When: May 30, 2026, 4 to 6PM
Where: A Gallery for Fine Photography – 7457 St. Charles Avenue – @ Cherokee St
Hosted by A Gallery for Fine Photography and The New Orleans Photo Alliance
Featuring Presentations by:
Eli Mergel, Interim President, New Orleans Photo Alliance
Joshua Mann Pailet, Chief, AGFP
Richard Sexton, current exhibiting photographer at AGFP
A moderated panel discussion will follow the presentations. All manner of questions are encouraged regarding the current state of photography in New Orleans, and beyond, and what the future holds for the medium.
About the Presenters:
Eli Mergel has gained a large portfolio in event, street, and architectural photography over the years. With a career in Information Technology and a past life within the Marines, Eli has the advantage of being on the cutting-edge while also being down-to-earth. When he is not in NYC shooting candid street, he can be found in New Orleans shooting events and local culture. He has been published in books about New Orleans, NYC, and Architecture, as well as papers, magazines, zines, and smaller publications.
Joshua Mann Pailet is the owner and founder of A Gallery for Fine Photography, the oldest continuously operating photography gallery in the United States. Based in New Orleans, AGFP is now in its 53rd year of operation and features work from photography’s inception in the early 19th Century to today. More information is available at www.agallery.com.
Richard Sexton is a fine art and media photographer whose work has been widely published and exhibited. He is the author/photographer of 18 photo books and has over 300,000 books in print. His work is included in the permanent holdings of The Historic New Orleans Collection, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans Museum of Art, High Museum of Art, Frost Art Museum, Southeast Museum of Photography, among others. In 2014 Richard received the Michael P. Smith Award for Documentary Photography from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. More information is available at www.richardsextonstudio.com.
About the Moderator:
RICHARD McCABE
Richard McCabe is a curator, photographer and writer based in New Orleans. He was born in England and grew up in the American South. In 1998, he received an MFA in Studio Art from Florida State University. He has taught Photography as an adjunct professor at: Pratt Institute, New York City, Montclair State University, Montclair, New Jersey, Fairfield University, Fairfield, Connecticut and Xavier University, New Orleans, Louisiana.
Since 2011, he has been the Curator of Photography at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. He has organized and curated over 40 exhibitions including: The Mythology of Florida, Eudora Welty: Photographs from the 1930s-40s, Self-Processing: Instant Photography, New Southern Photography, Memory is a Strange Bell: The Art of William Christenberry, Spell, Time, Practice, American, Body: The Work of RaMell Ross and Baldwin Lee.
McCabe’s thoughts and writings on photography have been published in the New York Times, Time, National Public Radio(NPR), Louisiana Cultural Vistas, Spot, The Bitter Southerner, HOTSHOE and LENSCRATCH magazine. In 2018, he contributed the introduction essay – The Reality on the Ground for the University of New Orleans press publication: New Southern Photography: Images of the Twenty-first Century South. In 2019 he wrote the introduction essay forthe Cattywampus press publication: Devin Lunsford: All the Place You’ve Got, and the essay – The North Star for the Ogden Museum publication – Memory is a Strange Bell: The Art of William Christenberry.