Variations on variations on a theme: Marie Laveau.

Colin has already posted some images of the resting place of Marie Laveau, the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans.  In this case, my take on the subject was more of a wide view, whereas he had chosen to go with closer framing.

Now, let's take a moment and talk about the unacknowledged participant in the process:  Photoshop.  I believe that Colin uses other pieces of software, but that's where I do my editing and cropping and so on.

Although I've done lots of image composition and special effects and retouching and so on with Photoshop, when it comes to my own photography I tend to use it pretty much the way I was taught to use a darkroom - I brighten, I darken, dodge and burn* selectively, change contrast and saturation, and that's about it. 

 I also make a decision about colour versus grey scale.  (It's interesting that black and white has survived the end of film as an artistic decision that one makes in a piece of software rather than a choice of film types - although, that being said, I think both Colin and I often plan for that choice when shooting the original images.)

One of the features of Photoshop that I almost NEVER use are the special effects filters:  Brush Strokes and Graphic Pen and Plastic Wrap and so on.  However, just for fun, I did the above image with a 50% overlay of Find Edges, which brought an additional level of grunge to the look of the monument - but, frankly,makes me feels like I'm trying too hard to find something that I didn't get in the original image.

 - Sid

 

* I recently had to explain to someone what dodging and burning was in terms of the icons for those tools in Photoshop, which shows a curled hand for burning, and a circular piece of material on a wire for dodging, which is how those actions were traditionally done in the darkroom.

New Orleans, St. Louis Cemetery No. 1

I think that Cemetery No. 1 in New Orleans was the first time that I took graveyard photos.  Colin and I were down there on vacation, and when we heard about the cemeteries, we instantly knew that we had to go to one of the locations and take some pictures.

Cemetery No. 1 isn't safe - people have been shot there, tourists have been robbed, and although it would be a great place to take pictures at night, probably not a good idea.  There were a couple of armed guards wandering around in between the graves when we were there, and several people had warned us to be a little careful.

Regardless, it was just an amazing location.  New Orleans has a well deserved reputation - that unique combination of Southern lifestyle, Creole influence, voodoo, the decadence of the French Quarter - and I found that Cemetery No. 1 had a sort of surreal vibe. I think that the pictures I took ended up having some of that feel, a kind of Twilight Zone strangeness.

 

 

 - Sid

N'Awlinz, St. Louis Cemetery No. 1

There is a backchannel of communication going on between Sid and I talking about postings and locations and variations (oh my) on the theme. Amongst ourselves we've already talked about this particular site and I thought I'd take the opportunity to introduce it to you with an offering, well multiple offerings.

Offerings to Marie Laveau

These are the offerings placed at the front of the Glapion family crypt, the reputed resting place of the voodoo priestess Marie Laveau at the St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Making wishes

The side of the tomb is decorated with 'x' marks drawn by visitors to the site in the hopes that Marie Laveau grants them a wish.

Colin