BLACK INK in the French Quarter

I've been working on my latest photo project BLACK INK since September 2015. I knew that when I started it that it would be a long endeavor, which is great because I have this to look forward to for at least the entire year of 2016. 

The story of BLACK INK began with my fascination with tattoos. Although I don't have many of my own, I'm interested in the stories people have about their work. It's been fascinating. More often than not, people have tattoos that represent their relationships with family or friends, such as an old frigate tattooed across the chest to represent a grandfather's occupation as a sailor or a nickname given by a spouse etched onto a lip. 

Amber, who is featured in this post, is comfortable with her body. She's proud of her body art and its symbolism. There are references to her family, struggles, her light, spiritual beliefs and more. I am so very grateful that she allowed me into a private world and let me photograph her. I tried my best to totally capture Amber in a portrait. I felt very excited when she exclaimed, "Oh my god! You got me! That's me!" It's like music to my ears.

The final process of these images is printing them using platinum and palladium to continue the theme of permanence.

For information, email: info@carlosdetres.com

Read more about BLACK INK

The End of One and the Beginning of Three

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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

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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.