NOTES
One Year in New Orleans 2016
Another year passes in New Orleans and I documented almost the whole damn thing. Here's a little bit of it.
We celebrated another year in New Orleans on July 20th. I'm a bit late. In 2016 we survived another Carnivale, enjoyed two Halloweens and made new friends. For this version of "One Year in New Orleans," I went for the straight documentation route. I considered including portraits I had made doing throughout the city but then decided that it didn't say much about my overall experience.
As you'll notice, I still have not gotten cemeteries out of my system. While there are less photos of these hallowed locations, I still couldn't help myself. I never can. Rather than creating three sequential posts, I decided to do one with a bunch of photos as an exercise to see what works together and what doesn't. It's for fun.
Yes, Yes to the Levee!
I scouted the levee for a photo shoot.
"The End of the World?" I repeated as a question when Chloe Rose, a head piece designer, mentioned this area at the downriver end of Bywater. The name she had given this place was intriguing.
She and I met at the Orange Couch last week to discuss a photo shoot that we'll be doing together. Chloe designs extravagant head pieces with flowers, sometimes skulls and with a color palette reminiscent of the hues one would see at the end of Fall/beginning of winter -- in other words, the same color palette that's often used in photography. When I first saw her designs just a week or so before Mardi Gras, I knew that I wanted to work with her.
Yesterday morning, I put on my Nike long-hiking shoes and headed to the furthest end of Bywater where the levee rises from the land. The dark, puffy clouds overhead loomed, slowly drifting in the wind. It took about a half hour to get there but there it was, at the very end of Bywater.
Aside from a person or two walking on the levee, I was alone with my wife's small compact camera. I immediately started clicking at the scene, aiming, click and moving down the path toward the corner of the strip where the Industrial Canal and Mississippi River meet. There was remnants of a smoldering campfire and a few empty cans of beer. I remembered to keep my eyes down on the ground to avoid any other unseemly things left behind.
To the left of me was a patch of dead trees and large stones that sloped down into the River. I picked up my phone and texted Chloe, "Yes!!"
To see Chloe Rose's head pieces, go HERE.
Email for more info: info@carlosdetres.com
