Mr. Bojangles

I used to love to draw. My favorite was cartoon charachters. And when my kids were younger, I'd draw their favorite all the time. When my oldest broke his wrist in basketball, I drew and painted his favorite charachter, Daffy Duck, on his cast. All his friends thought it was the coolest. So did I. Then.

It wasn't until early 2001 when I received my first point-and-shoot camera that I found my new hobby. Drawing was put somewhere on the back burner. Especially when I discovered the early days of Photoshop. I would turn my backyard floral photos into cool artsy looking paintings. I'm sure today, with what I know about Photoshop, I would crack up at that first "cool artsy looking painting" and wonder what the heck was it about that picture that was so "cool" and "artsy looking".

Although my passion is portraiture and wedding photography, I'm always finding new and cool ways to make my everyday shots into some kind of "cool artsy" look. For example, I took this shot back in 2008 on Mardi Gras day in New Orleans. When I saw this guy standing outside the 2nd Level Night Club on Bourbon Street, I already had the completed image in my head. The lighting was the worst, full sun, but it was what I needed to complete my idea.


It took me 2 years to finally get to my project with this image. It also took me over an hour to search for this image through my many, many shots of that Mardi Gras day. I loved how he was holding his cigarette, his hat, the glasses, and those red and white shoes. He reminded me of an old jazz player. Or a man who danced the soft shoe. Whatever he was, to me he was Mr. Bojangles.

May the spotlight shine on you again.