Heavy fog had settled over Jackson Square as I made this image. While the fog gave the image an timeless atmospheric quality, the bright blue and red umbrella at the right edge of the frame originally pulled the eye away from the center of interest, which is the pair of pedestrians at center. I converted the image to black and white to draw the eye back to the center of the image, relegating the umbrella to the background. The figure in the long coat or dress seems as if it has come from another time, adding a haunted quality to the scene. To those who know New Orleans history, the ghostly scene will also be reinforced by the presence of the fog-shrouded Pontalba Apartments in the background. Built in 1850, these apartments flank both sides of Jackson Square, and are said to be the oldest continuously occupied rented rooms in the United States. (Some of them are considered haunted – Clarence John Laughlin, whose book “Ghosts along the Mississippi” set the standard for haunting imagery, lived here in a Pontalba apartment for many years.)