Urban Wandering

As most of our readers know, I’ve been living in Shreveport, LA while Terry is still in Monterey, CA. He still has the ocean, beaches, wildflowers, mountains, waterfalls, sea otters, redwoods, etc. all at his disposal. I have been trying really hard to find my groove with the outdoor scene here in Swampland USA, but I’m not going to lie…I’m terrified of swamps. I’ve seen alligators, water moccasins, spiders, other random snakes, fire ants, and enough poison ivy and assorted brambly plants to make me really not enjoy going out into nature ever. Its driving me crazy.

On Sunday I really wanted to go take some photos. But after nearly crapping my pants following an alligator encounter earlier last week, I decided to change it up. Shreveport is an old town long past its prime. At one time is was bigger than Dallas. Part of downtown has been revitalized, with bright-light casinos and smoky jazz houses; but pockets of the old town still exist. Large brick buildings, once stately and proud, now stand abandoned and worn. And while I love to shoot a great sunset over the ocean, a beautiful waterfall, or alpenglow on a snowy mountain summit, my next favorite thing to shoot is old, decaying buildings. So I wandered around downtown Shreveport for a couple hours last week, and here’s what I came away with…