(inspirational music) - [Narrator] The art of seeing is such an extraordinary sense.

Through the lens we re envisage our world, (inspirational music) painting it with light and shadow.

Each frame becomes a portal revealing a story, waiting to be told.

(inspirational music) Colors, the story behind the picture.

(cheerful jazz music) ♪ Walking, stepping down the street y'all ♪ ♪ Talking, never know who you are gonna meet ♪ ♪ Dancing, the groove feels so good to me ♪ ♪ Singing, wow, yes indeed y'all ♪ ♪ Soulful living is all we know how to do ♪ ♪ In the greatest place on earth ♪ ♪ I'm talking about New Orleans ♪ (cheerful jazz music) - [Zack] Even though New Orleans is in Louisiana and Louisiana is in the United States of America, it doesn't feel like you're in the USA.

- [Ashley] What makes New Orleans?

Is the authenticity of the city, the people, the food and the music.

- [Eric] New Orleans is the most African city in the contiguous United States.

The other thing some people say is the most northern Caribbean city.

- [Zack] It's a Caribbean, international, Haitian, American, Louisiana city.

- [Eric] But it's deeper than what people see.

They see the pageantry, they see the colors, they see the dancing.

I mean the culture here in New Orleans has been sustainable for, I don't know, two, 300 years.

- [Zack] It feels like that kind of gray area between big town, small city.

In there lives the uniqueness of what New Orleans is.

(calm music) - I think you should visit New Orleans to experience and fulfill the unique culture here.

(calm music) One of the first things you should do is take a tour to understand the rich culture of New Orleans.

It is the vibrancy of the city, the people.

It's the joy that you see if you're walking up the street, everybody's like, "Hey baby, how you doing?"

And they wanna know how you are doing.

(chuckles) We have a lot of characters, your neighborhood superstars, everybody is somebody in New Orleans and I love to capture those people.

(calm music) - A. Bedou was one of the most celebrated photographers to come outta New Orleans, 'cause he was Booker T Washington's photographer, he had a photography department at Tuskegee.

He also shot pictures and he was the photographer Xavier University.

But it was a tragic story to his work as his wife burned all his negatives.

So if you have a picture taken by Bedou it's worth a lot of money because it's rare.

But the Bedou resonated with me.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

(upbeat music) I like talking photographer, I like giving advice, I like sharing what my mentor shared with me.

He taught me fundamentals, told me shoot manual and I've been shooting manual ever since.

It stays on M, and don't think that every photo you shoot is great.

Understand what editing is about.

When you click the shutter, that's not the end of it.

(upbeat music) When I know what the light is, I can determine what the light is gonna look like when I'm bring it up on the monotone, when I have it printed.

Those kind of things are going through your mind and all those things happen with all photographers who had been doing it a long time.

They can sometimes anticipate that moment.

You know, I think an Adam used the word pre-visualization and that's what you're always trying to capture.

You try to pre-visualize something and capture it.

(upbeat music) - I first discovered my passion for photography at my first job at the radio station, Citadel Communications here.

I was a on-air personality, but I would go to all of the radio station events and just shooting the different people in the crowd or shooting a different musicians who came to the radio station.

Different artists and my friends used to laugh at me at the radio station 'cause they said, "If you looking for Ashley, she's somewhere in a crowd with her hands up trying to get the shot."

(chuckles) (upbeat music) - I had a Polaroid camera and I used to go around taking pictures of the couch with Polar right camera and two guys created what they called tambourine and fan for the community.

And the kids he had, they saw was serious about photography.

So they took her to Marion Porter's studio and that's where it all started.

And I shot and I shot.

(upbeat music) Decorated fan.

They had a group called The Bucket Man, I was their first entree into the second line.

And I shot that.

It was in the '70s, and never thought it would resonate anything.

Then people start saying, "Well you're a documentarian."

"No I'm not."

I mean, I'm not a speller word but I never thought of myself as a documentarian and then it just evolved and I would go to the second line every single Sunday.

(cheerful jazz music) - There are a few moments that sparked my interest in photography as a storytelling medium.

(cheerful jazz music) The first was following my dad around the festival Internationality of Louisiana and Lafayette.

You had African dancing groups, you had this really good connection to France and Nova Scotia.

A lot of French speaking groups would come down and mix and mingle with Cajun French groups and whatnot and they would cook for the musician.

So I'd go with him and I'd just be hanging out backstage and thinking, "This is cool."

And I remember my dad gave me some sort of Instamatic Kodak camera thing.

"Hey here kid.

Go look busy."

(cheerful jazz music) Fast forward 15 years later, I was in my last year at journalism school at Louisiana State University and I was getting my bachelor's in broadcast journalism.

I was gonna be on a camera or writing stories, going to class one day and there was a TV in a ditch.

And this was all happening at the same time that I was getting very disillusioned with media and I thought, "That is exactly how I'm feeling right now."

But I didn't have the words, called my dad, "You have a camera, I need one."

He gave me his old Cannon AE-1 35 millimeter camera.

And I've went back and photographed that TV and from then on it sparked something in me that the visual expression of something I'm feeling is just as strong as the words that are being expressed.

So I started combining those two.

So writing to the pictures and having the pictures help with the writing, that was definitely an early spark in my career.

(cheerful jazz music) - The thing that I love the most about working and living in New Orleans is, there's always something going on.

Any given day or time, there's something's happening here like a music festival.

There's like someone in town performing, some of the ballrooms in in New Orleans.

That's like some of the best food you will eat in New Orleans is somebody, grandma or auntie in the kitchen.

(chuckles) (cheerful jazz music) - The thing I find most captivating about photograph and the culture is the freedom I see in the people.

So when they hit the street as a culmination of what they spend hours and hours just for that particular day.

And then I started saying, "I need to go in the background and see how this is done."

(cheerful jazz music) I like to think I shoot what they call street portraits.

I try to capture the essence of the different cultural aspects in New Orleans.

And all of them are historical.

(cheerful jazz music) - My collaborations with local corporate clients influence what I do greatly because I am able to take one side of my artistic expression, which got me into photography and combine it with a, let's get the client images to tell their story.

(cheerful jazz music) If you're gonna be a visual storyteller, you have to like constantly be making those two sides work.

I call it I have one foot in the swamp, one in the street.

My swamp foot is my art.

My street foot is like, let's pay some bills, but I have to express something unique that makes me different, give them something different.

(cheerful jazz music) I don't have a day where I do the same thing twice.

If I'm dealing with different clients, they have a different way of expressing their art, expressing their brand.

And it's my job to take that and make it real.

(cheerful jazz music) - The moment that has inspired my photography style in New Orleans would be some of our cultural traditions.

Some of the things like the Zulu parade.

(cheerful jazz music) One year the Zulu Tramps asked me if I wanted to walk with them, the whole parade.

And that moment was very pivotal for me because I was able to capture the Zulu parade from everyone getting dressed during breakfast to putting on their costumes and then walking to the actual parade.

And so I was able to capture moments from beginning to end.

(cheerful jazz music) These things that happen in a city are very vibrant and colorful.

Most of the people that are riding the floats, they've worked all year to create these different costumes and you get to see them on Mardi Gras day and I love capturing the vibrancy of those costumes.

(cheerful jazz music) (upbeat music) - Eric was one of the first guys that I met when I was shooting Second Lines.

He never looks like he's working but he's connecting, Eric Waters knows how to connect to people at a heart human level.

And then the pictures come after that.

(upbeat music) You know, Eric's picture is gonna make you look fantastic.

And that's the trust that the community has in Eric.

(cheerful jazz music) - Second Line is a dance that is unique to New Orleans in this country, is directly out of Africa.

The dance steps, the rhythms, the whole bit.

I'm just trying to see if I can capture that one moment.

And for me that's one of the most exciting things about that parade.

The level that they take it to is a whole nother level.

The things they're doing on one leg is like incredible.

And those are moments that you look for when you shoot and you don't know when it's gonna happen.

