| Waiters Race by Kim Welsh
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| Kim Welsh
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| Biografía | I enjoy exploring and attempting to document and capture the flavor of urban cultural life and celebration in our unique home, New Orleans. Ideally, my goal is to go beyond documentation and become an advocate for cultural preservation, to develop an understanding of their unique world view, and to respectfully translate that using visual imagery. Our diverse, vibrant, and spectacular cultural traditions should always be protected and encouraged as they are our treasure which often goes unrecognized. A lover of all genres of music and ethnic cuisine, New Orleans has always captivated me. I thrive on live music and backstreet culture. Most of my photography over the past few years has focused upon second-lines, brass bands, Mardi Gras Indians, Mardi Gras masqueraders, jazz funerals, “tumbles,” and musicians playing live in New Orleans and in the Mississippi Delta. From the juke joints of the Mississippi Delta to the clubs of New Orleans' inner city, I enjoy people-watching and listening to original music. I also adore festivals, regional cuisine, travel, dogs, cooking, and children of all ages.
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| Cita Preferida | There is much that is great and wonderful and exceptional about New Orleans, but nothing is more impressive than the fact that the richest elements of this city's culture are participatory. - Lolis Eric Elie
In 1879, the newspaper columnist Lafcadio Hearn took note of New Orleans' chronic states of decay, insolvency, lawlessness and prurience, yet still proclaimed: "It is better to live here in sackcloth and ashes than to own the whole state of Ohio."
"Look at all the second-liners. Everybody's got their own little take,
their own little move, their own way of swiveling that ankle, just the
way everybody has their own way of cooking red beans. We're very
lucky. It's a precious and irreplaceable and rare experience to be
part of a community where the sense of belonging comes from really
being yourself." Tom Piazza, author of "City of Refuge"
"The second line is so much more than a religion or an obsession or a cult even. Simply put, it's soul medicine. Whatever harsh realities life deals you through the week, a good ole four-hour long second line parade will burn that poison right on out of you." Big Red Cotton
“You're gonna find heaven right here on earth...
Way down yonder in New Orleans.”
— Louis Armstrong |
| Especialidad | New Orleans culture, musicians, festivals, parades, Mardi Gras Indians, Delta Mississippi Blues |
| Carrera Cubierta | New Orleans 2011 |
| Entrevista | WR: What do you like in Waiters Races?
Kim: The celebration of Bastille Day and a chance to honor and celebrate our local hardworking waiters and waitresses! |
| WR: How did you decide to shoot your first waiters race?
Kim: It's a great opportunity to support the frontlines of the restaurant industry as they sweat and speedwalk their way through the French Market District! I thought it would be a wonderful photo opportunity... and it was! |
| WR: What is your favorite photo of waiters race?
Kim: I especially love the close-ups of waiters as they speed walk and balance the items carefully on their trays. |
