12Jun

The Steamboat Natchez, The Mississippi River, And New Orleans Reflect From The Back Of A Marine Searchlight

The Steamboat Natchez is the last authentic fully steam powered paddle boat operating on the Mississippi River today. It docks in the Port of New Orleans and holds Mississippi River tours and steam calliope concerts multiple times a day. The Wild Images Team has focused a large amount of photographic time on the Steamboat Natchez, including recording full-length calliope concerts, taking photos of the Mississippi River while embarking on its tours, and capturing images of the different components of the boat itself. Such was the case for this particular picture, taken one day by The Wild Images Team while awaiting the Natchez to launch on another Mississippi River tour. Above the top deck sits two tower structures that the crew use to call out instructions to the wheelhouse through megaphones during the docking of the boat. On top of each of these tower structures is a large marine searchlight. We were drawn by the detailed reflection off the back of one of the marine searchlights. Close inspection will show the sun, a cloudy blue sky, the brown Mississippi waters on the right, the green top deck of the Natchez with white rails, the hoisted American flag, the black steamship stacks, the red top rails of the tower structure, and the city of New Orleans on the left with the green and yellow loading tent in the foreground. The Wild Images Team has captured many other images in New Orleans including the prominent Hotel Monteleone and surrounding buildings, beautiful French Quarter ironwork view through the cornstalk fence, intricate designs of a house facade and lamp shadows, nice reflection of a bridge in the Louis Armstrong Park, dynamic view as a Canal Line streetcar passes a St. Charles Line streetcar, the eerie nighttime view of Pirates Alley of the French Quarter, an example of an urban art sign stenciled on the wall, the distant building and colorful lights of the French Market, chance encounter with a teddy bear silhouette in French Market window, more north can be found an ornate mausoleum of Greenwood Cemetery, elsewhere is a heavenly scene over Cypress Grove Cemetery, more south was a sunset over the Mississippi River delta, all of which are available for sale in our store. Our blog posts of New Orleans document the midnight crowd at always busy Cafe du Monde, the dimly lit stocked shelves of Loa Bar in the International House Hotel, the colorful French Quarter Wedding Chapel at night, the happy couple leading a wedding procession on Chartres Street, far down the French Quarter where intricately colorful balconies stand above Chartres Street, the moment when entertainers welcomed crowds to the Jax Brewery, the street performer human statue Uncle Louis poses with a visitor, the pink hues of a rare colorful mausoleum in Greenwood Cemetery, the long shadows of bikes chained to old pump lamp posts, reflections of the bus commuters in front of a St. Charles Line Streetcar, a view of the city reflected in the Steamboat Natchez searchlight, the nighttime view of lighted tugboats along the Mississippi River, the steampunk view of the PBF Petroleum Refinery along the Mississippi River, the St. Charles Avenue Irish House Guinness Toucan Time For A Pint clock, the humorous but serious condominium listing warning that the place for lease is haunted, the listing that creates relief by being not haunted, our always entertaining Team Coordinator Christina in Cafe Maspero, and again our Team Coordinator under the Guinness Toucan clock. A distance away from New Orleans to the west are the enormous swamps of the Atchafalaya Basin, where we have captured numerous great photos such as the alligator with cypress tree reflections, a group of alligators with dragonflies, a very large cypress tree and Spanish moss, a thick cypress tree grove reflects in the still water, a large swarm of dragonflies congregate on a marsh plant, a very red sunset through the cypress trees, and a reflective sunset through the Spanish moss, each of which is available for sale in our store. Another image captured much further away to the west along the Gulf of Mexico coast is this very remote cemetery near Cote Blanche Bay, and much further away to the north up the Mississippi River is the Myrtles Plantation front yard walkway, each of which are available for sale in our store. We have also documented much of our time in Louisiana in many different blog posts such as in the Atchafalaya Basin where we encountered an open style honeybee hive and Spanish moss and down near the gulf coast with another view of the remote cemetery near Cote Blanche Bay.

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