A Pocket of History - Natchitoches, Louisiana

A couple of weeks ago my family traveled to northern Louisiana to visit with some new friends and as luck would have it, there were opportunities to learn some interesting art history tidbits and take some cool shots. (Imagine that, I found cool venues for taking pictures).

I also discovered my new favorite adult beverage, a peach tea slushy, (oh my, best thing ever after touring a plantation!) but I digress. 

My friend took me to Melrose Plantation just outside of Natchitoches, Louisiana.  This place is awesome. We took the tour and heard the history of the plantation, which spans from French Colonial land grants up through today, and it is now a well-maintained historic site. 

The plantation’s past is filled with stories from the rich history of Natchitoches Parrish. My favorite segment of the property’s past is from the early 1900’s when owner Cammie Henry converted the property to function as a retreat for artists’ where, as a patron, she was part of the “Southern Renaissance” portion of American art history.  Mrs. Henry hosted many people from varied disciplines mostly writers and painters.  She let them stay for free as long as they were working and showed her their progress every day at dinner.

This historic setting displays several works by Clementine Hunter; including Ms. Hunters preserved house.  I had heard of her work, but did not expect to find so much of it here at Melrose. I learned about her incredible story during our tour.  Starting as a cook for the Henrys and eventually becoming an acclaimed artist, Clementine Hunter’s life is an inspiration to us all.  Ms. Hunter’s Africa House Murals are on display here and they are beautiful. They have just been restored, enhancing the vibrant colors and wonderful textures of her work.  The stories behind the images and the artist are worth the trip here. 

It was a wonderful day trip and the area is just full to the brim with historically significant sites.  The town of Natchitoches is very well known as one of the best small towns in America, or at least that is what I hear. Right now they are gearing up for their Christmas festival in the historic district of town. One more plug; you have to stop at Kaffie-Frederic’s General Mercantile in Natchitoches, it is an experience.

The photos below were taken at the plantation. Because of the original artwork in most of the buildings, photography is limited inside the structures, so I stuck to shooting outside. 

A Leap of Faith

This year I have been ponding quite a bit on what the next stage of my life will bring.  It is now several years after I originally sat down and composed my first post and I am taking a leap of faith by committing to “going public” with my photos. 

2017 has been one of so much change and upheaval in both my personal life and in the world at large. An acquaintance of mine put it well this last weekend saying, “The Universe is going through a great purge.” I believe this to be true.  When he said it, I had an instant vision of the Earth with an infected sore, we are in serious need of antiseptic washing and cosmic antibiotics. What does this have to do with photography and leaps of faith you ask?

Well let me tell you…

Photography is a way of honoring what one sees in the world.  It is a small tribute to the grand beauty of the Universe surrounding us every day.  If done well, others get to share in that frozen moment for as long as the paper lasts or the file is accessible. If we are lucky it lasts much longer than the artist who has the audacity to try and capture said moment.  So to me, this starts pushing the antibiotics in the form of love of beauty and spreading the love makes things better.

Here is where the leap of faith comes in.

First, you have to trust that your eye is seeing things in a way that others will enjoy as well.  (Is that faith or hubris? I am not quite sure yet.)

Second, your skill with your camera should be proficient and always open to improvement and critique. With this in mind I am joining the Galveston County Art League, lots of opportunity for both improvement and critique here. I have also been entering contests on Viewbug , a really positive web forum to enter contests and receive feedback on your digital shots.

And finally, the third thing because my OCD loves things in threes, faith comes into it with giving of yourself, your effort, and your craft.  Your photos give away your perspective on what you see. We look at lots of things, but photos freeze what we see. The exposure, if you will pardon the pun, comes when you open up to let others see how you view the world.  They get to see what grabs your attention.

Here are a couple of shots that have grabbed my attention since the last post,

Enjoy!

 

 

 

What I did last summer.

This past summer I was fortunate enough to experience parts of New Mexico that I had not had the opportunity to visit before.  It was amazing; New Mexico is one of those rare places on this planet that looks like a geographical sampler.  Every bend in the road offered dynamic changes in elevation, rock structure and climate.  Some of my favorite shots came from two separate places, the Sandia Mountains in Albuquerque and the ruins of Pueblo Bonito.

The trip was full of firsts.  It was the first time that my husband and our extended family had been trapped in the car on an extended road trip together; we had a great time and survived to tell about it.  This was also the first time that I had been to Albuquerque; it reminded me of how much I miss the desert and how beautiful it can be.  This trip also marked my first, and hopefully not last, trip to Santa Fe; Georgia O’Keeffe is now on my list of favorite artists.  There are no shots of Santa Fe this time as I focused on family shots while there. I will just have to go back to get some blog shots later…maybe next year.

The photographs below are from two of the many day trips that we took from Albuquerque.  On day one in the city we decided to ride up the mountain on the Sandia Peak Tramway and spend the day hiking at about 10,000 feet above sea level.   Now those of you who live in this area might think to say, great idea, but we had been at 26 feet above sea level not 24 hours earlier.  The hike was painful and very slow, our lungs were not happy with the choice of activity.  I am please to say, however, that the photographs from up there were definitely worth the suffering.   The shot of the Kiwanis Cabin is one of my favorites from the hike.  It was built by the CCC in the 1930’s and it is beautiful.   The second shot is a view from Albuquerque taken from just off the trail.  It was breathtaking, literally.  The third shot from the hike was of a butterfly I passed while walking through an unexpected meadow that we found towards the middle of the journey.  It is just an example of what I mean when I say this place is a sampler of sights and experiences, who knew that all these views could be possible to see within a mile span.

Highlighted New Mexican tourist spot number two and not nearly as taxing of a hike was Pueblo Bonito. Located in Chaco Culture National Historic Park in the northern part of the state, this jewel of North American Pueblo people’s history was just as amazing. We all enjoyed eating a picnic lunch outside of the visitor center, the view was picturesque, and it wasn’t too hot for June in the desert; it’s a dry heat you know.  The rangers here were very helpful and the tour was packed full of historic tidbits.  We all enjoyed hearing the story about how a photographer had been hired to capture live action shots of a large part of the cliff falling off of the canyon wall in 1941, he missed his shot because he ran out of film shooting this fantastic site, and he was at the store buying more film when the event occurred.  Talk about a tough brake.   Lucky for me we have extremely large SD cards now and no more film issues.

So much for the descriptions, now for the photos, enjoy.

Shots from Sandia Mountains:

Shots from Pueblo Bonito: