Portrait of my Mother

My mother is house/chicken/dog sitting around the corner. The yard there is a tangle of herbs, vegetables, water features, and weeds. She is in heaven.
As I passed through the kitchen on the way out to the back, to watch the chickens scratch around in the dirt, and drink wine with my mother (me, not the chickens) I noticed 3 paper towels with various seeds, pods, and petals laid out on them.
This says more about her than any portrait I could possibly make.
I took these with my iphone.

Cats in Glass Houses

No big photo opportunities

A couple of weeks ago, I was given an assignment for the New York Times. It's a travel piece that waxes nostalgic about the literary lives that have tripped through the city, and its surrounds. Tennessee Williams, William Falkner, Walker Percy. Etc.

It was a particularly tricky thing to illustrate, considering the whole crux of the piece is that you can no longer literally find the places that once inspired these great writers:

There are no signposts, no big photo opportunities. Just a unique and, for me, magical way of being in the world.

 I woke up before dawn, and wandered the quarter, and later drove out to Laura plantation.
 I photographed the sites that were mentioned in the piece, but found myself drawn, as we all are, to the abstract surfaces.

Men at the Track

We went to see the Wiener Dog races at the Fairgrounds a few weeks ago, and I shot some TMAX400.
The little dogs were hilarious, but the real track dogs were the old guys just enduring the hipsters and shtick that were getting in the way of the horse races.

The Austere Donut

I'm a big fan of Wayne Thiebaud. Years ago, for a Whole Foods shoot, we were inspired by his work in creating this shot.

On a recent home shoot, a pile of donuts had me channeling Mr. Thiebaud once more.

2014 ÷ 12 x 2

January

February

 March

 

 April

 May

June

July

August

September

 

October

 

November

 

 December

The Beautiful People

Please, stop having fun on the photo shoot.

I worked with stylist and writer Valorie Hart, and chef Ryan Hughs, to create a Winter Entertaining cover feature for New Orleans Homes and Lifestyles.  It felt more like a party than a job. The house, and its renovation, are so good that we ended up featuring it in the following issue for the Renovation of the Year .