This was taken while the last exhibition was underway. There is so much about this picture that I love, from the colors in the sky, to the patterns, to the silhouette. When I do an astrophotography exhibit, I’m using this picture as a backdrop to illustrate Jupiter’s atmosphere.
While most of the rest of the photos are from the Mobile, AL area, this was taken here in Franklin. It doesn’t technically fit the theme for this exhibition, but to me, it feels like it belongs.
It’s a break from Mardi Gras, but only from the celebration part. The thumbnail doesn’t really do this justice. The morning sun reflecting off the golden dome of the church was a very nice awakening. It’s also a nice reminder to me that Mardi Gras, while being absorbed into the mainstream culture, is still very much a religious event. One of the things that I found quite incredible, in New Orleans, was that the parties would go VERY hard, right up to 11:59 Tuesday night. But at Midnight, it stopped. Fat Tuesday was over, and Ash Wednesday began. Mardi Gras was over.
But it’s not Ash Wednesday yet, so we’ve got some more to do.
Not much to say here… My kids don’t really know anything about this guy, but we knew that it would be a hit at the library, and it was pretty fun to see it in person. It’s such an iconic figure, and it’s instantly recognizable.
When I was hanging the prints in the Library, there was a significant amount of planning and deciding where each print would go. During this time, the prints were set against the wall. I’m afraid that at least one young boy got in trouble with his dad because of this print. Dad was trying hard to get the kids organized and out of the library, and the boy simply wasn’t moving from the picture. “COME ON” “But, it’s STAR WARS”
I don’t think the Dad was impressed, but it certainly brought a smile to my face.
Or at least it was for us. I told you we had a relative in the Parade. No, the rose wasn’t for me, but it was for one in our party. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a successful direct delivery from the float, but I had to make sure that I captured the moment as proof. As it turned out, it was one of the better pictures, especially for emotional content.
Most of Mardi Gras lore seems to be built off of the New Orleans party scene. That’s certainly how I knew it. Mobile started Mardi Gras, and remains family friendly. Maybe I’m just getting old, but I’d rather be at Mobile.
One of the early hits of the Conde Cavaliers Parade was this particular float. It’s rather hard to tell exactly what’s going on here, but you are seeing the front of the Harry Potter/Hogwarts float. The Dragon made a great front for the kids, but as it passed by, there is a LARGE Harry Potter on the side that caused ALL the kids to shout even louder than they already were (and we didn’t think that was possible.
This float will be seen again from another angle later on.
Additional technical details: Almost all of these shots were taken at VERY high ISO settings, with my F2.8 lenses wide open, and additional noise filtering and removal was required for practically every shot. Combine that with a small depth of field on some of the pictures, and I’m surprised I had as many keepers as I did.
Our first Mardi Gras in Mobile, led off by the Conde Cavaliers Parade. We have a relative in this parade, and that certainly seemed to be a good enough reason to drive to Mobile for the parade, and to see what all this Mardi Gras is about.
It’s not my first – That would be a hazy remembrance of marching in New Orleans. But it was our first in Mobile, and the experience was so positive that we immediately made plans to return 2 weeks later for the finale through Fat Tuesday.
It took a little while before our kids figured out what to do… Holding the bag open like at Halloween just didn’t work well. Eventually they picked up that you have to hold your hands up and shout, like the hands in the bottom of this picture.
I love that I was able to grab as many decent photos as I did. It was very dark, and those floats don’t sit still. Getting the shutter speed high enough to capture these was a real challenge, not to mention keeping the camera still while being bumped from all sides!
Although, this time, it snuck up on me.
I am pleased to announce that some of my photographs are on display at the Williamson County Public Library again, this time for the Month of February.
Following the success of the previous exhibit, we made plans to do another. However, it seems that while we made the appointment with the Library, we didn’t actually write the appointment down anywhere.
So, imagine our surprise when we were notified that the space would be available Feb 1 for us… On Jan 21st!
Thankfully, we had already made the plans to do the exhibit based on our incredible trip to Mobile for Mardi Gras. The fact that that Mardi Gras is occurring now only adds to the exhibit.
So, after scrambling to acquire and cut matting, frames and doing the selections for the exhibit, we topped everything off with a large snow and Ice storm. It only set us back a day, however.
I’ll be uploading a picture from the exhibit to here throughout the month, with a few remarks about each. These pictures are predominately Mardi Gras Mobile, but there are a few that aren’t exactly, but either fit the mood, or just had to go up.
I hope you enjoy them!
Greg Nicholson
Taken late December, I love the colors of this sunset. I almost printed and matted this to put on display. It will almost certainly make the next one.
Well, it appears that my time is almost up. January 12th will be the last day that my pictures are on display at the Williamson County Library. Originally it was supposed to be the end of the year, but with the holidays, the Director of the Library system decided to give me a bit more time, due to the closings during that time.
It’s been an interesting experience. I have left a notebook out, and have definitely gotten comments. Some of them were from people over the age of 5. That’s always a plus.
I’ve learned a bit about my own presentation as well.
Originally, I did several of my ‘better’ shots on Gatorboard, printed large. That was a mistake. The remainder of the pictures were matted and framed. In the Library presentation, those shots simply displayed much better. However, if all were framed, there wouldn’t have been enough space.
Don’t mix framed and gatorboard prints in the same exhibit.
A fair number of business cards were taken. Restock often.
Turns out, when I configured the email address for this domain, it didn’t actually SAVE.
ARGH!
Email sent should be delivered now.
Sorry about that.
Greg