Sometimes, a photo says so much more when all the color is removed. It can draw attention to emotion, mood, texture, and focus on what’s really going on. Shadows and highlights play a bigger role, and there’s almost always a deeper story there. Ya’ll know how I am about telling the story. Oops. I just let my Southern-ness out.

As promised, here is the continuation of yesterday’s post. A look at New Orleans through texture, perspective, and story-telling. But instead of color photos, these are all in black and white. Please leave a comment and let me know if the color or black and white set is your favorite!

I usually try to crop power lines out of my photos, but I thought it added a little something extra to this one.

Everybody walks in New Orleans. Yet the streets are crowded with cars.

Yes, it’s a hotel bed. And my awesome Hawaii messenger bag. But I loved the little sliver of light that was peeking through the window to highlight one side of the room. And if you look, there’s a story there.

Here’s to stories in black and white. And removing the distractions. And letting your Southern-ness out once in awhile. Cheers!

You know, cuz I haven’t talked about New Orleans enough.

Ed and I love to travel. Traveling is like make-believe for adults. We get to pretend we’re someone else, living somewhere else, and no one will know the difference. One of our favorite challenges when we travel is to become a local – not do all the touristy things and go where all the tourists go, but to find that hole-in-the-wall bar that you only know about if you live there. Or that restaurant that’s completely empty at lunchtime because no one knows about it. We have been to NOLA enough times that we do have a few of those places, and they are always our favorites. We can go, chat it up with the bartender, play what-if games, and pretend.

Thank you, Mr. iPhone, for always being around and accessible for those moments that I really do need to act like a tourist. And for the times when I can pretend that I’m not. Some random facts about our recent trip:

• The doorman at our hotel wore a top hat. I’m not kidding. I have a picture that I still need to put on Instagram.
• We took a picture. Together. Whoa.
• We met some incredible new people and hung out with some of our photographer friends.
• We. Ate. Amazing. Food.
• We rode the streetcar (we call it a trolley here in Memphis, but don’t call it that in New Orleans!).
• Music was everywhere.
• People love to party in NOLA, but I’m afraid we were back at our hotel by 10p.m. every night. This city takes energy!
• We met John Green.

If you’re on Instagram, follow me. I’d love to follow you back. I’m amy_hutchinson. If you’re not… uh, why not? Start documenting your travels! Here’s to make-believe. And the locals. And the Big Easy. Cheers!

Ed and I have been in the wonderful city of New Orleans for the past 4 days for PPA’s Imaging USA conference. We’ve been soaking up ideas, getting inspiration, and most importantly, feeling recharged and motivated for the fabulous year ahead.

It hasn’t been all work and no play. I mean, we are in New Orleans! We’ve been having a ton of fun hanging out with other Memphis photographers like Marci Lambert, Peter Conrey, and Ava Grace Photography. And we’ve met tons of new professionals as well. It has been a learning experience, and we can’t wait to get home and start implementing our new ideas.

Here’s to new ideas. And old friends, and new. And to the Crescent City. Cheers!