New Orleans

Time once again for a trip to New Orleans in September. Soon after I book the hotel and it hits me I am going I have a hard time concentrating on anything in the months that follow because my mind is already in New Orleans. Definitely my favorite city to visit and on my short list of places to move. Although I’m not sure you should live in one of your favorite places. Might be taken for granted eventually.

Anyway on to the photos. These are going to be Second Line heavy but its my absolute favorite thing about the city. Also be sure to check in after the photos as I list and talk a little bit about some of our favorite places we went to during the trip.

BTW we saw Beyonce and Jay-Z on the OTR II tour. Was as amazing as you would think it would be. 

Here is a list of some of my favorite go-to places in New Orleans.

• Spitfire Coffee - best coffee shop in the city IMO. One of my favorite things to do was get up and walk through the FQ early in the morning and get a Flat White here

• Ace Hotel - everything in here is amazing. Go to the rooftop after being out all day in the hot humid New Orleans air. Go to Josephine & Estelle’s for good food and drinks. Stumptown is in here for coffee

• Cochon Butcher - had the best BBQ Pulled-Pork Sandwich I have ever had here. Sorry Memphis!

• Three Muses - Frenchmen street is a much better alternative to the French Quarter. Places are pretty packed but we were lucky and got a spot at the back of the bar and drank and listened to music all night. Was happy to go here after hearing about them on WWOZ all the time

• Dat Dog - before or after Frenchmen stop in here for an awesome hot dog

• Who Dat Coffee - in the Bywater, boozy coffee

• LOA Bar - perfect spot for a last drink before bed. I have been here every time I’m in town and will go for as long as its open

• Avenue Pub - favorite bar in the Garden District. We were here during a Saints game and while I don’t like football that much it was fun to watch the game and root for the Saints with the locals

• Hot Tin Roof Bar - place was kinda fratty/amateur hour (drunks) but its got a great view of the city and good cocktails

• District Donuts Sliders Brew - always our last stop before leaving town. Decent coffee and awesome donuts

East Tennessee

Spent the weekend in Chattanooga but most of the photos I took were of the beautiful surroundings outside the city. Be sure to stick around after the photos where I talk about some of our favorite places we went to this past weekend.

Some of my favorite places in Chattanooga

• Alleia - italian dining in a cool art gallery type space

• Matilda Midnight - diner style bar, cool ambiance in The Dwell hotel

• Beast + Barrel - good beer, breakfast food was crazy good, make your own mimosa bar

• Boathouse - ok food but sitting on the outside deck next to the river enjoying the view and breeze made this one of my favorites

• OddStory Brewing - my favorite brewery of the trip. Reminded me of Wiseacre back here in Memphis

• Velo Coffee Roasters - ‘hipster’ coffee spot that made an excellent Flat White. Believe me finding good coffee is important and places like these always have the best.

Memphis vs. Nashville

Regardless of how you feel about the Memphis vs. Nashville debate you can agree that they both look great from the air. Speaking of that debate, I'm over it. I love Memphis of course but always have fun exploring and doing new things in Nashville.

Favorite Photos of 2016

Here are a few photos of some of my favorite things I have photographed in 2016.

This is easily one of my most viewed and favorited photos of 2016. This was taken in St. Louis while I was working for a week filming a conference. Whenever I travel for work I try to take some time and enjoy the city by getting up early. Ideally I can bring my bicycle with me and this is exactly what I did on this particular trip. Got up early and started exploring the city by bicycle. A huge fog rolled in and my path was dictated to where the fog was not. This led me down to the river by the Gateway Arch and where I found these people taking their boats out in the early morning. The photo really doesn't do it justice. The scene was amazing. Knowing that fog burns off quickly I reached into my pocket and pulled out my iPhone and took this photo. Then I reached for my Fuji for a better quality photo but the fog, and these boatmen were gone.

Another photo that I took while out of town in Phoenix, Arizona for work. Knowing that Donald Trump was in town (don't want to get too political but I loathe him) and that there was most likely a protest going on where he was speaking. Sure enough there was a small group of peaceful protestors outside doing just that. This wasn't the first Donald Trump protest I photographed (there was another I cam across in Chicago) and I'm sure it won't be the last. My favorite thing about this scene was the audio from Trump's speech was being broadcast outside and the protestors just turned all their car radios up and drowned out the awful man's words.

One of my two loves is my dog Murray. If you follow me at all anywhere I'm sure you have seen photos of him ad nauseam. He is just so photogenic and I love him so much I just can't help it. This was also one of my first film shots. I started experimenting with film in 2016 and was pretty pleased with the results. But man is it harder to shoot film than digital. I believe this was Fuji Superia 400.

My other love Megan and another film shot from Fort Smith, Arkansas. Fort Smith is the home of UnexpectedFS which is a mini street art festival that takes place there. Definitely worth the trip if your interested in things like this. This was one of my first shots with medium format film and as a side note when I got this processed the local lab in Memphis did not process slide film so I had to get it cross-processed. Very pleased with the results.

Hey another film shot! This time in Philadelphia at the wonderful Reading Terminal Market. The market was right across the street from our hotel and we were there pretty much every day. The Iovine Produce Market is one of the first things I saw and was immediately drawn to the people and colors there.

So my main work comes from Freelancing on Film & Television projects here in Memphis, TN. I worked for 3 months on Million Dollar Quartet, a TV show from CMT chronicling the early lives of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis. The great thing about working on things like these is every project is different. So I always carry a camera with me and try to take a photo every day. This was actually how I got interested in photography. The great thing about working on this particular show (now called Sun Records) is that it is set in the 50's so you get a lot of cool old cars and extras dressed in that period.  This particular photo was taken while hiding in an alley during a take and watching the extras go by. Again shot on film so I think that combined with the period costumes and cars gives it an interesting look.

Another reason I got interested in photography was through street art and artists. Murals often get painted over or buildings get torn down, so I feel like it is very important to document these things. Once they are gone they are gone for good and I like to have something to document it. This particular shot was shot in Asheville, North Carolina at the Foundation Walls mural project.

Chicago is one of my favorite travel destinations. From Memphis flights are cheap and of course the city is wonderful. Its like a much more chill New York City. I often try to find an observation deck in a city so I can get some good aerial shots of the city. This one is taken from the observation deck of the John Hancock building, one of my favorite buildings in the city. Notably this is the first time I ever saw a rainbow from end to end. This was another instance of having to get an iPhone photo quickly due to the disappearing nature of rainbows. Sure enough when I got out my wide angle camera out of my bag the rainbow was gone.

Speaking of aerials, I bought a drone in 2016. Originally I envisioned using it for mostly video but I quickly realized that it was perfect for photography as well. While quality isn't the best it is more than enough to get good shots and prints in the air. This photo was taken about 200 feet directly above my house. A whole new world of photography awaits where you spend most of your day, you just have to look up.

Lastly this is an iPhone photo I took during sunset in our lovely backyard. We are lucky to have some great trees and lights that make the backyard at golden hour a magical place.

November 2016

November saw a trip to Chicago. So most photos from November 2016 will be from there but I threw in a couple of Memphis ones as well. Clicking on the image will take you to each images respective Flickr page.