Louisiana on Film 2016

My new Minolta 202 took some really interesting "contrasty" photos. I purchased portra 400 film and had them processed at the Photocenter in Brick NJ.  

This sugar kettle's stains give us some insight into its history.  This, and the slave quarters below were taken at the beautiful Evergreen Plantation, the same plantation you might recognize in the movie Django. 

This photo does not do it justice.  Oak Alley Plantation is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen.  It is nicknamed "The Grande Dame of the Great River".

We spent some time in New Orlean's oldest cemetery, St. Louis.  I'm not sure where my fascination with cemeteries came from, but visiting Louisiana surely made me want to tour the country for obscure tombstones and epitaphs to rub. New Orleans definitely has the strangest cemeteries I've ever seen, besides the obvious fact that people are not buried, but rows of tombs have been made to simulate a "city of the dead". It's a clever fix so coffins are placed above the water table.   These sun-bleached tombs are a testament to their age and the warmth of the area. You wouldn't believe how these cemeteries attract many little lizards, which are fun to spot, and even more fun to catch!  

Richard Kimball?

Texas to Nola part II

 Did you know this? I didn't know what the symbols on outhouses meant.

 A shot from our brief time in Austin. 

Daimon took this candid shot of me.

In Houston, we visited the museum of funeral history. There was a very interesting exhibit on bizarre coffins. Check out this crab!

This is the San Francisco House; once a sugar plantation.

I soaked up the sun all week just like this tiny frog we found at a state park. I tried to identify this little guy; I suspect it's a spring peeper. That's a good sign, even if he does live in Louisiana!

Snow Day Somethings

Like many people snowed in, I spent some time on the online, researching places to check out in Texas and New Orleans, and interesting venues where we could doing a sun session through Sun Lab Studio.  We were able to record in a Cave in Virginia last year, so why shouldn't we explore other interesting locations?

Daimon and I watched a few movies, one of which was "The Greatest Show on Earth". It wasn't my favorite movie, but I really liked the costumes, which might serve as inspiration when I have to create one in the coming months. 

I even worked on a few eggs. 

I learned that a loved person in the community had passed, and I wanted to do something special for his knowledgable beekeeper and naturalist who has helped Daimon as a mentor numerous times.  I helped assemble boards of pictures for his wake with his wife, who told me all the stories behind the photos. 

The beekeeper's association donated more flowers than you can imagine. In most of his photos, he is holding up comb, a flower, or there's a bee on his clothing or head!

The cat likes to snuggle up and fell asleep on his back!

Roadtrip on Film, February 2015

I got that anticipated phone call that kind of feels like Christmas morning when I was little; "Hey Jen, you're film's all done."  Daimon and I bee-lined it to Photocenter in Brick and enjoyed going through the many envelopes of pictures at Cookie Lady's (I did a small business spotlight on this little breakfast place here).  Here's some of my favorite shots from our trip from Florida to Louisiana.  I hope I captured the spirit of my subjects:

Lots of old boats docked up for years in Florida.

The long drive over water to Louisiana.

I didn't buy any voodoo items but I enjoyed checking them out in all the shops.

We canoed alongside manatees!

 A national park full of sinkholes in Florida:

Our first day of freedom was spent at Epcot in Florida.

If I lived in New Orleans, I'd make paper mache masks all year round to sell at their mask market.

We spent some time with an old friend and NOLA local.  She's so pretty with her peach colored bike and Valentines Day roses.

I was on line buying pralines and spicy chocolate when I decided to take this picture of the guy in front of me.

 Next time, we're spending way more time checking out the cemeteries!