Contact Sheet: A Doggie Wedding

Contact sheets aren't common in digital photography, but they were a staple of the film days. They were an expression of a photographer's method and intent and a way to interact with editors and art directors. If you haven't yet discovered Magnum Contact Sheets, you are missing one of the most extraordinary treasure troves of photographic history and lessons. Go buy it.

But the most important lesson from using contact sheets and watching how masters went to work is how they approach a scene: deliberately, patiently, with a vision but intent to experiment. Maybe the sheets contained a portrait session with a few different moments and poses or very different perspectives on a march as it progressed down the street. Or maybe they told the story of how a photographer would take 'sketches' to understand the scene and then focus in on one element.

And so I've attempted to re-create a little bit of that "contact sheet" feel here with a series featuring a few different stories explored through different perspectives.

NOLA 2017

The streets of New Orleans are full of amazing life and scenes - a town that at once struggles with deep inequity but also thrives on its own spirit and pride. It's a town unlike any other in the country and from the moment you here the tubas or taste the distinct culinary traditions, it's quite clear you have been transported.

On this latest trip to NOLA, I was increasingly intrigued by the architecture and neighborhoods a little more off the beaten path from the side streets of the Garden District to neighboring suburbs. There is fierce pride here and when you're able to get away from the concentration of tourists circling the French Quarter, you can sense it in the bones of the old homes overflowing with flora to the streets with distinct art of their own.

Art in all its forms seeps through the every nook and cranny here. From the live music to the vivid architecture, gardens, street art and tattoos, every part of the city expresses itself differently. And the reverence that the town has for its own particular forms of art is palpable, if not increasingly appropriated.

Second line bands, still the hallmark of high school drumlines and more, lead wedding parties through the streets onto their never-ending parties. Maybe its honest. Maybe they're locals and this is their tradition, but it doesn't come off that way.

I'm sure I'll be back. New Orleans is growing, changing, and continuing to evolve in ways that sometimes mimic trends of gentrification but also in deep ways that cling to its roots and depth of culture. 

Breaking Bread

Every time I grow through the Grand Army farmer's market something new catches my eye. New flowers, a strange fruit or vegetable, a new craft apple vodka maker (there's more than one?). And then there are the scenes that are so common across the city - and the world really - that it's sometimes hard to notice them in this strange food fantasy.

It was the brief moment of these men breaking bread together, laughing together, forgetting the 4am alarm they woke up to that morning, and sharing stories together that drew me in on Saturday. Hidden behind a tent in plain sight, just far enough away from the crowd who all of a sudden seemed more like food tourists than neighbors, was a different kind of signal of what brings people together.