N'awlins

As Mardi Gras approaches, I wanted to give a shout out to the Big Easy.  Today's pictures were all taken in New Orleans back in April 2008.  I was there for work....well kind of.  We were there for a conference supporting one of my then co-workers who was my favorite African American when I worked in Bowling Green :).  If you want to know what got me started taking pictures...I will have to say that this trip had a major role.  It is with these pictures that I took pictures with a purpose and tried to capture the memory.  No, it was not Mardi Gras, even though I would love to go there for Mardi Gras.  It was during the Jazz Festival, which to me was pure heaven.  Every street corner was music and dancing.  Then, also, I was immersed in the history of N'awlins as well.  We stayed right on the outskirts of the French Quarter.  We arrived on a Saturday and immediately went walking around the area.  My goals when going to New Orleans was to eat some Gumbo and Jambalaya, take about 500 pictures, and HAVE FUN.  I will say that all of the above was accomplished.  I even got to try some Bubba Gump Shrimp.  For those who have been to New Orleans, you know what I mean by it being a memorable place...the Big EASY!!!  The first picture is of a building in the French Quarter.  I edited this picture at the time using Paint.Net.  I took the actual building and kept it in color while everything else is in Black and White.  At the time, I was a huge fan of Softening pictures when I edit them so that is why this picture appears the way that it does.  Don't worry, for those that don't like the edit, I always save the original.

The second picture was taken as we were walking in Jackson Square.  The picture was originally taken in color.  The man, who was a mime, was in a bluish oil painted shirt and pants combo holding a ball on his fist.  When I got back to Bowling Green and looking at my pictures, I felt that this picture meant more to me if I kept him in color and placed the background in blackwhite.  I blurred the background to have him stand out more.  I colored the man so that he would be the color of what I imagined is the Statue of Liberty.  It was very hard editing this picture and not sure if I could edit it the same way.  Now, if you take a look in the blurred background you see the couple passing behind him not paying attention to him.

The next picture of Jackson Square.  Call me a dork, but it was on this day that I realized that I could take pictures on my camera in black and white.  This was taken on the day that we were leaving New Orleans.  I liked the picture so much that it has been my background on my computer a few times.

This is a dark edit of a picture, but I did the same thing as I did in the first picture.  I took this picture because of the Tennessee Williams book "A Streetcar Named Desire."

 And finally, it is me and Sachmo.  What can I say, it was an awesome trip and weird enough...I wore that same shirt tonight when I went dancing.  Ha ha....  Did I say that I loved all of the shrimp dishes, fell in love with brass bands (Soul Rebels), and had a great time with my co-workers and friends?  Yeah, N'awlins was AWESOME.  I would love to go back again.