If you had to pick ONE word that defines “Louisiana Flavor”, what would it be?  For me, “piquante” is that word.  If you ask Wikipedia for their definition of “piquante” you get redirected to a “peppadew” pepper.  And those little mild bowls, when pickled, are surprisingly close to a quintessential “Louisiana” flavor.  Pickled peppadews are very mild with just a whiff of heat, but lots of richness and tang.  It’s a flavor idea that is so perfectly nailed by Chef Donald Link, one of only six chefs nationally who are nominated for a 2012 James Beard Outstanding Chef Award, that I can’t help but call him The Piquante Master…

Chef Donald Link at Butcher © 2011 Rick Olivier

My mom, Irene Dugas Olivier, could also nail this savory/smoky/dark/pickel-y combo-flavor.  She could make a killer sauce piquante out of almost anything.  Her turtle sauce piquante was other-worldly and didn’t need any brandy, nice since we didn’t have it in the house anyway (and Early Times in soup would just never work.)  If you have a need to explore the amazing variations Chef Link is able to create with piquante you should head to Herbsaint or Cochon or Butcher and buy some meat.  Better yet, game.  He so GETS Louisiana flavor that its uncanny.  Smoke, pepper, fat and spice combine in his food in a quintessential way (yet elevated technically and in composition way beyond “classic” Louisiana cooking.)  Much like you would find in an old Cajun mawmaw’s house.  He’s also big on using ingredients as seasoning, a pretty strong nod toward the old country way of cooking South Louisiana.

Chef Link was gracious enough to let me photograph him at Butcher for a book project.  I can’t walk in that place without eating something.  The smell alone will raise your blood pressure.  So perfectly hot in such a cool place.  “Swine Bar”!  That’s beyond clever, straight into brilliant.  Just like his cooking.

Chef Donald Link with Rik Slave (L) and Mary Jane Rojas (R) (and ham) @ 2011 Rick Olivier

This is art practiced at its highest level.  To go so deeply into both the traditional and the contemporary is what great artists do.  But you can’t eat most art.  So this is better.

Link’s joints seem like fairly fun places to work.  I also got to have a bit of fun with lieutenants Rik Slave (of the Phantoms, MSA, etc) and Mary Jane Rojas pretending to be menacing.  A coupla sweethearts, trust me:

Mary Jane Rojas (L) and Rik Slave (R) at Butcher ©2011 Rick Olivier

Chef Donald’s got a very entertaining little video show he does called Taste Of Place.  Check it out.  And congratulations Chef Link!

When people say “it must be awesome being a photographer” a big part of what they admire is the people you get to meet while shooting for a living.  I’ve had my share of those moments, especially in the realm of American music (I once played Name That Tune with Stevie Wonder in a hotel room, and, yes, he guessed my whistled intro to Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White within three seconds).  A couple of years ago I had another amazing music moment during a shoot for Rounder Records at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.  Rounder artist, Steve Martin (yes, the comedian) played a special Grand Ole Opry type concert there to promote his latest bluegrass album.  Steve, you probably know, is a mind-blowing bluegrass banjo player.  He was also a good friend of banjo legend, Earl Scruggs, who died Wednesday morning at the age of 88.  A documentary video crew was on hand to film the concert and before the show Earl and Steve sat down to chat about how they met and the trajectories of their careers on the banjo.  It was pure goosebumps to sit five feet from both of these gentlemen and observe the conversation…

Steve recounted how, as a fledgling banjo picker in the 70′s long-before his fame as a comedian, he waited backstage for Earl after a show just to shake the man’s hand.  Earl graciously invited him into the dressing room and showed him some licks to Sally Gooden, encouraging him to study hard and practice every day.  “I was a nobody,” he said, “and Earl treated me like a long lost friend.”  Martin was amazed at Earl’s down-to-earth accessibility, as Scruggs was by then very much a legend, not only in bluegrass, but in American popular music.  If you don’t know this already, Earl Scruggs invented finger-picking on the banjo.  Before him the predominant style was “claw-hammer” where the banjo is hit and plucked.  Scruggs broke apart the chordal dominance of that style and picked out individual notes with a speed and agility that had never been seen before.  His first performance at the Opry with Bill Monroe astounded live and radio audiences.  The rest is history.

Steve Martin repaid the graciousness of Mr. Scruggs by inviting him onstage for a mind-blowing banjo rave up encore.  Hearing  these two masters cut loose on the instrument in the acoustically perfect Ryman Auditorium (the original home of The Grand Ole Opry) is a moment I will never forget.   Thank you, Earl Scruggs.   May you rest in peace.

