I normally shoot portraits and engagement sessions in some kind of park or natural setting, so I was delighted when Kate and Steve wanted to do their photos in the French Quarter. I got the feeling that they were up for a bit of an adventure and I talked them into taking a few photos at a funky house in uptown New Orleans before heading downtown. My friend Anthony discovered the house when he used to live in the area, and ever since he showed it to me, I have been wanting to take photos there. It is a dilapidated out house that has vines growing all over it. It is most beautiful when there are yellow flowers covering it, but unfortunately we missed the bloom by a few weeks. It is still a unique spot and they were good sports for walking through the dirt and ignoring the trash.

I think the juxtaposition of a nice couple in pretty clothes against this worn shack is interesting. The bride to be had a brilliant idea of writing on the broken windows, but we didn’t have any dry erase markers. I wish I had thought of something like that. This part of the shoot was not the most successful part of the day, and I think the house may be more suited to high fashion than engagement shots, but it was still fun.

After this, we headed down to Pat O’s, a famous New Orleans bar on Bourbon Street. Being in front of the camera is not always the most natural thing for people, but after a strong hurricane drink, they were ready to go.

We headed to the river and on the way there, I couldn’t resist getting some shots by the railroad tracks. I guess I have a thing for those kind of shots these days. Some of my favorite photos from the afternoon were taken there, because they really got into it and showed me their goofy side. It made for some cute images, showing a glimpse into their real relationship.

Then we headed to the river to get some nice clean shots by the water.

And we ended the day on a bench and in the grass with the cityscape and streetcar in the background during the golden hour- my favorite hour of light.

We were walking back to our cars, when we came across an abandoned streetcar. It was too perfect to resist. I asked to take a few more shots. I would have liked to work this scene a little more and perhaps should have shot it with a shorter lens, but I thought this image was cute anyways.

Best of luck to this beautiful, quirky, hilarious couple. I loved working with them both. It’s always fun when the bride is willing to trek through the dirt or sit on train tracks to get some fun images. I’m happy I was able to capture a piece of their history, a piece of their story. In the words of Amy Pond of Dr. Who (which is one thing I have in common with this fun couple), “We’re all stories, in the end.”

but the results can be very rewarding. I actually love the photo above, even though he is crying. I think it is pretty cute. The boy in the photo above is named Parker. He is 14 months and is the son of one of my former coworkers in the ER. I always heard stories about this little guy, and was delighted to spend the afternoon with Brandi, her husband, Joshua, and their adorable son.

In the beginning, Parker was pretty cooperative, but he soon tired of the game. I think I am getting better at photographing children the more I do it. I am learning to watch the family interact with each other and get more candid moments. They tend to be the most telling images anyways and the children are less fussy. I always try to get a few good ones of everyone looking at the camera in a traditional portrait style, like above, and then I just wait for memorable candid moments of the family all together and each parent with the child.

I got to the shoot a little early to scope out spots. The family wanted some by the water and we had talked about doing a picnic scene, so it was easy to start there. As I was searching the park for a new look, I came across railroad tracks and loved that idea. I had the family walk along the tracks and just shot away. With children, you just have to keep shooting to catch the right moments. They don’t always have to be smiling, because so many expressions on children, or adults for that matter, can be sweet and telling. Parker cried a lot, but I was able to capture many photos of him smiling. It just takes patience.

After this, we moved on to individual shots of little Parker. They had brought a chair with his name on it and overalls. The chair was precious and the overalls were perfect. As soon as I saw them, I knew I wanted to do a few more by the railroad tracks, and they turned out to be some of my favorites. When taking portraits, you must remember to go with the flow and let new ideas come to you. Sometimes the more forced ideas that take a lot of planning are not as good as the spur of the moment ones, like a little boy in overalls and no shirt by the railroad tracks.

I am also loving my new 85 mm 1.8 lens. I highly recommend this lens for portraits. It just gives such a nice shallow depth of field, really making my subjects pop from the background. If I could switch lenses fast enough to never shoot with a zoom lens again I would. I love prime lenses and vow to use them whenever possible!

At the end, they asked to take some photos at Morning Call, eating beignets. Thanks for the wonderful idea, Brandi. It was a great way to close the shoot and the afternoon. Nothing like sugar to make a kid happy again and get in a few more smiles.

I had the pleasure of photographing the Kendrick family one more time before going out of town. I will be out of town most of the time until September, so I will be back in time to photograph Benjamin at one year, and I can’t wait.

I am going to let the photos speak for themselves here. It was spring and right before Easter, so we chose to do this shoot outside. As usual, the candids are my favorite.

At the end of the shoot, Melanie asked if they could get a photo of me and Benjamin. “You’ve been there to photograph him his whole life. We want one of you with him,” She said. I was happy to oblige. It was a touching moment, and Ben (senior) did a great job.

 I look forward to seeing Melanie, Ben and one-year-old Benjamin when I return from the other side of the pond!

I wrote a post a couple years back about a swamp tour I went on here in Louisiana and how neat it was to get close to the alligators as well as how bizarre the culture surrounding alligator tours and alligator hunting is. Recently, I have been on two more swamp tours, and I wanted to share the results here.

I brought my new camera with me and although the alligators were not as close as on the previous tour, which it was explained to be was because it was still too cold out for them and they were not feeding yet, I enjoyed shooting of the trees and the other animals.

These tours are different than most nature tours, because the area is not protected. You can see it as it really is for these animals to live with people and with hunters. One interesting thing I did learn, however, is that alligators may lay 100 eggs in the wild and only 1% survive. In farming, 99% survive, and the farms return 10% to the wild. You can tell which ones are from farms because of the notches taken out of their tale. The population has actually gone up since people began farming the alligators, so perhaps people aren’t all bad and at least here they are making up for the reduction in population that was caused by hunting. Below, you can see the influence people have on this swamp and that the swamp has on them. Beyond hunting and food, people rely on the water for transportation and it can be consumed with distillation. The moss was used for mattresses, among other things.

Here is a sample of some of the creatures I found in the swamp other than alligators.

And last but not least, my new favorite swamp creatures- wild boars! On the first of these two swamp tours, I was introduced to these magnificent creatures. They came right up to the boat to eat marsh mellows. They are apparently as intelligent as dogs. It was the last day of hunting season for the boars, and I was pleased to find out this family was still alive when I went on the second tour. Not only that, but on the second tour I was able to meet their piglets.

I am enjoying shooting nature more and more. I used to feel a photo had to have a person in it to make it interesting- that is the journalist in me- but I am learning the joy of documenting nature. To complete this blog, however, let me go away from nature for a moment and post a few photos from the same period from the St. Patrick’s Day Parade and then close with one of my mom and I. My mom went on the second swamp tour with us and met the boars. In fact, one of them almost jumped in her lap and succeeded in getting her soaked. It was a wonderful visit and I am so glad she was able to make it down. I was actually just in New Jersey with her for Mother’s Day, but let me say it again, happy Mother’s Day, mom, and thank you for all you do.