Michael Arata

Michael's photoshoot was just great and so much fun! The combination of a fantastic actor (one of his many talents!) with that particular wall made for a wonderful photo (or rather photoS!) And what was really awesome was Michael's willingness to play the game without holding back (it was the first time we met.)
The wall is part of a majestic building on Esplanade, which is being fixed up (and maybe finished?) for, I believe, a movie studio (or something that has to do with movies).







Needless to say, I was very happy with Michael's pictures; yet the thing that really got me is the story he shared. It gave me goose bumps it's so moving. Also, the way he related the story was very real: as I was listening to him, I felt like I was there in that boarding school, and I was there on that airplane; yet I didn't expect what happened at the end of the story...

Jac Currie

Before getting into the story behind this shoot, I want to publicly apologize to Jac for misspelling his last name in the table of contents of the book... (I called him right away when I found out —I was mortified— and he was very gracious about it.) So Jac, sorry about the typo, and thank you for being so cool about it!

Jac's photoshoot was one of the most amazing of the project. The building was absolutely incredible, and it didn't hurt that Jac was a perfect fit.
I discovered Jac by way of Facebook, somehow stumbling upon the Defend New Orleans page. After a little search, I found who was behind this organization "dedicated to celebrating, preserving, and promoting New Orleans culture" (check it out: www.defendneworleans.com), and sent Jac a message. He not only responded, but he also immediately agreed to pose for the project.
A few weeks later, I was driving around my old neighborhood on Magazine Street when I came across a huge construction site occupying an entire block. It was all fenced in, but I looked in just as I passed by an open gate and couldn't believe what I saw: graffiti, after graffiti, after graffiti! I parked the car and found one of the workers, who after hearing my request (huh, could I please come in and take photos of someone in front of one of these walls?) called the site manager. He, of course, turned me down. Darn! But I couldn't give up. I did find out that the building had some sort of connection with the film industry, so I called a friend, and another friend, and eventually found out who the owner was. The next step was to call my Fairy Godmother who, once again, worked her magic: within the next hour, I had gotten permission from Susan Brennan (THANK YOU, Susan!!), and was invited to go in the next day.
The inside of the building was even more amazing than what I had seen:







I think Jac was just as amazed as I was...

Ben Sandmel

Ben Sandmel is a musician, a writer, and a story teller (among other talents). The story he shared for the New Orleans Walls book is one of my favorites, very visual and so comical!
I met Ben years ago when I was working at Ultrasonic Studios in New Orleans, where he would come by as a journalist to write about recording sessions, and also as a producer to work on the Hackberry Ramblers albums and documentary film. He also played on one or two sessions there.
We lost touch years ago but were reconnected by way of my Fairy Godmother (Haydée Ellis) and ended up meeting in one not so safe Mid-City neighborhood in April 2009. With all the textures and colors, there was definitely no shortage of walls in that part of town. So much life and feelings!
I don't think I can say enough how grateful I am to all the people who agreed to pose for the project, from the legendary Fats Domino to the sweet Miss Lily, and all other 80+ in between, including, Ben, who accepted to "act" along:

Roger Lewis

On the first weekend of Jazz Fest in 2009, I was hoping to somehow meet Dave Matthews (that's another long story I'll pass on...); instead, I was lucky to find Roger Lewis, the amazing saxophone player of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. He very kindly accepted to pose for the New Orleans Walls project, and we arranged to meet the following day at his house. Finding a "wall' in his neighborhood was a bit challenging, but I eventually spotted a garage door: when I saw this "wall", the thought of New Orleans being under-water during Katrina somehow hit me for good: I literally saw bubbles, then had the idea of trying to get Roger to pretend he was holding his breath —and blocking his nose— under water (you can see the picture of him holding his nose on Facebook).



I happened to snap a picture right when Roger let go of his hand, and I loved the intensity of his look so much that I decided to use that last picture for the book.
On the — short!— drive back to Roger's house, I asked him to start thinking about a specific moment of his life (my plan was to meet him at a later time, when we both had more time, to record his story.) Well, we ended up talking for about 45 minutes, and I so wish I had had a tape recorder then! Roger talked about his son's death in a very beautiful and touching way. Since I didn't feel I could do him justice by just writing from memory, we met again about a year later. However, we didn't get to talk about his son again, but the story that ended up in the book is quite funny and insightful.