You try to be prepared for it.

(cheerful jazz music) The term Second Line comes from way back when.

I think it might have started with funerals.

The grieving family was the first line, the band was the second line.

They're very unique.

I'm always amazed of color, the suit, the artistry, all that's always different and unique.

It's nothing from the previous year.

(cheerful jazz music) There was an image that people attribute to me as iconic and it's called Squarky Man.

And this young man was always, as a kid, being one of the people that people noticed Second Line 'cause he was that good.

I saw how disjointed he was.

I mean this guy acts like he has no bones, right?

And then I'm shooting film and he jumps up in the air and he does a perfect split in the air, his legs are level with the ground and he's touching his toes and his hat is flying off his head, but the calf line of his head makes the picture totally unique.

Fast forward 19 years later, there was a small funeral for somebody that came from the culture.

Not a lot of people didn't know about it and he does the same thing, caught it with the digital camera there tie's flying up.

So I was very, very fortunate that the same guys doing the same thing 19 years different.

(cheerful jazz music) (calm music) - I want to be different.

I want what I do to not look like what you do and you do and you do.

For me in producing a a brilliant image that's gonna last a lifetime, it's this combination of being an observer and a director.

That collaborative approach I think has served me well in this community because I'm not taking anything.

We're making something.

And since I moved here in the fall of 2000, I really do hold the culture and the music and the originality of art in New Orleans before what I do because it does take two.

And I'm just grateful to be able to just be in this moment, to be able to witness it and hear it and I get to photograph it.

How cool.

- Someone asked me, "What's your favorite photo you've ever taken?"

The next one, right?

I mean, always searching for that next image.

That's gonna be iconic.

That would say something.

I'm always looking for an image that you need not a narrative for.

(cheerful jazz music) ♪ Second Line y'all - Some of my favorite subjects to photograph in New Orleans is culinary and music.

I love the culinary because I love how chefs plate the food and that's a art of his owns.

(cheerful jazz music) And also the music, because there's music on like every corner and it's all different types of music.

We have our jazz musicians, we have brass bands and I'm also enjoying like the new sound of New Orleans.

(cheerful jazz music) ♪ When, here come the money black angels ♪ - They're not only just in the quarter, but they're also at some of our neighborhood bars.

(cheerful jazz music) ♪ Loving - New Orleans musical families, New Orleans musical cultural traditions are happening and they're alive.

And it's truly the only place that I've been to in the world that the unique cultural tradition, the music, the art is created here.

It stays here and it can be supported by people that live here and come here.

It doesn't need to be mass marketed, it doesn't need to have a stamp or a brand on it.

It is what it is and people come see it.

And there's nothing like that.

At least as far as I know.

♪ New Orleans, the greatest place on Earth ♪ (cheerful jazz music) - When I'm capturing musicians, I love to catch the action.

Any movement, any facial expressions.

I think lighting is very key.

♪ The greatest place on Earth - Some of the photography I've seen come out of New Orleans and the way that people capture musicians is that it's very dark, it's very smoky, it's different types of lights.

And I try to incorporate that into my photography.

(cheerful jazz music) ♪ Yeah, you are right y'all - If you're gonna wanna plan your stay around your food, it makes everything else a little bit easier.

You can say, "Well I'm gonna go eat in Mid-City."

Well then when you're in Mid-City, you go to City Park, you know, you do some exercise and you go to Cafe Du Monde and let's say you're gonna have dinner maybe in the French Quarter, well you're gonna go walk around the French Quarter.

You can kind of geographically base your trip around your food and get the other things done.

(cheerful jazz music) (calm music) ♪ Triple shots of tequila for me and my little senorita ♪ - The thing that I hope to convey about New Orleans through a single photograph is the cocktails that Jewel of the South New Orleans is known for music, food, but it's also known for cocktails.

There's literally a bar in every corner it New Orleans.

So I'm excited about shooting at Jewel of the South today and getting to know the bartender and seeing what type of creations that he has up his sleeves about New Orleans.

