For this assignment with 64 Parishes Magazine and the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, I spent time documenting a mooring crew working along the Mississippi River. The goal of the project was to create editorial photography and aerial images that help bring the writer’s story to life. Working around the river and moving tugboats means constantly being aware of your surroundings and your gear. Safety on the water is always the first priority when operating equipment like cameras and drones. In this clip I share a little of the aerial footage from that assignment and talk through part of the process of landing a drone on a tugboat.
More examples of my New Orleans video production and aerial work can be seen here:
https://zacksmith.com/new-orleans-video-production/
The New Orleans perspective is of connectivity
It’s one thing to be photographing on the Mississippi River in New Orleans, but being on a moving tugboat that’s about to be pushing an extremely large ship into the Port of New Orleans is a whole ‘nother deal. New Orleans may be the ultimate party and music and food destination for some, but for the shipping and trade industry it is a major player in moving goods in and out of the country. And it’s so close to my photography studio at 835 Julia Street in the Warehouse District! If i walk outside on Julia and look towards the river, I can sometimes see these large shipping container vessels moving upriver, or a large cruise ship docking nearby. It’s a reminder at how small this city is and how connected we all are! This is just ANOTHER reminder of my: Do Good Work, Be Nice To People, and Stick Around philosophy!
