new orleans today

took a look around my city today. don’t take these photographs as a representation of new orleans as a whole, but instead see them as what has not been done and how much tourists do not see.

the french quarter is great. uptown is filled with mercedes benz automobiles and multi-million dollar mansions. none of these cars or homes have plyboard windows. none of them cry for what was or could be.

i love my city but she was and still is forgotten. i know. i was there. i am still. here. now.

people prayed here. maybe somebody was saved. maybe a life was changed. have you ever believed and seen it come true? have you ever cried out for someone you loved and seen them rescued? a life to live with blessing. a life free of curses.

this isn’t a biker site. if you’re wearing your doo-rag, a harley tee, so sure of what you think you know, f**k you. nobody knows everything and some believe lies. this is what i see. these are the people i meet. the gansgta standing in the street stopping me? it was good that i had beer in the car and that i laugh loudly. he wouldn’t let me take his picture.

being afraid will only get you killed. being fearless with a smile will lead you into realms of observation you never dreamt existed.

we are all brothers and sisters. shall we hurt each other over color or belief? i think not.

nobody let me take their picture. i know. they’re wanted or paranoid. i told them their records were lost and they are free. me? whiter than alabaster. them? blacker then a nightmare shadow. i’m working on a photo series of wanted men and women. no names. no location. faces. i simply have to go back…. and have more beer.

forgive me for the quality of these pix. i don’t have a fancy camera. i do not work for an ad agency. i sell my soul to nobody and had a knife pulled on me today. i have a phone. i have a laptop. i have a crazy neck tattoo. i make my money from what you see here. i live in new orleans.

[UPDATE 08.11.12:] went by this place a few times after these pix were taken a year ago. the last time i drove past was in november and the bike pictured here was gone. it sat there for six years and within three months of this post, it was no longer there. interesting coincidence.

a year later, the rest of the neighborhood is the same.

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