♪ I got too drunk last night ♪ I got too drunk last night Another thing that's great about New Orleans is that there's restaurants in every neighborhood.

It is not just restaurants in the quarter.

I love to see what the local chefs are creating around the city.

We have your red beans and rice, we do fish fries, we have Po Boys, we have some of the best chefs in New Orleans.

And I just love to go to the different restaurants and see what they're cooking up.

Jewel of the South won a James Beard award this year for their cocktails, but I'm hoping that we can capture some of their food as well.

(cheerful jazz music) - If I had the opportunity to capture New Orleans in a single shot, oh my gosh, that's a lot to ask.

It has to be one image that says so much, I guess the background of the city, maybe from a perspective or a vantage point that you don't often see, but that you know, like the Mississippi River is a integral part of New Orleans port, trade, travel.

How can I make it three dimensional, shoot at twilight?

Twilight gives you that artificial light starting to take over from the natural world, with a slower exposure you can get a little bit of movement if you have something happening that is creating the motion of music.

That could be nice.

So a musician in there.

Underneath the Crescent City connection bridge, light the bridge in a way that compliments two amazing artists that I've been working with for a long time.

Little Freddie King, who is a true New Orleans blues legend, 84 years young, with his pristine suit and red guitar and sunglasses and cane.

And another one of my longtime collaborators, Big Chief Juan Pardo, the Golden Comanche Indians in his maybe this year's or last year's suit that he made.

And I think they would understand if I had this wild idea to cross a treacherous train track and maybe a levy or two and get down on the river and hang out with some mosquitoes and some passing cargo ships and see what happens ♪ Wouldn't change if I could (upbeat blues music) ♪ Well it's young man's game when you hustle and steal ♪ ♪ I'll be playing those a little too long ♪ ♪ Stabbed a few backs as I moved through the years ♪ ♪ Now that could have been when I was wrong ♪ (upbeat music) - If I were to captured essence of New Orleans in one photo, I would encapsulate all aspects of the African retentive culture that would be masking into the Second Line.

The baby dolls, the skeletons, musicians.

(upbeat jazz music) To capture that moment.

It's serendipity.

You never know when it's gonna happen.

You just have to be prepared to shoot it.

So you go with the anticipation of capturing that iconic photo, what image are you going to shoot?

That's going to be your signature piece.

But there's always a moment when you are shooting that you can see.

Maybe that might be it.

(upbeat music) - I think evolving as an artist in New Orleans and with everything that goes on in my business and life, I really have to stay true to what I've always known that works for me.

I have to be in the art and also be in the fast moving street of commerce and culture and business.

And right in the middle is my present.

(upbeat music) - I see my photography evolving in the future by it being in different museums, a part of the New Orleans collection.

And I just want people to know that we are here, that we're still preserving the culture.

(upbeat music) - I advocate for New Orleans and anybody that comes to town that I know.

Even not a photographer, I advocate for the city, advocate for the culture.

Now New Orleans is gonna be known for its photography.

'Cause photography was brought here in 1840.

So it's a natural thing, but it has been underexposed, so to speak over the years.

But now we can be known for that also.

(cheerful jazz music) ♪ Walking, stepping down the street, y'all ♪ ♪ Talking, never know who you are gonna meet ♪ ♪ Dancing, the groove feels so good to me ♪ ♪ Singing, wow, yes indeed y'all ♪ ♪ Soulful living is all we know how to do ♪ ♪ In the greatest place on Earth ♪ ♪ I'm talking about New Orleans ♪ ♪ The greatest place on Earth ♪ My hometown, the greatest place in the world ♪ ♪ Talking about New Orleans ♪ The greatest place on Earth ♪ Yeah.

Yes indeed, y'all (cheerful jazz music) ♪ Eat in some of the best food in the whole wide world ♪ ♪ Step in, look on that foot work better watch out y'all ♪ ♪ Laughing, having a real good time let the bones on rule ♪ ♪ Drinking 24/7 we never close ♪ Soulful living is all we know how to do ♪ ♪ In the greatest place on Earth ♪