Lost Bayou Ramblers ©2012 Rick Olivier All Rights Reserved

The Lost Bayou Ramblers called needing new promo shots with an edge.  Having firmly established their place in the pantheon of seriously deep Cajun music bands, they are poised to turn the indie rock scene on to the goosebump thrills of traditional music played with hurricane-level passion.  The Ramblers bring a great sense of humor and fun to their music.  They’ve recorded with Gordon Gano (Violent Femmes) and been remixed by Givers.  The pictures needed to show both their serious commitment to their traditional roots and their youthful energy and edge.  First we headed out to one of my favorite decadent wasteland locations (one more shoot there before the wedding photographers are lined up twelve deep) and, as storm clouds threatened (but produced gorgeous diffuse light) we returned to the studio.  I like to introduce things like simple geometric shapes (Foam-Cor) and clinical lighting (ringlight) when shooting for the indie market.  They were open to all my ideas (even ridiculous ones like laying on the floor) and a lot of fun to shoot.  Check them out on their next trip to your town…

Studio Amanda Talley ©2012 Rick Olivier

I must have listened to The Pogues Dirty Old Town one time too many getting ready for St. Patrick’s day, or maybe it was the oak tree pollen which seems to be falling by the ton this year, but I wasn’t too rah-rah for New Orleans when I pulled up to Amanda Talley’s studio on Magazine.  Within minutes I found my spirits lifting.  The studio is a bright kaleidoscope of pure and broken color benevolently watched over by the canine Three Stooges: Phil, Don, and Zippy.  Never mind that Don wanted my blood upon ringing the bell, I spoke a few dog words of reassurance to him and we got along famously.   grrrrr

Studio Amanda Talley ©2012 Rick Olivier

I’ve always been a little ambivalent about abstract painting.  I’ve never tried to deny the power of Clyfford Still, Mark Rothko, or deKooning, but as a child of several golden decades of American advertising, I’ve always craved pictures with STUFF in them.  Images.  Is that why I became a photographer?  Hmmm…  Amanda’s lovely interwoven webs of color and line are more than a little seductive, though.  As Garden District decor they must absolutely kill.  Maybe I should have gone into psychotherapy…

“The World’s Premier Washboard/Sousaphone Trio” is how they’re described from the bandstand but the Tin Men are oh so much more.  I hate to use the G-word but damn, every time I hear either one of these three guys play, no matter who they’re playing with, I just keep thinking “genius…pure genius.”

You’d expect a cute folksy sound from this kind of ensemble and, yes, at times they deliver on that expectation, but only when it fits the song.  If they cover a seemingly schmaltzy sentimental pop number like Englebert Humperdink’s “Lonely Is A Man Without Love” you might be shocked at the degree of sincerity and passion they are able to deliver.  The parody you may expect is not there.  In it’s place is a beautiful and complex rendering of a song you may not have realized is really quite well composed.  Song after song they’re able to see deeply into the work, and I’m sorry if that sounds pretentious, but what they bring is a kind of insight that only comes from truly masterful musicians.  Which is not to say they ever scrimp on the humor and irony.  They can skewer like knights in full joust.  But its never done hatefully, always with a smile, wink, and nod.

Anyone who knows what a barely competent guitar player I am knows I worship the ground Alex McMurray strings his instruments on.  McMurray, like my other guitar-genius-Alex-friend (Chilton), has that insane knowledge of music theory mixed up with an encyclopedic knowledge of American vernacular songcraft.  Maybe that’s why he’s such a brilliant songwriter, I dunno.  I do know his songs are funnier, deeper, scarier, richer, more cinematic, and more literate than just about any songwriter working today.  He’s often compared to Tom Waits (nope, he’s less jive) and Randy Newman (nope, he writes about New Orleans more) but I’ll take Alex’s tunes any day.  His playing is just jaw-dropping.  He’ll do things on guitar that blend Tin Pan Alley with speed metal.  Once I paid him fifty bucks for a guitar lesson (and it was worth every penny) but I left his house feeling like Elvis Costello’s self-imposed alter ego “Little Hands Of Concrete.”  It’s OK, really.  It just reminds me that there really is a thing people call “a gift.”  I soothe the heartbreak of knowing I don’t have this gift (and he does) by just standing there in front of the stage, camera on my shoulder, with a large grin on my face.  Its a kind of pain I’m happy to live with…

Sousaphonist Matt Perrine might seem a bit too front-man-y for bass players who enjoy staying in the shadows and holding down the bottom but, hey, it’s a trio folks, and there ain’t a lot of shadow to stand in.  In the early 80′s I always loved how Violent Femmes bassist, Brian Ritchie, was able to actually play lead melodies and riffs that complimented and surpassed vocalist Gordon Gano’s rhythm guitar.  Perrine brings a similar enhancement to the Tin Men.  He knows when to step out.  What’s shocking is how far out he can step.  Listen to his speed riffing on “Cocaine Habit Blues” for a funny, yet masterful, example…

