAPHY SHOP will be available on my site and will include links to galleries featuring “The Vagabond Collection” as well as limited reproductions from The Saffron Scourge project, which is a ghostly body of work that tells the story of yellow fever victims from the mid-1800s to the early 1900s. I've gotten a lot of requests for this. I thank you for your patience. This should be completed within the next few weeks.
+ A NEW BOOK is in the works, which will be released in 2018. I’m doing everything in my power to keep the costs low but the quality high. If you purchased a copy of Ghosts of New Amsterdam then you’ll be treated to some benefits as a result of your early support.
+ I and a production crew are on track to finish my FILM DIRECTORIAL DEBUT of a short film called The Red Canvas, which is based on a story of the same title by xxx ZombieBoy xxx (a constant collaborator and a dear, dear friend).
+ There will be more opportunities for you to directly affect the collections of photographs that I, and a production staff of talented people, will be releasing in the next twelve months.
Without you or your support, there would be nothing to share so THANK YOU a million times over for helping a boy and a dream get by in this crazy world of art. I’m very excited and I hope that you are too.
I wish you all a fruitful year and I send you a sincere wish that you achieve your dreams and goals in 2018.
From "The Ghost Who Loved Mardi Gras"
Inspiration Board: Hairnomicon: Communiques from Beyond the Chair
Antique fake ghost photography to be the inspiration for a new book.
I wanted to share with you the inspiration board for a project I'm working on with the Left Brain Group for the upcoming event in March called Bayou St. Blonde, which will happen here in New Orleans. The goal of this project is to create a brief, fun photo book displaying the talents and craft of the artists represented by the Left Brain Group.
The story behind this project is a seance conducted by amateur spiritualists who want to communicate with their favorite hair stylists who have departed from this existence. As someone who is enamored with hoaxed ghost photography from the late 1800s and early 1900s, it made sense to emulate some of the old techniques used by these talented fakers of the time. Although there is hardly any mention of the photographers who did these shoots, I thought it was time to honor the creative methods they used to create these faked images of spirit activity.
Documenting Yellow Fever in New Orleans...112 years later
Photos and illustrations from the yellow fever scourge that terrified New Orleans for 110 years and how it fits into my project about this era in our city's history.
I don’t know why I’m so drawn to this topic but I’ve been fascinated by it for some time. I kept returning to the idea of shooting documentary photo project about the scourge of yellow fever and the “lingering”, black mark that it left on the history New Orleans. But what was I to shoot? Pictures? Mass burial sites? Crypts with “yellow fever” inscribed on it? The only “lingering” I’ve noticed is the echo from the voice of a tour guide, briefly touching upon the effect of the pestilence that last happened over a hundred years ago.
My friend, Brian is an archaeologist who shared my interest in the history of yellow fever in New Orleans. He invited me last May to photograph the condition of several former quarantine camps near the Rigolets in southern Louisiana, about an hour or so outside of New Orleans. The land in which these sites sit have eroded due to climate change and storms and have become overgrown with grass, leaving almost nothing of what was once there. But if you picked through the soil a bit, you’d find some interesting artifacts that would tell you a bit about the history of the people who lived and died while in quarantine.
Brian and I were thrilled with the what was found but it wasn’t enough for me to build a photography project on. I wanted to go deeper into the psychology and I found a way through research I had done on the effects of yellow fever on the body. A book written by a doctor who had treated numerous people with some success described hallucinations accompanying a patient’s high fever often before death. I wondered what visions would they have described? That is what I decided to document.
Several pieces have been completed or amended to fit the theme of my project. Information about the exhibition of two of the pieces can be found HERE. I’ll share more news as the project continues. Also, there’s email signup form at the very bottom of this post.
Here are some of the artifacts and photos that I’ve been looking at from various times throughout the years of the yellow fever epidemics (1795-1905):
(Click to view description)
My 19th Century Plague-Inspired Photos to be Exhibited
Two photos from yellow fever epidemic-inspired collection to be exhibited in Texas.
I recently received word from the A Smith Gallery in Johnson City, Texas that two of my photographs, “The Anxiety of Love” and “In Memory of My Children, New Orleans 1853” were accepted into a group exhibition.
Both of these prints are part of a collection that has been tentatively called *New Orleans 1853*, which is about the effects of the Yellow Fever epidemic that beat the South to pieces during the years between 1795 and 1905. The project was inspired by a tragedy I discovered during a walk through one of my favorite local cemeteries.
While visiting Lafayette Cemetery in the Garden District, I happened to stop in front of a crypt with a list of names of young children belonging to the same family. They had all died within 3-5 years of each other. I couldn’t say for sure whether they had died from Yellow Fever but the years corresponded with one of the many epidemics that had struck the area. Above the names of these children were those of a husband and wife -- the father and mother. I couldn’t imagine the great tragedy that had befallen this family. To lose so many young ones to an enemy that could not be fought.
These photographs are a fictional interpretation of these historical events. On the pages of books, the Yellow Fever is described with a distant voice; a recount of history. I want to bring the details, to life and resurrect the dead to allow them to share their story. The photographs will be accompanied by visual documentation of actual Yellow Fever quarantine sites that are accessible only by boat. I’ll be working alongside archaeologist Brian Oshtahowski who has identified these villages through old records and maps. The artifacts left behind provide a haunting coda to an understated event, perhaps too terrible in the memory of our country to recount in grammar school history lessons.
