How to Find the Best Places to Photograph New Orleans

Every time you turn around in New Orleans, you can click your camera and get a great shot. Here are a few special and favorite places in New Orleans where you can never take a bad photograph.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Camera
• Maps
• Transportation

1. Visit Audubon Park, home of the Audubon Zoological Gardens, and one of the two very large public parks in New Orleans. Audubon Park is home to "The Fly." The Fly is a piece of land on a batture. A batture is a place on the wrong side of a levee, a raised part of a river or lake. No one knows how "The Fly" got its name. It could be because the piece of land looks like a butterfly or because it was considered for a landfill once. The Fly, behind the zoo, is a popular place for picnics and pick up ball games. It is also where the John James Audubon cruise boat (nicknamed "the zoo cruise" because it travels between the Aquarium of the Americas downtown and the zoo) docks. The Fly is considered a fabulous place to take photos of the river and what happens on it.
2. The Point at Lake Pontchartrain is like The Fly, on the wrong side of the levee, but this time, the land sticks out into Lake Pontchartrain. At the west end of New Orleans, past the marina and yacht club, a road snakes past boathouses to a paved parking lot that overlooks the lake. Watch sailboats maneuver to the lake, see the masts of the yachts and watch the ducks sun on the rocks.
3. Walk toward the river on any French Quarter street, except Iberville. Omit Iberville, the closest street paralleling Canal Street, because it is an industrial corridor and somewhat unattractive. Get out your camera; on either side of every other street, you will see the balconies and architecture of the Quarter. You are likely to see a mule-drawn carriage clopping by. If you’re timing is right you might see a ship’s smokestack gliding down the Mississippi, a reminder that you’re walking on land developed by the French but built by the river.
4. Walk along the Moonwalk, on top of the Mississippi River levee at Decatur Street, a bounding street of the Quarter. Watch for unsavory characters. See the spectacle of ships negotiating the deepest turn on the entire river. Turn directly around and see Jackson Square, built around a statue of Andrew Jackson and dominated by St. Louis Cathedral, the Presbytere and the Cabildo.
5. Cross the river to the Algiers Point levee, and you will see downtown New Orleans looking back at you from the other side of the river. Nowhere does the city look better. Wave at the cruise ship passengers as you line up your shot of New Orleans.

Tips & Warnings

• No matter where you are in New Orleans, you will find photo opportunities. The city is old and is known as "The City that Care Forgot." She is a little seedy around the edges and definitely looks better at night, but your vacation here will be happily remembered by the photos you took. New Orleans wants you to take many photos to remind you of your trip and also remind you to return.