NOTES
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 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.
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
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
Painted in Black + White
Black and white remixes of older photos.
I sometimes go through old photos, remixing them a little to see if there are particular qualities that will be highlighted more if they were changed to black and white or color. It also works as an exercise because there could be a perspective that I had not considered before. Here is the result of these experimentations.
If you've been following me on Instagram then you've seen some of these already but there are some here that I've never before shared.
Email: info@carlosdetres.com
Die and Let Die VIDEO
"Die and Let Die" is a video photo project about the haunting of St. Louis Cemetery #1 by people.
I compiled a video from a previous photography project I completed called "DIE AND LET DIE". I had recorded audio while I was shooting at St. Louis Cemetery #1 that was intended to be included in this project. The calliope from the riverboat, Natchez, can be heard from the Mississippi River as well as the mutterings of cemetery visitors and car horns from Basin Street.
The project was inspired by seeing how much vandalism had occurred at the cemetery that, in my opinion, was perpetuated by some of the myths surrounding the cemetery, such as marking tombs with three Xs so that a wish could be granted. I photographed people in this project as incidental subjects such as one would find in a supposed picture of a ghost. One could be taking a picture of a living room and find a spirit when the image is reviewed so that's how I shot this project. A little tongue-in-cheek joke that addresses a serious issue at the cemeteries of New Orleans.
If you're interested in learning more about the local cemeteries, check out the website of Save Our Cemeteries. They're doing very good things.
Email me if you'd like to use this video or just chat: info@carlosdetres.com
One Month in New Orleans: July 2015
Here are some of the things that happened last month. Friends, pool, cemeteries, graveyard leave-behinds and more.
Here are some of the things that happened last month. Friends, pool, cemeteries, graveyard leave-behinds and more.
For more info about my pictures, email me at info@carlosdetres.com
The End of One and the Beginning of Three
The St. Louis Cemetery #1 project ended with some photos of tourists haunting the dead. Also some information about my three upcoming, New Orleans-based projects.
Well, that's it for St. Louis Cemetery #1. From here on out we can only go with tour guides so there's a solid chance that I'll never see it again but I've made so many photographs of it. Hundreds. It's conceivable that one day I will have life sized prints of it in my home. I even made audio recordings at the site throughout the day. Other than a few exterior shots of the cemetery, principle photography is over.
On to the next...
My current projects, one of which I will begin are currently without names but here's a list of subjects that I'll be covering with slight future adjustments to theme and coverage. One or two of these may be vague while the others are more clear:
1) The economic impact of wetland loss throughout southeast Louisiana.
2) The borderlands in New Orleans where the realm of the living blurs with the one belonging to the dead. It's a very strange, difficult one to photograph being that it will be done documentary style. How does one actually photograph something like this? Months of research and location hunting has already been done. It's based on several books that I've read in the last six or seven years. This is the project that, if done successfully, I can leave this planet happily.
3) Ruins of New Orleans will cover just that. There's a dilapidated house on Esplanade below the I10 expressway that reminds me of the house in Interview With the Vampire where Louis returns to Lestat at the end. It looks exactly like it. I decided to build this project because I am always wondering what neighborhoods must have looked like before that ugly expressway was built. This is the one that I'll be starting this week.
Below are a few other photos from yesterday's very fun shoot.
Please feel free to comment, ask questions or whatever in the comments section below. If you'd like to chat with me, go ahead and email info@carlosdetres.com.
More posts about this project at this LINK.
The Haunting Tourist
The biggest challenge of shooting at Saint Louis Cemetery #1 is the tourist walking into the frame. But maybe it actually enhances this collection? A before and after is included in the post. Feel free to tell me what you think.
What is the tourist's role at Saint Louis Cemetery #1?
This is what I'm considering today as I finish up shooting at Saint Louis Cemetery #1. The biggest challenge of shooting at one of the most essential visits of anyone's vacation to New Orleans is this cemetery, which leads to the inevitable, "Shit! They walked into my frame!" At some point, I said, screw it, I'm going to photograph them away. The first time I did this, I returned home, uploaded and scanned through my photographs and found that the tourists who walked into my shot actually gave the scene an eerie feel...as if they were the ones haunting the site.
I've never felt or seen any spirits at the cemetery. Who'd want to linger with such massive crowds? Nope. What has happened, however is, on a few occasions, a tourist would walk past a corner I was shooting from, not expect me and become frightened. I've seen other tourists do it to each other, too. It's an old, crumbly cemetery and beside stories of hauntings it used to be a huge problem for safety. The crime used to be so bad that not even family members of those deceased would visit. Much of the reason why the cemetery looks as it does is because of the lack of upkeep due to the dangers associated with criminals. It's now relatively safe but I digress.
It's not certain whether these shots of tourists will end up in the final collection. I vacillate, considering whether it would be a distraction or enhance the narrative. In the pictures below, you'll see how the scene looks with and without the tourist. Which do you prefer?
I'm off to prepare for my last shoot day. Thanks for reading.
Any questions can be emailed to info@carlosdetres.com. You can read more posts and see more photos HERE.
One More Day To Go!
"...then there was another feeling, one of accomplishment because, no matter what, principle photography was almost over."
I waited at the gate of Saint Louis Cemetery #1 before it opened. I was both excited for the days prospect of shooting and also a bit bummed that I could count the number of days left to freely visit one of my favorite locations in New Orleans. But then there was another feeling, one of accomplishment because, no matter what, principle photography was almost over.
After tomorrow, with the exception of one more day of shooting exteriors, I'll be in the process of sequencing and sorting through hundreds of photos. I've learned a lot of a lot in the last month since this project began. Every minute provided was filled with complete joy and concentration. I met a lot of people and discovered the cemetery's most intimate corners.
The purpose of this project is more art than historical. It is a showcase of years of decay, architecture, loss of life and the preciousness of every moment. When this project is completed and showcased, no one single tomb will be identified. It is, in a way, a collective of people who lived and traversed these streets, painted the city's character with a wild brush, and perhaps even wandered through Saint Louis Cemetery while they lived. New Orleans began and continued with those laid to rest within its walls and it grows within us who live and purvey the old traditions and create new ones. This is obviously a passion project and I can't wait to share the completed vision.
Here are some select photos from today. These were made with a lot of joy, love and sheer curiosity and persistence.
If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at info@carlosdetres.com or leave a comment below.
Almost There...
Well, getting closer to the end of my St. Louis Cemetery #1 project.
Well, getting closer to the end of my St. Louis Cemetery #1 project. I lingered a little longer than usual, realizing that I'm closer to the public closure date. Anyway, I'll keep this short because it's Lundi Gras and I have some partying to do.
If you're curious to see how the other photos look, I posted more HERE.
The photo directly below this is Nicholas Cage's ostentatious, pyramid tomb. It's actually pretty cool.