Framed prints of “The Anxiety of Love” and “In Memory of My Children” will be available for sale at the gallery. It is a soft debut for this project, which I hope will eventually see many more showings within the next few years.
Here are the pertinent dates for this group exhibition, just in case you find yourself in the Austin/Johnson City, Texas area:
**A Smith Gallery**
103 N. Nugent Avenue
#175
Johnson City, Texas
Exhibition: December 22, 2017
Reception: January 27, 2018
Last Day: February 11, 2018
*“The Anxiety of Love” has been published by Musee Magazine, The Coffin Factory (who awarded it with a first prize in their photography competition). The print, “In Memory of My Children, New Orleans 1853” has not yet been released, which makes is making its debut for any medium.*
The City of the Dead, the Giver of Peace
Does the cemetery bring you peace too?
St. Roch Cemetery, New Orleans
A walked past the memories of thousands of lives, tokens left behind by loved ones who continue life without these deceased friends and family members. The gravity of sorrow always strikes me during these wanderings but I can't get away from them. It's like an obsession. When I'm among these concrete crypts, flowers and trinkets, I feel at peace. Clouds graze the sun, moving slowly across the blue sky raising shadows from the ground.
Email: info@carlosdetres.com
Road Tested iPhone 8 Plus Camera: LA > JOSHUA TREE > LAS VEGAS
A short conversational review on my experience using the camera on the iPhone 8 Plus during a recent road trip through the West Coast.
My dream camera kit is one that could fit in my pocket. There have been issues with the cameras that have been included in nearly every iPhone (the 7 Plus is pretty good) but when I first fired off a few shots with the 8 Plus, I was hooked. Quick autofocus, two lenses (28mm and 50mm equivalents) and the ability to quickly edit, build albums and share images.
Would I switch completely to this type of system and join the ranks of the iPhone photographer world? Of course not. The camera on the iPhone 8 Plus is a tool just as I consider my Sony A6300 and Nikon D800. Each one has its strengths and weaknesses, which are decided by various situations such as lighting, depth of field and resolution of final images for print. Printing 8.5x11s won't be a problem since the camera puts out a resolution of 12.3 megapixels.
There was some noticeable falloff of sharpness at about 400-600 ISO during low light situations but the images are still usable (I have to add the caveat that I believe "sharpness" is slightly overrated so take my opinion with a grain of salt). During ideal lighting scenarios, the camera was tack sharp; its color reproduction was accurate. I often photographed during the dreaded high noon sun and enjoyed the result of my captures.
I had issues with the new portrait lighting feature in regards to the depth of field (blur effect). There appeared to be artifacts and fringing at the edges of the the blurred subject. It sometimes worked flawlessly but the effect was too inconsistent to use reliably. I mostly avoided using this feature but I'm hoping that Apple will release an update in the future to correct this problem.
I consider this smartphone to be a serious image making tool that allows me to stretch my creative and storytelling muscles in a way that I've not yet done. I'm writing a review, for chrissakes, which I rarely do! The camera on the iPhone 8 Plus will not be for every serious photographer but it's one that fits my style of shooting and enhances my experience, allowing more flexibility, which means more enjoyment. For amateur photographers, I'd say, skip the DSLRs and mirrorless cameras and try this smartphone.
*All photos in this collection were shot on the iPhone 8 Plus and edited in VSCO (exceptions being the black and white photos which were applied with the stock presets that come with the iPhone).
Shoot over any questions you may have to info@carlosdetres.com
Spectacular Gravetimes with Friends
Meeting twilight in the City of the Dead with friends.
Zombie and I met with our friend, Valeria at Carmel and Sons Botanica in Treme to begin our little photo adventure. Valeria just moved to New Orleans from Boston and we were excited to show her some of our favorite haunts such as Lake Lawn Metairie Cemetery and Sacred Grinds. We wandered between the crypts as the sun set, casting brilliant hues of orange and purple light behind dramatic clouds. It was a reminder of how much fun one could have here without spending money.
Thanks so much to my pals who helped make an ordinary day into an extraordinary one. I needed it.
Email: info@carlosdetres.com
Favorite Photos from Tales of the Cocktail 2017 in New Orleans
Photos from Tales of the Cocktail 2017.
Tales of the Cocktail is like the Academy Awards for the bartending industry but with more drinking...or rather, prolonged drinking. The irony is that I hardly had anything to drink and focused instead on eating as well as I could, meditating daily and ensuring proper sleep. My days were long, some lasted up to sixteen hours. I ran on pure adrenalin and a low carb, healthy diet (a deeper discussion for another day).
The opportunity to work with so many people in the beverage industry was invigorating. I could have listened to legendary bartender and proprietor Charles Schumann all day and continued discussing the art of growing plants with Appleton master distiller, Joy Spence and the magic of lighting for portraiture with Grand Marnier master distiller, Patrick Raguenaud whose mischievous side I tried to capture. It's the other interests of the people I photograph that I like to train my lens on. I like to put my camera down and listen to their stories and opinions, people who are revered in their fields for the quality of their distilled labors. There's so much to learn from them.
Also, witnessing DJ Mixmaster Mike make tiles fall down from the ceiling of a venue on Bourbon Street was something that I know I'll unlikely witness ever again (you can actually see some of the falling tiles in one of the photos of his set). But here it is, the photos that I liked the most from my intense five days of work at this year's Tales.
Email: info@carlosdetres.com
