Printable View
Our local (Baton Rouge) B&N bookstore has a large section of photo and other books on LA. After carefully picking through them, I found nothing on the architecture and towns of Southern LA - Cajun country. There are several good books on the wildlife (birds, etc.) and a few on the culture, with pictures of a few festivals, but no systematic work on the villages and old churches and the rest of the built landscape. Any one know of books or sites I am missing?
Not a book but if you haven't seen it watch Robert Flaherty's 1948 classic "Louisiana Story." When I visit Terrabone Parrish I generally stay with friends whose families havew ben there for many generations, but why not check with thw various historical saocieties in the parish ans in Baton Rouge, also the State Library.
Sounds like you should start working on a book, Ed.
The site I use is the Library of Congress Catalog that lists every book with a US copyright . With the
catalog information, your local reference librarian should be able to obtain a copy via interlibrary loan.
http://catalog.loc.gov/
Subject Browse = architecture louisiana
Richard Sexton, the Louisana LF photographer, teacher, and writer, and published two fine books on southern Louisiana and New Orleans architecture. (http://www.richardsextonstudio.com/index3.html) He's been one of my inspirations, one of the reasons I migrated to large format. I contacted him after Katrina, afraid that he and his work were wiped out. They were not.
I know Richard's work, and it is very good. I am glad to hear he came through OK.
Clarence John Laughlin lived in New Orleans and did a lot of work there and elsewhere in LA. However I don't know that he ever devoted a book solely to southern LA, if he did I haven't heard about it..
> However I don't know that he ever devoted a book solely to southern LA,
Not other than the plantations along the river. His Ghosts along the Mississippi is very good - it would be interesting to retrace his steps and see how many of the plantations remain.
At that point in time, NO folks did not have much dealings with the Cajuns - they were looked down on as backwoods primatives.
Ed, you and I know that most people mistakenly think of New Orleans when someone says "Louisiana." Katrina to the contrary, Louisiana is so much more than the Crescent City. In some ways, its cultural diversity is the state's worst enemy but the differences make for a state so unique it has deserved, for better or worse, its banana republic comparison.
I don't know how many buildings I've contemplated photographing through the years, then watching its demise from a hurricane, crowbar or flames.
The clarence laughlin idea, seeing how scenes he shot look today, could be interesting. You could go a little further and find scenes shot by Weston, WPA photographers, Fonville Winans, etc. A little bit of Laughin goes a long ways.
Access is a frustrating issue. I see so many shacks, barns, fenceposts, trees, etc. that I'd like to shoot but finding out who the gatekeepers are can be a time-consuming endeavor itself.
If you don't mind, Ed,
Ted,
Is your "Robert Flaherty" the same guy who made the early documentary "Nanook of the North?"
The "Louisiana Story," which sounds like another of his documentaries, would interest me. How could I access a copy do you think? A DVD probably wouldn't be to expensive.
Thanks,
Robert