In February, Mentor Series trekkers descended upon the Big Easy for a weekend of great photography. This lively and historic city along the Mississippi River provided an abundance of unique photographic opportunities that can be matched by no other city in the nation.
The trek began with an orientation at our hotel in the heart of the French Quarter, where mentors Reed Hoffman and Steve Simon gave inspiring presentations of their work and experiences in their photographic careers. Both Reed and Steve provided valuable tips and suggestions for obtaining the best results during the various photo shoots scheduled over the next three days. We also had the pleasure of meeting local photographer Ronnie Cardwell and viewing some of his highly artistic photography of wide ranging subjects throughout the New Orleans area. Ronnie helped to guide us throughout the weekend and his New Orleans expertise contributed greatly to our success.
Bright and early the next morning, we headed out to nearby Metairie Cemetery. Metairie Cemetery has the largest collection of elaborate tombs and statuary in the city, and our shoot was enhanced by four models who posed throughout the cemetery in ornate Mardi Gras masks. Our mentors guided us in balancing the natural light with the light of our flashes, in order to obtain proper exposure of the models against the bright sunlit background. Next, we enjoyed a walking tour of the Garden District of New Orleans, an area known for a having the best preserved collection of historic southern mansions in the country. The beautiful architecture of the neighborhood, along with the emergence of spring flowers and leftover Mardi Gras decorations provided a multitude of photographic opportunities. Our next shoot was a boat trip through the Louisiana swampland, where we learned about the natural history and ecology of the swamp, while photographing the moss covered cypress trees and the interesting reflections they created on the surface of the water. After dinner, our last shoot of the day was in a nearby jazz club, where we were given front row access to photograph a live jazz band. Our mentors challenged us on this shoot by not allowing the use of flash or tripods, however with the mentors’ assistance on managing ISO and lens selection, along with implementing best practices for hand held lens stabilization, people were pleasantly surprised with the quality of the images they were able to attain in this low light and challenging environment.
On Saturday morning, our stops were at two very different plantations along Louisiana’s historic River Road. Oak Alley, a Greek Revival style plantation, is known for its quarter mile canopy of 300 year old giant oak trees leading to the main house. Laura Plantation is a colorful Creole style plantation with a rare collection of outbuildings and slave quarters. We learned a great deal about the history of the plantations, and both locations provided exceptional photographic opportunities for architecture, trees and flowers, and still life details. After a lunch break, we had an opportunity to meet one-on-one with our mentors to review a collection of our images and get valuable feedback on ways that we may be able to improve our images going forward. That evening, we headed out on foot to the riverfront area for our Steamboat Natchez dinner and jazz cruise. From the boat, we photographed the sunset, the New Orleans skyline, the bridge over the Mississippi River, and several interesting elements of the steamboat itself. On the way back to the hotel for the evening, several brave trekkers ventured to Bourbon Street to capture images of the lively nightlife on a Saturday night.
A trip to New Orleans would not be complete without beignets and coffee at the famous Café Du Monde, so our last day of the trek began with a wonderful breakfast at this nearly 150 year old establishment in the French Market. After breakfast, we enjoyed a walking tour of Jackson Square and St. Louis Cathedral, the French Market, and the French Quarter, photographing the people, architecture, colorful arts and crafts, and the marathon that was making its way through New Orleans that morning. We also got the opportunity to visit Ronnie Cardwell’s gallery near the French Market, where we were treated to refreshing mimosas! After lunch, we had another opportunity to get more one on one feedback from our mentors prior to the workshop closing and final slideshow. For the final slideshow, trekkers each provided a collection of images to be shown to the group. This is always a very interesting and educational part of the treks, as it can be amazing to see how people who visited the same places at the same time envisioned the sights at those places so very differently.
With that, the trek came to an end and everyone went their separate ways, but we all went away with new skills, new friends, great images, and great memories of one of the most interesting cities in the nation.
Doreen Miller
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