The weather changed for the better on the final day of my visit to New Orleans: the sun finally appeared. Since I was photographing on my own, and not tied to the rigid schedule of a tour guide, I could take all the time I needed in search of expressive light and its effect on human values. While walking along Bourbon Street, I noticed a group of three men conversing in the shadows of portico supporting the façade of a 19th century building. I studied their relaxed body language from across the street for several minutes, moving my vantage point to change their relationship within the frame. (I never could have done this if I had been with a guided tour – the group would have already departed while I watched and waited for body language to fall into place.) Finally, the man in the foreground turned away from my camera, and leaned his head against the pole supporting the portico. The crouching man wearing a hat was talking, while the other two men listened. Six elements move the eye across the frame – the bike chained to the post, the red fabric in the window, and the three men, carefully separated from each other by a minimal amount of negative space. Meanwhile, the glorious morning light plays along the curb, sidewalk and the sills of the windows, as well as on the man at far right, who sits atop a newspaper container. Light itself becomes the stage upon which this photograph plays out.