Nola Black & White

A visual compendium; Walking my camera part one...

As most of you know I published a book, Le Flâneur, in 2020, aka my Covid project. An assemblage of photographs from my past, more like fifty separate diptychs, as every two-picture spread relates in an interesting way. Sort of like fifty visual poems rather than fifty chapters of a novel. I haven’t stopped taking these street photographs, so I thought I would start putting them online. This is part one. There will be future posts from time to time. Hope you enjoy.

Alex

Background: Going about my daily activities with a camera became a habit a long time ago when I worked for the Texas Legislature. There are many days I don’t make a single photograph but still carry my camera. I found that walking the streets with my Leica camera was like wearing a “place robbery here” sign. Yeah, I’ve lost some equipment. It’s quite an expensive little camera and thieves know. So I started covering up the brand name with black masking tape. Often people would ask me the brand name. It was sometime after that I decided to give my camera a name, Nola. Now people say, I never heard of that brand. Nola is a black and white-only camera. She is incapable of making a color image. Yes she is a digital dame, but she captures only pure photons that register as tones of light on her sensor. Naturally, I have color cameras but Nola is my go-to gal. There are a number of reasons why I mostly prefer black and white images, best to not get me started on that topic now. Spending a great deal more time in New Orleans has made Nola very happy. Nearly every day that we in New Orleans she and and I go for walks in the French Quarter or adjacent neighborhoods.