Black & white, various locations

Train depot at Lettsworth:

Flooded cemetery in Grand Isle:

East Louisiana State Hospital in Jackson:

Same location:

Abandoned church near Jackson:

Lettsworth:

Also Lettsworth (there are a lot of abandoned buildings there):

Please check out my Patreon page and consider becoming a supporter.

Advertisements

Sabine Pass Light (Diana F+)

So, if you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know that abandoned lighthouses (at least in Louisiana) are my photography white whale. They are very hard to get close enough to to take a good photograph, because since the Gulf coast is always changing, they tend to very quickly become cut off from land access. I’ve tried to photograph this particular lighthouse, which is right on the southwest Louisiana/southeast Texas border, a couple of times.

Well, a couple of months ago I found out by chance—from a Yelp review, of all things—that Cheniere Energy, which owns the land that the lighthouse is on, has made their “road” (really just a pair of tire ruts) out to it open to the public. I checked in with the security shack at the entrance, showed a photo ID, and was escorted to the gate at the start of the road. I was told not to photograph the energy facility and to be sure I checked with security when I left, but allowed to proceed down the road unaccompanied.

I took a lot of photos from a distance, because I kept thinking this road is going to run out, this is probably the closest I’ll get; then I’d get back in my car and keep going. Turns out I was able to drive pretty close, to about ¼ of a mile away from the lighthouse, then I was able to walk most of the rest of the way. There’s water surrounding it and you can’t get close enough to touch it, but I was able to take photos from close enough that it filled the frame.

I had really good weather for it, it was warm but not hot that day, and not too humid. A member of the Facebook group that I help mod (Abandoned Louisiana) went the next weekend and said they were eaten alive by mosquitoes, but I made it out with just a couple of bites. Also it hadn’t rained in a few weeks, so I was able to drive my Nissan (which does NOT have four wheel drive) down a dirt track without risk of getting mired. So yay, that’s one more thing I can cross off my photography bucket list!

If you like my work, please consider helping me make more of it!

Natchitoches Parish, LA

I went up to Natchitoches the Saturday after Thanksgiving to go to a local crafts show at the events center. I didn’t find anything I really felt the desire to spend money on–for some reason, it seemed like half the vendors were selling handmade bath bombs, which is… kind of a dated trend?–but I don’t count it as a wasted trip, as there were some things in the parish I’ve been wanting to photograph. (I’ve already photographed the town). As always, these are cell phone shots and film shots will follow when I finish shooting the roll and get them developed.

Slave cabins at Magnolia Plantation:

St. Augustine, which was built by free black planters who sat in the front pews ahead of white parishioners (decades before the Civil War):

Bay Springs Cemetery, which had another grave house:

Please consider supporting my work via Patreon

Galveston, Texas: B&W in Ultra Wide & Slim

Please consider supporting my work on Patreon

St. Leo chapel-in-the-woods, Roberts Cove, LA

This was on the beginning of the black and white roll I shot in Galveston, I had forgotten about it until I got the photos back.

Please consider supporting me on Patreon

Galveston, TX: Kodak Ektar in the Smena 8M

Please consider supporting me on Patreon

Galveston, Texas

These are just the cell phone shots from my vacation last month, I should be getting the film back this week.

Old City Cemetery:

Bolivar Point Lighthouse:

Pleasure Pier:

Sacred Heart:

Bishop’s Palace:

Sacred Heart from one of the bedroom windows of Bishop’s Palace:

Art on the seawall:

The ruins of Jean Lafitte’s house:

Please support me on Patreon