Beauty in the Cracks

More info about this image

Beauty in the Cracks

Paradox: New Orleans businesses tired of the media portraying all that’s wrong with New Orleans; blown out neighborhoods that are still unreconstructed, Katrina high water lines, etc. So what’s a person who loves distressed textures supposed to do when confronted with an overwhelming, ever-changing set of patina and peeling paint from buildings that are hundreds of years old?

My solution: take a lot of photos. We decided against cycling out to the Lower 9th Ward after the bike rental guy was like, we want people to come back to New Orleans, not stay away. I can dig on that. So I decided that I’d show what I thought were the strengths of this funky, beautiful city: the flavor and texture. It’s kind of trite, but it’s my way of saying, “I accept you for who you are right now, New Orleans.”

Photo: maybe a little heavy on the vignette, but for whatever reason, the lens actually vignetted pretty heavily. I had “fixed” it, but decided I liked the dark corners.