NEW ORLEANS

"Laissez les bon temps rouler!"

There is a lot that goes in to the making and publishing of any book. NEW ORLEANS was long overdue and is a case in point. Yes, longtime photographers Arnold "Arnie" Zann and Margo Taussig Pinkerton have had many exhibitions and awards over the decades, and their photographs have been published in numerous books, but they have never before published a fine art book of their own.

Margo and Arnie have been photographing in New Orleans since the 80s, separately at first, then together when they met and joined lives.

In more recent times, before the onset of the pandemic, they have gone back once a year without fail. There are always favorites that stick with most photographers, the ones that keep beckoning. It is no different for Arnie and Margo, and those images are included in this book. New Orleans, after all, knows no time boundaries.

Both Margo and Arnie find inspiration in The Big Easy with its ever-changing cast of characters and quality of light. They delight in meandering in and around the French Quarter, taking in the architecture, window displays, and street performers, and always listening to the music, some world-class, others, merely enthusiastic.

Every time they return to this amazing city, they never tire of their "routine" — wandering the same streets, ducking into many of the same establishments, getting to know new ones, and always finding different ways to interpret what they see.

In this book, these artists bring two views of a historic and amazing city. Arnie is drawn to the visceral and sometimes-raw aspects of New Orleans, while Margo is attracted to light and shadow, line and form, regardless of the subject. Those who know The Big Easy well say that this is not a tourist book; rather it is the work and interpretation of people who know the city well and who see it as natives do.

Meanwhile, there is a timeline of information, both stills and videos, on the making and publishing of NEW ORLEANS, released in November 2020.

Brilliant in Exton, Pennsylvania did the printing and varnishing in September. Next came the folding into signatures. For those who don't know, take a book out of your library and look at the ends. You will see natural divisions; those are what are known as signatures in the publishing world.

The signatures then went off to the binders around September 20, and authors always have to wait for their turn in line. The signatures had to be "bunched" and sewn, the fly leaves applied to the cases (what most lay people call covers), and then actual binding.

Since the books were released in the fall of 2020, Arnie and Margo have been busy signing, and in the case of the Special and Premium Editions, adding a special, personal inscription for those who wish it.