Washboard Chaz Leary is the only guy I know who has his own music festival, Chaz Fest.  Of course, technically, its not his festival but simply a good name for New Orleans’ most eclectic music party.  On washboard, Chaz ventures out way beyond the spaces where most zydeco frottoir players will go.  It doesn’t hurt that he cut his teeth listening to Kenny Clark, Art Blakey, and the best bop drummers in history.  You can hear a lot of bop in his playing but I don’t know many jazz drummer who keep a hotel front-desk bell on their kits.  That little chiming bell every few minutes is like a Tin Men audible logo.  “Ting!”  It can mean whatever you want it to mean but to me it means: happiness.

On break Chaz walked across the street to the Spotted Cat to check in on this superb ensemble holding court there.  That’s virtuosi James Singleton (bass) and Rick Trolsen (trombone) with a gang of other jazz masters whose names I don’t know but I see a lot at gigs where slackers would never cut it on the bandstand.

More beautiful only on a Wednesday night in New Orleans moments: a furiously jitterbugging couple on the dance floor giving visual illustration in space and time to the sounds coming from the band.  “You guys must be in NOLA Jitterbugs, yeah?” I asked.  “Yep,” they replied…  Even a three year old in frame-left below wanted to cut the rug.  She probably didn’t have I.D. on her though…

Back to dba and the Tin Men are wrapping up their second set.  Amazingly, you can hear bands like this, playing world-class music on a Wednesday night for FREE.  This is both wonderful and sad.  Wonderful if you’re in the audience.  But any music lover would know that musicians of this quality should be extremely well compensated.  A tip jar?  For real?  Well, the Tin Men take that a step further and actually second line around the house gathering bills.  These guys are the front line infantry of New Orleans music and history.  Don’t even think of leaving the place without shedding a fiver…or more..

Just savor the beauty of being able to walk down the street, look into a club full of people, and see a tuba player in the front door…playing.  The next time you’re thinking how lucky you are to live in this city remember its these cats who make it happen and keep it real.  Well, it was just about my bedtime (9:00 p.m.) so I had to roll up and head for the house.  But as if this night weren’t already a wet dream of New Orleans musical bliss what do I see on the Esplanade neutral ground?  Another washboard (no sousaphone) trio of kids catching a buck.  Yeah, two cops got popped around the block last night.  Damn!  How did I end up in this place?  Dunno, but I got too much skin in this game to bail out now.  Another Leap Year.  Thanks, Men Of Tin, you made it a little bit easier…

Zulu and Rex are great but real Mardi Gras happens in the street.  Downtown.  This year we decided it was time for all of us, my daughter included, to head down to Royal Street, near MiMi’s, and experience the real thing.  Our friend Lorelei has a donkey and picked the western classic, Two Mules For Sister Sara, as our theme.  I did up my best Clint Eastwood look and used the iPhone since bizarre color and funky square formats just felt right.  Enjoy!  And don’t forget your ashes tomorrow…

I wish I could say I’ve made tons of money doing stock photography but I’d be lying.  This year I was lucky enough to get a call from Rounder Records, who were looking for packaging art for a new Mardi Gras compilation CD, Meet Me At Mardi Gras.  The cost to produce new photographs along this theme would be prohibitive so I dug through my archives of existing (aka “stock”) images and presented them with a selection of possibilities.  Fortunately, one of my shots worked beautifully for the cover.

The process of fulfilling a stock request starts, naturally, with the phone call or email.  In this case the call came from someone who has been one of my best friends for thirty years, Scott Billington, the multi-talented record producer/art director/executive/A&R guy at Rounder.  So, yes, Virginia, it often really is ‘who you know’ in the world of business.  (I only wish I knew a couple dozen more Scotts!)  Then I start looking through my digital catalogs for “mardi gras” images.  I take those images and build a “web gallery” or browser mini-site of lo-rez images from which the client will select finals.  The final hi-rez files are then sent electronically using FTP (file transfer protocol).  Its often quite interesting to see how a designer will crop or manipulate the original image to fit the requirements of the layout and packaging.  Here’s the original uncropped shot that was used on the cover:

I seldom shoot on-camera-flash photographs at a high shutter speed.  I tend to slow it down and let some of the ambient light shake ‘n bake into the image.  Some photographers might be offended that their work of art was manipulated by a designer or end-user.  I’m not one of them, at least not when its a commercial use and the original is a stock image.  Some of the other shots were also changed up to fit the design.  When type has to be knocked-out over an image its not uncommon to make the image darker for greater legibility, etc.

