Minutes to Memories

With my work done for the week and my family out of town, I decided to do one of my favorite things in the world to do (particularly given those aforementioned circumstances), and I spent the day in New Orleans taking pictures.

With all due modesty, I'll have to admit that I ended up with a LOT of good pictures. You'll have to check out my Webshots page (linked in the left-hand column) where I plan to put my top 20 from today in its very own folder.

This is my third post-Katrina trip to New Orleans, and as with the other two times, you cannot miss the telltale signs. I'm not sure of the cause, but there was a completely awful smell that seeped into the car around Crowder Boulevard (Exit 242) as I entered the city, and I simply assumed it had something to do with the sights along the sides of the Interstate there. I exited at Elysian Fields (a.k.a. the Lower Ninth Ward) and drove around the area for a while. There were definitely a lot more people than last year at this time, but it is still an awful mess. Simply sad...

Afterwards, I drove to the French Quarter where I spent my day. There may be better photo-opportunistic places in the world, but I'm not aware of any. I had a blast.

The picture above came from when I stumbled upon the shooting of a Sugar Bowl commercial on Royal Street. And that was just the beginning of the day. Check out the photo album to see...

I wore my new "Arkansas" t-shirt Erica gave me for Christmas, and I got a few "Woo Pigs" remarks every once in a while. The most surprising came at the end of Bourbon Street while I was photographing Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop. The crew that stopped me included Jerry & Melinda Cobb, a couple I knew from many years ago now! They had tagged along as cooks for Jonesboro, Arkansas's "Youth in Action" crew that is in New Orleans this week (specifically, Chalmette), gutting homes and literally becoming "youth in action." They were wandering the Quarter, too, and it was really cool to see them.

I've been an amateur photographer for around four years now, and my interest has waxed and waned along the way. Well, it's getting all waxy again, and New Orleans was a great kickoff for a bunch of new projects I have in mind.

Well, I've got to go work on my pictures!