I am beyond grateful to have my 30″x40″ limited edition print of “Mardi Gras Tug, Mississippi River 2024” now a part of the permanent collection of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. This is a wonderful milestone for me as I have had my photography hanging in various collections and shows at the Ogden, but never a part of it’s collection. (They always make me take it home…) But this time the photograph stays! In the fall of 2000 when I moved to New Orleans to pursue adventure, creativity, and the life of a photographer I never dreamed of something like this.
I am very grateful to Richard McCabe, curator of photography at the Ogden Museum. For about two months, Richard worked with me to get the image printed, approved, and signed at the Ogden. I knew the process would be interesting and I loved every minute of it. I had the photograph printed by my long time trusted printer, Cameron Wood. Cameron has been printing my fine art photography ever since I worked at Lakeside Camera back in 2002! Cameron is by far one of the best fine art printers in the South, printing work for most of the photographers, galleries, and museums in New Orleans. On a side note, I was so grateful to have a day off with my daughter who got to see the inside of the Ogden Museum, and photograph the signing, and that photo of me an Richard above.
This is truly a full circle moment of one of my favorite motto’s I live by: Do Good Work, Be Nice, and Stick Around. The only reason this image was even made was because of my long standing relationship with 64 Parishes Magazine (formerly Cultural Vistas) from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. This image is part of a documentary series in the article: “Tugs and Lines, Working from Home on the River” by Ken Kolb – that is featured in the cover story. Ken and I hung out on the Mississippi River all day learning how the tugs and lines river workers spend their day ferrying cargo ships and vessels on the river. This work has been going on for generations, and is truly a unique section of New Orleans life. Getting to ride on a tug boat docking a massive container ship…while flying a drone…was exciting!
Another one of my motto’s is “One Foot in the Swamp, One Foot in the Street” which means that I need to always straddle the line of the business of photography and video while having one foot firmly rooted in the creative culture of storytelling. Being able to do photography and video while on a job and at the same time create a unique photograph worthy of a museum collection is testament that this motto works as well!
