Shot of the Day – 14 – New Orleans, Magnolia Fallout

Magnolia Fallout, New Orleans (2 February 2009)

For the past nine years, I have created calendars with images of places and things. As you know by now, if people are in the shot, it’s coincidental. While the calendar software allows one to identify special dates, I have not highlighted any days of significance…like my birthday, anniversary or retirement date…except for one.

August 29, 2005 was the day Hurricane Katrina nearly destroyed New Orleans. We lived there for fifteen years and while I have no desire to move back, I will always appreciate the experience of living in one of the most unique cities in the country. I have seen what nature (and inadequate infrastructure) did to that city and each of my calendars includes a New Orleans image for August and that special designation for the 29th.

In 2009, I was walking around the Uptown neighborhood near the Tulane University campus. This small magnolia tree was clearly in a favorable spot since its flowers had already peaked and started to fall. I have talked about cropping images to emphasize horizontal elements and I did that here. There was a sidewalk in the foreground and sunlight higher on the fence so I zoomed in to crop those features out. All that’s left are the lines of the fence, a solitary trunk and pink petals on the grass.

(Click on the shot to see it on the full screen)

More to come this month.