Photographing Mardi Gras while at home during Covid-19 quarantine
Happy Mardi Gras! I have to confess, I love New Orleans. It’s a phenomenal city that also goes by names like The Big Easy, Crescent City, or the City of the Dead. I’ve visited several times, but never during Mardi Gras (or Fat Tuesday). Yet, this year, with the pandemic still upon us, most of us celebrate Mardi Gras at home.
But how do we photograph Mardi Gras while in quarantine?
You don’t have to live in New Orleans to add a few carnival colors to your life. Rather, you can use Mardi Gras decorations to add a hint of NOLA to your living quarters. Decorations can include beads, masks, mostly in purple (for justice), green (faith), and gold (power).
In order to capture the Mardi Gras 2021 (at home) visual story, try to include detail, as well as wide-angle shots.
Focus on the mood you want to evoke in your images–carnival mood, dark and mysterious, dark and scary (as mentioned above, NOLA is also called the City of the Dead, in part for its history related to above-the-ground graves, ghosts, and vampires.
But Crescent City is also famous for all its jazz, street festivals and performances, for its food and art scene…as well as for Hurricane Katrina and the devastation left in its aftermath.
Wishing you all a safe and Happy Mardi Gras!
Let the good times roll!
Alina Oswald 