Last week Eli and I returned from a road trip to New Orleans and back. My last moments before full time employment were spent researching a bit of Eli’s past life. From meeting his first girlfriend to walking around the neighborhood he left during the reign of Katrina, I felt we were revisiting important points of Eli’s history and so I took pictures of Eli in the spaces that are his.
Some highlights of the trip were seeing whale sharks for the first time at the Atlanta aquarium, severing my ties with mangoes forever- I had hives all week from this last taste, learning how to avoid being eaten by an alligator late at night in a Mississippi bar before camping next to a swamp, seeing snakes and alligators in the Bayou, driving around the ninth ward, and going to Hale county Alabama where Walker Evans took his famous photos for Let Us Now Praise Famous Men.
Fish and the underbelly of a whale shark awe some kids at the aquarium.
Eli being eaten by his tent.
The sun setting sweetly in Mississippi.
Eli in front of the home Katrina forced him to leave.
Cypress knees in the swamp. This was before we saw a big snake and I dug my fingernails into his left forearm.
We walked the graveyards on mothers day. Someone else loved their mother too.
An angel and a lizard watched over me.
Stuck on the bridge overlooking the ninth ward.
On our drive home we stopped by Hale County, Alabama to see the place Walker Evans and James Agee visited so long ago. This is the downtown of the city of Greensboro. I felt a bit overwhelmed being there. I don't think Eli felt this importance.
The last photograph of Eli from the trip. A photo in Hale County against a wood whitewashed wall biting his lip as we thought about Allie May Burroughs and what it means to bring a camera to this county.
stu van scoyoc said on May 25th, 2009 at 11:20 am:
very special but i hope its not the last photo of Eli—thank you both for a terrific weekend