At the beginning of December I went to New Orleans for a portfolio review event which turned out to be so much more. The reviews themselves were truly a learning experience; I received great feedback about my work which has really set me thinking hard about why and what I photograph. Because I tend to hole up when I work, it was so good for me to meet other photographers and share our portfolios outside of the context of the reviews. I was most inspired by everyone's amazing imagery!
Best of all was New Orleans itself. Back in Vermont days when my friend Ethan read a lot of Anne Rice, we spent many an afternoon making portraits in the cemeteries - capes and all - wishing that we could go to New Orleans. Fourteen years later, there we were.
I think we all have a part of ourselves that we miss. A part that's maybe most who we are but that gets covered over with the stuff of daily life after a while. For me, that part is Vermont fourteen years ago when I had a studio and homemade darkroom above the Main Street shops in Bristol. Up an immense flight of dusty old steps and down a long, Poe-esque hallway with creaky wood floors. My gargoyles guarding the door. Huge windows on pulleys.
New Orleans brought me back to that. Time with Ethan brought me back to that and I am grateful that we were able to do a bit of lurking about in between my reviews and just wandering around the city.
