Mardi Gras Wrapper

Silhouetted Krewe of Druids.

Mardi Gras 2016. The end of the season coming soon.

I’m not done yet. Today and tomorrow are Lundi Gras and Mardi Gras. I’ll get real busy on both days. I’m not sure yet if I am going to shoot the last two Uptown night parades tonight, but for sure I’m going to photograph a little, quirky parade called, “The Red Beans Parade,” in the Bywater during the afternoon. Then, of course, comes Mardi Gras.

Zulus. Indians. Skull and Bones. Hopefully, the Krewe of Saint Anne. And, a little daytime walking through the Quarter. I’ll leave night-time in the Quarter to the serious hard partiers. All of this assumes that I can actually run my own personal route early enough to find a little parking. And, stuff.

Sunday? We have a lot of guests. Plus, invited neighbors and local friends for a buffet. And, booze. It was their day. A little walking to the parades on St. Charles Avenue. A little Super Bowl. A little music at home. And, a whole lot of eating.

Pictures. I’ve had a couple of interesting photo discussions that I want to talk about. But, not today. Maybe, later this week. For now, let’s just say that I realized just how technology driven many of my Mardi Gras pictures really are. Without new, larger digital sensors and high-speed focusing modules, I probably couldn’t have made all of them. Oh yeah, and better lenses. I know if I was shooting film some of the pictures would be impossible to take.

Now. The pictures. Really.

I like the lead picture. The Krewe of Druids. The silhouette makes them look as mysterious as they should be.

When I was taking the picture called “Videos Are Horizontal,” I had a funny discussion with the guy holding the smart phone. I was working within earshot of him. He was holding the phone vertically. I said, “Videos are horizontal.” He replied, “What do you mean?” I said, “How do you watch television or a movie?” He said, “Oh yeah, thanks man,” and fist bumped me.

The picture called, “Flowers In Their Hair” is an example of what a few of you keep saying about me. Experience and good seeing. The flowers are heavily backlighted, making them the subject. But, it needed more. I left the woman wearing sun glasses as sort of a secondary subject. She anchors the picture. Yeah, I know it’s an odd crop. My kind of crop.

Then there is “Shiny Beads, The Other Version.” That’s the picture I intended to make when I shot yesterday’s main picture. Remember? The all bokeh vertical image, which was accidental. More technology. The camera’s focusing module was having a hard time finding a sharp area while the beads were blowing in the breeze, but my finger was on the button so it did what it could do.

Finally. “Parade Coming.” This is one of the joys of living in New Orleans. Even with all the traffic, construction and parking issues; there are these little moments. Like this one when the floats are coming from wherever they are stored. They are rolling in a long caravan at about 40 mph with a police escort. I couldn’t get to that scene, but I did manage to make a picture with my two favorite contrasting colors. Pink and blue.

I’ll be back with three more days of Carnival… Lundy Gras, Mardi Gras and a final set of pictures. Then… something else.