Madame Nola

The wonderful opportunity to spend a few days in New Orleans recently arose, and it was with great pleasure that I loaded up a small backpack and headed back east. Springtime in the Crescent City meant that the lush greens were accented by blooming flowers, we saw some mild rain storms, and the air was fresh rather than thick.

I was there in the company of my mother and my aunt, the two originators of the Paws tale. So, we had lots of stories to swap and news to share about our favorite rabbit family.  We also took the opportunity to explore an extension of the Mama Series. Tentatively titled Mama Nola, we wandered through the French Quarter in the early morning hours and took a plethora of images with some old family texts as the props in this storied city. (A preparatory reading of Andrei Codrescu's collection of stories about his adopted city of New Orleans, "Mon Amour," gave me a great appreciation for the special place of literature here.)

My hope for the Mama Series is to someday print each series using different methods of old (photogravure, cynaotype, etc.). The idea first came from a dear photographer friend who hails from New Orleans herself, and it is an exciting prospect that is gaining in popularity in certain circles. But for now, the focus shall remain on the picture making and explorations that go hand-in-hand with that wonderful process. And New Orleans has, unsurprisingly, proved a futile land for such wanderings.