words are not enough » New Orleans

[Project 365 Week 5]

Joe Kennedy — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 15:00:17 +0000

Week 5 of Project 365 wasn’t that much more eventful than the last 4 weeks… unless, of course, you count the SAINTS WINNING THE SUPER BOWL! Which I do.

Here’s the rundown: Friday I took a shot of my backyard at night. Saturday I went to my friend Justin’s birthday party. Sunday, THE SAINTS WON! THE SAINTS WON! Monday it sunk in. Tuesday I looked up where all those “Indianapolis Colts Super Bowl Champions” t-shirts would end up (Africa and Haiti). Wednesday I thanked God again for THE SAINTS WIN! And on Thursday, I took a before-picture of the back porch in preparation of SNOWMAGEDDON! SNOWPOCALYPSE!

If you want to see the daily feed with larger images, check out my Posterous account.

My NFL Predictions Revisited…

Joe Kennedy — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:56:39 +0000

The first day of the NFL season I posted my playoffs predictions. Boldly, I had the Saints and Chargers duking it out in Miami. I thought it would be an entertaining game, especially with the Brees-San Diego story. I knew better, because San Diego’s head coach is Norv Turner, and I have a strong theory about him. You see, no Norv Turner- or Wade Phillips- head coached team will ever make it to the Super Bowl. Anyway, the Chargers got whipped by the Fighting Rexes and the Colts made it to the Big Game (which if you didn’t know, then how did you get on the Internet?).

So I got a lot wrong. I only got half the NFC teams right, and 4 of 6 AFC teams right. The seeding is all messed up. But hey, who really expected the Cowboys to make the playoffs? Who thought the Titans and Steelers would tank half their seasons? (On a side note, have you noticed that the last two Steelers teams to win the Super Bowl ended up missing the playoffs the following year? They’re the exception to the rule, lately… with both the Cardinals and Seahawks making the playoffs following a Super Bowl loss. DUN-DUN-DUN!)

If you want to see my original prediction, click here, and if you want to see a zoomed in version of the actual playoffs bracket, click here.

Oh When the Saints…

Joe Kennedy — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 03:39:03 +0000

[The Big Easy]

Joe Kennedy — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 13:30:09 +0000

Paris Avenue in Gentilly before the city ripped up the dead trees (far left) in September 2006
Providence Place on campus at NOBTS on a foggy evening (middle left) in December 2006
Looking down Royal Street at Christmastime in the French Quarter, toward the Central Business District (middle right) in December 2006
A portrait of The Meat Man of New Orleans in the French Quarter (far right) in September 2007

Beware of Dog, seen in Uptown New Orleans (left)
Preaching Francis Xavier Seelos at the Seelos Center in Uptown New Orleans (right)
Both taken in September 2007

[Katrina + 4]

Joe Kennedy — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 05:00:05 +0000

Hurricane Katrina | New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast | Photos Taken Between 2006 and 2008

[The Hidden Courtyard]

Joe Kennedy — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 13:00:18 +0000

A couple years ago while walking around the French Quarter, I found a courtyard behind this lock and chain. I grabbed a couple shots, and they turned out to be among my favorite.

One of the things I love about New Orleans is how many hidden alleys and courtyards are scattered around the French Quarter. For just a little while, I can feel like I’m lost in some old European cities, on an adventure of my own. And with the crime rate increasing, it’s definitely an adventure. It’s still worth it.

[City of New Orleans]

Joe Kennedy — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 13:00:03 +0000

I love New Orleans. It’s a wonderful city, regardless of its many faults. I spent three years living there, plus another in exile after Katrina, and it grew on me. I took the first shot from the levee atop Algiers Point near the ferry. Looking across the Mississippi River about 11PM, my friend and I braved the potentially dangerous area to grab gorgeous shots of the city, slowly coming back.
One night a few of us walked the French Quarter to practice our night photography, and these are what I came up with. This was an interesting evening, and if memory serves right, it was the first time I’d been hit on my a group of drunken Minnesota students. Yeesh. Below is a black and white shot of Cafe du Monde.
We were trying to get the extended exposure shots, so that’s why you see the tracks of car lights running through them. I think they turned out pretty interesting. We didn’t necessarily mean for them to turn out this way, but it was a pleasant surprise. The following is a shot of the Decatur-Royal Street split facing downriver.

[Colors of the Quarter]

Joe Kennedy — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 13:30:58 +0000

One of the more distinct (and enjoyable) quirks of New Orleans is its color. When I think of colorful places, my mind often wanders to Santorini, Greece, where the blues and stark whites contrast against the rock and sky in the most beautiful ways. I think of the Caribbean and Latin-influenced cultures. Perhaps one of the world’s greatest cultural gumbos is New Orleans, where the Caribbean meets the American South; Italians, Irish, and Germans mingle among Haitians, Africans, and hundreds of others. Maybe that’s why the city is so colorful.

[Jason and Terah]

Joe Kennedy — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 13:30:15 +0000

I’ve known Jason Sampler since 2004 when I first moved to New Orleans for seminary. We were both a part of Edgewater Baptist Church in Gentilly (and students at NOBTS). It took the exile after Hurricane Katrina for us to connect, but since then I’ve considered him a great friend. After we moved back to New Orleans in 2006, he started dating Terah Jolene Fox. One cold and windy February morning he called me up and announced his intention to ask Terah to marry him.

So I found the flowers he’d dropped off at the church, hid them, and then positioned myself behind a box to play paparazzi for the afternoon. Twenty minutes later Jason and Terah arrived at Edgewater. The way Terah tells the story, she had a headache and was not particularly thrilled to be standing there under the tent in the bitter cold New Orleans wind, but she was a trooper. Good thing, too. Because Jason is easily the most long-winded brother I’ve ever known, and even though I’m sure it was only ten minutes, it seemed like he might take an hour to tell her how much he loved her.

She said yes, and they were married the following August. The tenth, actually. Of 2007. They live in Kansas now, and were kind enough to put me up for a night my way back to Fort Worth from Indiana over Christmas this past year. And a few months ago they announced that Peanut Sampler is on his way- coming in October. So here’s to you, Jason and Terah. Congratulations on two years of marriage. Congratulations on the forthcoming Peanut. Thanks for being my friends. See you soon.

[Dan and Janna]

Joe Kennedy — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:00:27 +0000

A while back I wrote a post about my former New Orleans Seminary roommate Britt and his wife Michaela. I took them on a photoshoot in Dublin, Texas back in September 2008. Britt’s sister Janna is getting married to Dan in October, and last weekend I drove over to the Big Easy to shoot their engagement photos. We started on campus at NOBTS, where they first met (didn’t we all?), before heading down to the French Quarter. Eventually Dan took us over to Lafreniere Park in Metairie, and we finished up with a few back on campus in Gentilly. Click more to see the rest of the shoot.

Dan and Janna in New Orleans, Louisiana | July 11, 2009