I love Mardi Gras unreservedly. Despite having quit drinking more than eight years ago, I find it as thrilling and affecting as I ever did, and even tend to enjoy something of a contact-high from the intoxication of the city. This year, I decided to use the occasion not solely as an excuse to experience euphoria but also to work on photographically capturing both night scenes and the spaciousness and energy of crowds.
Some of the results are amateurish, but I was happy as hell to have another way to interact with my city and to see the lights and kinetics of the parades more precisely than I had before (and thanks to Benjamin Hilts and Nudawn and Nora Leah -who’s been there- for the kind words!).
Many photos are in this Mardi Gras photoset, and a few are below. I hope some of them impart a sense of the affair, but that might be asking a lot. Selections:
An LED-covered clown-bearing float in Endymion passes our spot on Canal.
Flambeaux.
Will enjoys a moment between bouts of catching more than any adult male I’ve ever seen; he is at Gallier Hall, where thanks to Eric, a legislative director, we sat in the booth next to Ray Nagin’s for the Sunday day parades.
A little girl claps along with a marching band at night.
Throngs disappear into the lights of passing Bacchus floats on St. Charles. I tried many like this.
I remember wanting so much more than I caught, too.
A Zulu rider and a Saint.
A makeshift “Let Them Eat Shit” banner accompanies chants of “Laissez-les manger la merde,” before this krewe collided with a “Jesus train” beneath St. Louis Cathedral: quintessence of Mardi Gras.
More are here, including shots of Will unknowingly attracting cougars, Eric as the next mayor, the Quarter, and -of course- Five, who didn’t come to any parades.