Some of the other images didn’t make the final cut.  Designers like to have a few different things to work with, as they see which ones will fit, which colors match or compliment.  It’s always nice when they can establish a theme in the piece using color, type, and other elements.  It brings the disparate elements together to create a real “package” that can help sell the record.  Of course, it also helps to have great music and this compilation has some really choice Mardi Gras cuts, including one of our Creole String Beans faves, Go To The Mardi Gras by Professor Longhair.  I get to whistle on that one ]]> http://www.rickolivier.com/2012/02/17/meet-me-at-mardi-gras/feed/ 0 http://www.rickolivier.com/2012/02/17/meet-me-at-mardi-gras/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NewOrleansPhotographerRickOlivier/~3/5FPelU8zF8s/ http://www.rickolivier.com/2012/02/14/contemporary-valentines-day-photography-2/#comments Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:20:12 +0000 admin http://www.rickolivier.com/?p=667 NOTE: the images in this feed have been downsized or removed for copyright reasons. To see them in their unmodified state, please view the original post by clicking here.

A “curator” once implied my work wasn’t “con-tem-po-reh-ree”.  Yeah, whatever, sweetheart.  This one’s for you…

Cool, calm, and insanely talented wouldn’t be a bad nutshell description of young jazz lions, The Bridge Trio.  Cutting their jazz teeth at NOCCA under the guiding hand of their friend and mentor, Alvin Batiste, they have moved on to backing giants like Donald Harrison and performing on international stages.  With a new album about to drop and a crazy bright future ahead, it was my pleasure to photograph this trio of easygoing young jazz masters.  They are, left to right in the photo below: Conun Pappas (keyboards),  Joe Dyson (drums), and Max Moran (bass).    – R.O.

Now if you’ve ever been in a body shop you’ve probably seen the large florescent light boxes the body artists use to illuminate their work and check for surface defects.   A huge box like this was being used for Memphis Beat and it was real eye candy for a lighting obsessed photographer!  I knew I wanted to use it as a light source, at the very least.  When the designers suggested we also use it as a subject element in the cover image I was thrilled to hear it.  Upon arriving, however, it was a bit of a messy scene..

There was quite a lot of industrial junk scattered about.  I typically like to fly by the seat of my pants on these kinds of shoots, though.  I’ve found that too much control can be worse than too little when you’re trying to catch lightning in a bottle.  I cleared out a few pallets and made some room to at least pose the guys near the light and do some portraits with the big box and a bit of fill.  The band members were in street clothes, which didn’t scream “killer album cover” to me, but since it was a local shoot in a place I dig it was not a problem for me to return during the week if the record company felt they should be more uniformly attired (and I felt they should).  We were able to make some nice portraits at this session, though, even in street clothes…

This shoot was yet another opportunity to work with one of my best friends and a guy whose contribution to New Orleans music cannot be overstated, the multi-talented producer/musician, Scott Billington, of Rounder Records fame.  Scott was in need of a new head shot so I used this amazing big-box to do some new shots of him (one of which, I believe, will run in the upcoming issue of Offbeat Magazine to acknowledge Scott’s Lifetime Achievement Award bestowed by Offbeat)..

I was flexing my new 35mm f1.4 lens on this shoot, a hunk of glass that does amazing things with very little light..

CD cover shoots are SO much fun when you get to hang with laid-back, massively talented guy like the Soul Rebels.  I always try to provide a lot of coverage and produce a lot of images in several different styles.  I often bring a small strobe kit (I like to fly solo) and move lights around in the studio during rehearsals.  It enables me to move quickly and blend available light and strobe without getting in the way of the recording..

Once we got the band on board with a more uniform wardrobe I returned to the Music Shed for Round 2.  The guys were all dressed in black this time, which just works a lot better for a cover image.  It also enabled me to isolate them and make a much more symbolic (and powerful) image for the cover.   The cover has to SELL the record, in a psychological sense, for potential buyers who may not have heard the actual tracks but are curious and motivated to buy.  I tried a bunch of different things, including some abstract shutter-drag things..

Pleasing artistically but probably not best for the cover.  Still, you gotta hang loose and take some chances.  Its not like we’re wasting film…electrons are free (for now).  The band shots, I think, are better with this wardrobe change and one was used in the package:

The designers often want “collateral” images to use as background textures or layout components.  I had a lot of fun prowling the neighborhood and talking to locals as I shot the area.  The forklift image with cardboard clouds is strangely compelling to me…

The icing on the cake was finally getting to meet “Ms. Linda” of Linda’s Ya-Ca-Mein fame!  It was my first time sampling this legendary local delicacy and her “N.O. pho” did not disappoint!  A perfect finale’ to another wonderful Rounder shoot…