The city of New Orleans is a magical place filled with all kinds of history and mystery. Louisiana-based photographer Frank Relle captures the nighttime magic of the city in his ongoing collection of New Orleans Nightscapes. He uses long exposures to capture the feeling of the powerful, haunting beauty throughout his hometown.
Away from the celebrations and festivals like Mardi Gras and Jazzfest, Relle finds quiet moments where huge, old oak trees with thick trunks and expressive branches line the streets and extend out over old homes that are worn and weathered.
The artist focuses on the stunning architecture because, he says, “I found the buildings of New Orleans, within the architecture, there are the stories of New Orleans. [The stories are] built into that architecture. And there’s lots of different stories and lots of different characters.”
Relle works at night and brings lights with him to illuminate the structures with a beautiful glow that spreads across the faades in a magical way. He intentionally leaves a bit of space in the foreground so that viewers have space to imagine stepping into the photograph and experiencing the beauty of each place in person.
