One of the great things I notice when I’m home on vacation is how ACTIVE the neighborhoods are during the day. It is a place full of tourists (of course), but also artists, entrepreneurs, bartenders, waitresses, street kids, and other people who may not work a 9 to 5. There are people everywhere, all day and night long. I really enjoy being out early in the morning, though. Not just because of the light, as I mentioned in my last post, but because I love to watch the city wake up. It really is an amazing time. Everyone is walking to work, vendors are delivering the day’s food and drink to the bars and restaurants, and professional cleaning crews literally pressure wash all the streets of the French Quarter (believe me, it needs it) every morning. It is like the city itself is slowly awakening. Here’s an example, with a cute dog thrown in for good measure:
I wanted to get out and really capture even more of that feeling, and I could think of no better way than to make portraits of the people walking the streets. There were a lot of great stories to be told visually. I didn’t capture as many as I wanted, but I snagged a few. Some (like the people biking to work) just went past me too fast. But there were also people walking to work, walking their dogs, heading to the market for the day’s food. Trucks were making deliveries. People were setting up stalls in the French Market. I even got to watch some of the characters in Jackson Square (psychics, artists, musicians) get ready for the day. It was great fun, and surprisingly, people are receptive to having their portrait made, even at 6:30 A.M. Here’s some of what I was able to get:
The girl on the left works at one of my favorite breakfast/brunch joints in the Quarter, and stopped for me even though she was late to work. I’m sure she was glad to use me as an excuse once she got there. “Sorry, boss, this guy stopped me and MADE me pose for pictures!” The two gentlemen in the middle work at one of the small hotels in the more residential area of the French Quarter, and they were shooting the, um, stuff, while putting last night’s garbage out for pick-up. They were really nice guys who weren’t afraid to let this young whippersnapper know that he hadn’t gotten up nearly early enough to catch them going to work. They had been there since 5 A.M.! Sheesh, kids these days… The guys on the right was walking to two coolest dogs – matching Welsh Corgis. He was the first person (of about 100) that thought I was a tourist simply because I was carrying camera in the Quarter. Once I explained to him what I was doing, he was very interested and happy to pose for me, as was everyone else it seemed. Did I already say how surprisingly nice people were, and how willing they were to have a portrait made when they may not have been looking their best? I know I did, but I was seriously shocked. I only had ONE person turn me down, and he was riding past fairly quickly on a bike. I’m sure he thought I was trying to give him a religious tract. Want to see more? You do? GREAT:
The guy on the left didn’t even speak English, and he even was OK with having a portrait made (once I pointed at the camera). I’m telling you, people are nice. He was participating in the daily washing-down of the French Quarter, that ongoing futile effort to clean 300 years of grime off of everything. Individual establishments and residences clean the sidewalks in front of their property, and professional cleaning crews wash the streets and Jackson Square. I don’t even want to imagine what my beloved city would smell like without these daily rituals. The lady in the middle was out walking her dog. She insisted I get shots of the dog, so I obliged, and then snuck in some shots of her (which is what I was really after). I knew that beautiful purple would pop with her silver hair. She was literally in her pajamas, and was worried about how she looked at first. But once again, it only took a simple explanation of my project, and she was on board. The guy on the right was headed to some sort of job that requires a tie (thank goodness I haven’t reached that point yet), and was also more than happy to stop. I learned a lesson here about having my camera visible, though. I use an R-Strap, which I LOVE. It straps across your body, and the camera can slide up and down the strap. So normally, it hangs in the small of my back and I can just grab it and slide it across and up to my eye. LOVE it. Much better than having the thing hanging in front of me and bouncing on my belly as I walk. Anywho, when I asked him if I could make a portrait, my camera was nowhere to be seen, and after a few seconds of complete confusion, I worked out that he thought I wanted to PAINT his portrait. He thought I was going to stop him from going to work, whip out a canvas, and get to work, Bob-Ross-style. Poor guy, he had a look on his face that said “What is this idiot thinking?”. We got it all worked out, I made the portrait, and we discussed our mutual love of the early morning in the Quarter. He said he walks to work whenever the weather is nice (meaning the two/three months of the year when such a trek would not result in the loss of half of your body fluid).
That just about does it for the photos I got during my early morning wanderings. Hope you enjoyed. I think the portrait series will be an ongoing thing for me, whenever I am actually at home. It’s a great way to meet people, and see a side of the city I usually don’t see. Maybe it will inspire a few of you to come visit New Orleans. I should get a side job as a tour guide. Sigh…
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