It's Hot!

"Shannon Kenney, of Ann Arbor, a performer with Arsons Blazing Carnival, spins flaming poi on Frenchmen Street in the Faubourg Marigny in New Orleans Thursday night."

Sometimes when what you do for a living is more than just a job, you find yourself working on vacation. Aaron and I were in New Orleans this past weekend for our yearly trip to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, and I intentionally left my professional cameras at home because occasionally I get so wrapped up in documenting things that I forget to enjoy the moment. So armed with only a digital point-and-shoot camera, we wandered through the French Quarter and into the Faubourg Marigny nearby. As we walked down Frenchmen Street, listening to the sounds of jazz and blues spilling out into the streets filled with people, we saw a street performer spinning flaming poi. She did her routine, spinning a chain in each hand with a flaming pot on the end, then had someone blindfold her, then had someone handcuff her as well. The flames were mesmerizing, and so I decided I needed to shoot some pictures. I knew a slow shutter speed would be necessary to showcase the moving flames, but the camera had limited functions. I simply turned off the flash and tried to hold the camera as steady as possible, and this picture is the result. (Canon PowerShot SD750, Lens 6mm, ISO 800, 1/5th of a second at f2.8.)

As it turns out, I flew all the way to New Orleans and ended up shooting a picture of someone from Michigan. Shannon Kenney, the woman spinning the flaming poi, is with Arsons Blazing Carnival, a performance group out of Ann Arbor. I guess it's just a small small world.

This trip has been great. we love New Orleans. It is like our second home. And because one of my really good friends from college (Jaclyn!) lives here and owns a shop called The Voluptuous Vixen , we get a local's insight into all the happenings in town, not to mention a Vespa to tool around on in the French Quarter. I will be posting more photos later, so stay posted.