Road Trip 2007

Volunteering in New Orleans

Chapter 11, Page 1

Camera Busy!

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Yes indeedy, my camera has been busy.  Capturing abstract to unbelievable photos.  The first set of photos are some more of the Old section of New Orleans, specifically Magazine Street.  

I am told that Magazine St. is the original downtown section of New Orleans.  It has a lot of the original architecture of the old city dating back a hundred years and more.  The houses in this area surrounding Magazine St. are especially examples of a period of New Orleans history.

Several of them have been converted to apartments and subdivided to accommodate 4 or more families.  The group home I worked in on Constance St. for instance, was a single family home originally.  This house has two kitchens, an upstairs with two bathrooms and three huge bedrooms.  The downstairs has a huge formal dining room a formal living room and two other large rooms used for the residents to sleep in.  There are two baths downstairs as well and a huge family/TV room.  I think possibly about 3000 square feet minimum.  It is difficult not to imagine having this house for yourself.  It just reeks of hominess.

A lot of the homes near Magazine St. could have been used for the set of "Gone With The Wind.  The spiraling staircase, the pillared entryway, the expansive front yard, the yip yappy dog that is always excited and barking at butterflies or any other nearby animate object.

Louisiana is known for it's swamps.  It has been difficult for me to capture the swamp as every time I get close to one, I get carried off by mosquitos.  My defense has been to approach the swamp during the midday when there are fewer mosquitos.
 
New Orleans has two really neat places to observe swamps: The Audubon Park and the Audubon Zoo.

The park has a large area that features a huge tree on an island used by Ibis, Egrets, Herons and what not as a nesting and roosting spot.   One evening while observing this tree, the Egrets and Ibis were coming in from all directions for over an hour.  I had to wonder whether the tree was going hold all of them or not.

 
I really enjoy photographing signs that are cleaver, sometimes artistic; business signs that real people come up with to reel people in.  These two are eye catching.  "Feet First" has so many embraceable connotations.  The second one is a contradiction or an oxymoron, take your choice "Old New Orleans."  It is politically correct because it is the old section of New Orleans.  None the less, it is amusing to me that new Orleans can be old.

The third picture is of an outside restaurant patio area featuring at least a hundred beer spigots.  You can tell from the color of the liquid that they are no longer dispensing beer.  Yet, this is another clever way to attract customers while creating a water fall ambiance back drop for dining and drinking (and a reason for running to the bathroom for water trained males like me;=)

Here is a New Orleans sunset worth putting on your monitor as a background or wall paper.  This was taken on "Camp" St. about two blocks from where I am staying.  The residential background was eliminated by pointing up and away.  We were attending a "Take back the streets" neighborhood block party.   Everybody was noticing the sunset more then the party.   The four dollars worth of raffle tickets I purchased simply yielded a lighter wallet.  It was an interesting  block party though, as several donated items were being auctioned off as well.  The kind of auction where you don't dare scratch your nose or ear or point at the pretty sunset viewable through the tree tops.
 
 Here's a sunset with the swamp foreground.  I tried to catch it in stereo, using the reflection from the water as well.
 
 And another swamp sunset, purposely under exposed to accent the cloud color and to darken the foreground.

"Where is this swamp?" you ask.  It is actually right off of St. Charles Ave. in the middle of the New Orleans Audubon Park.  A park that encompasses hundreds of acres, right in the best section of New Orleans from the Mississippi river bank to St. Charles Ave and three or four blocks wide.  A really nice green belt.  All three of these sunset photos would make a nice back ground picture for your monitor.  Simply right click on any one of the three photos and then select and click on "Set As Desktop Background."  My favorite is the second one.

cont.

Disclaimer:  No animals or humans were hurt in the making of these photos.

© copyright mark  All of the images and text on this post are copyright protected and have been digitally watermarked.  The images and text displayed here, in no way implies consent for any form of distribution or reuse.  Email me if you desire permission to do so. 

Some images are also available in full size Giclee Prints (pronounced zhee clay) suitable for posters and framing.  Currently available: 2 5x7 on one sheet or one 8x10 on one sheet or a 10 x 15 on one sheet or a 12 x 18 on one sheet.  The smaller sheets up to 8x10, are $25 apiece and the larger sheets are $35 apiece.  The giclee prints are produced on a seven color Epson 2200 printer with inks that are highly resistant to water and fading.  The giclee print result is near photo perfection. Guaranteed to please.  I can also produce custom calendars from any set of photos.  Contact me through email for more information about pricing and availability.

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