Patrick Melon

I’ve been a huge fan of photographer and explorer Patrick Melon (AKA @melontao) for quite some time. His images drip with passion, grit, and reflect life in New Orleans like no one else. His work is authentic through and through. Recently, over the holidays I was fortunate enough to walk around the city and capture him in action as we took in a Nola skyline, which is one of his many signature captures. Check out the rest of the images from our shoot together as well as a selection of my favorite images from Patrick below.

Canal Street

A photo posted by patrickmelon (@melontao) on Jan 5, 2016 at 4:05pm PST

deep down in the dirty

A photo posted by patrickmelon (@melontao) on Jan 2, 2016 at 8:25am PST

'Frenchmen Street Dance Party' One of five photos I have on display at the @mckennamuseum now through January. Thank you to everyone that made it to the opening of the @noirlinians exhibit for Photo NOLA and if you couldn't, there's still plenty of time to drop by and check it out.

A photo posted by patrickmelon (@melontao) on Dec 14, 2015 at 1:44pm PST

A photo posted by patrickmelon (@melontao) on Nov 23, 2015 at 12:26pm PST

Photo taken one year ago in November 2014 at a justice rally organized by @byp100 for Mike Brown held at Lee Circle, a monument to a slave-holding General of the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. Among many topics touched upon that day are the monuments held to Confederate generals erected all around the city. On this day, thanks to the efforts of @takeemdownnola and the many people behind the movement, the city of New Orleans has declared the statute of Robert E Lee and others "nuisances" and vowed to remove them from these sites. In the words of @cfreedom504 "and no, the struggle doesn't stop with these four statues, but we continue with a more cleansed environment for us to paint pictures of Black lives mattering." How do you see the removal of statues erected to slaveholding Confederate political figures being an advantage to the city? Do you see it as either a disadvantage or a neutral action? What further demands do you feel are most important to make due to the momentum of this historic decision? What does it mean for the embedded racism in New Orleans' history and will it all help the city to move forward as a whole? Lastly, what do you feel was the main impetus for such a decision being reached? #35mm #filmisnotdead #blacklivesmatter #takeemdownnola

A photo posted by patrickmelon (@melontao) on Dec 17, 2015 at 5:21pm PST

A photo posted by patrickmelon (@melontao) on Dec 25, 2015 at 2:11pm PST

one man can only do so much.

A photo posted by patrickmelon (@melontao) on Dec 24, 2015 at 4:09pm PST