{"id":1849221,"date":"2026-03-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1849221"},"modified":"2026-03-26T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T21:00:00","slug":"frank-relles-photos-revel-in-louisianas-otherworldly-swampland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1849221","title":{"rendered":"Frank Relle\u2019s Photos Revel in Louisiana\u2019s Otherworldly Swampland"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content prose-colossal max-w-none\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignfull is-style-default entry-header is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-fe9cc265 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"colo-post-featured-image wp-block-post-featured-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/relle-6.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"A large, healthy cypress tree in a Louisiana swamp, illuminated against a dark sky\" style=\"object-fit:cover\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\u201cBerard.\u201d All images \u00a9 Frank Relle, shared with permission<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"wp-block-group post-title is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-0bc941e6 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<h1 class=\"alignfull wp-block-post-title\">Frank Relle\u2019s Photos Revel in Louisiana\u2019s Otherworldly Swampland<\/h1>\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignfull post-meta is-layout-flex wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-post-date\"><time datetime=\"2026-03-26T17:49:05-05:00\">March 26, 2026<\/time><\/div>\n<div class=\"taxonomy-category wp-block-post-terms\"><a class=\"category-nature\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/category\/nature\/\" rel=\"tag\">Nature<\/a><a class=\"category-photography\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/category\/photography\/\" rel=\"tag\">Photography<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block-post-author-name\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/author\/kmothes\/\" target=\"_self\" class=\"wp-block-post-author-name__link\">Kate Mothes<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignfull post-share-group is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-6c531013 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-outermost-social-sharing has-visible-labels has-icon-color is-style-logos-only is-layout-flex wp-block-outermost-social-sharing-is-layout-flex\">\n<li style=\"color: #1c1e0d\" class=\"outermost-social-sharing-link outermost-social-sharing-link-facebook has-crow-color wp-block-outermost-social-sharing-link\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thisiscolossal.com%2F2026%2F03%2Ffrank-relle-until-the-water-bayou-louisiana-swamps-photographs%2F&amp;title=Frank%20Relle%27s%20Photos%20Revel%20in%20Louisiana%27s%20Otherworldly%20Swampland\" aria-label=\"Share\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"wp-block-outermost-social-sharing-link-anchor\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"wp-block-outermost-social-sharing-link-label \"><br \/>\n\t\t\tShare\t\t<\/span><br \/>\n\t<\/a>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"color: #1c1e0d\" class=\"outermost-social-sharing-link outermost-social-sharing-link-pinterest has-crow-color wp-block-outermost-social-sharing-link\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/pinterest.com\/pin\/create\/button\/?&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thisiscolossal.com%2F2026%2F03%2Ffrank-relle-until-the-water-bayou-louisiana-swamps-photographs%2F&amp;description=Frank%20Relle%27s%20Photos%20Revel%20in%20Louisiana%27s%20Otherworldly%20Swampland&amp;media=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thisiscolossal.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2026%2F03%2Frelle-6-960x720.jpg\" aria-label=\"Pin\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"wp-block-outermost-social-sharing-link-anchor\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-TGFg498x\" data-rl_title data-rl_caption title><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"wp-block-outermost-social-sharing-link-label \"><br \/>\n\t\t\tPin\t\t<\/span><br \/>\n\t<\/a>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"color: #1c1e0d\" class=\"outermost-social-sharing-link outermost-social-sharing-link-mail has-crow-color wp-block-outermost-social-sharing-link\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/cdn-cgi\/l\/email-protection#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\" aria-label=\"Email\" class=\"wp-block-outermost-social-sharing-link-anchor\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"wp-block-outermost-social-sharing-link-label \"><br \/>\n\t\t\tEmail\t\t<\/span><br \/>\n\t<\/a>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><button class=\"simplefavorite-button preset\" data-postid=\"471929\" data-siteid=\"1\" data-groupid=\"1\" data-favoritecount=\"0\"><i class=\"sf-icon-bookmark\"><\/i>Bookmark<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>When photographer <a href=\"https:\/\/frankrelle.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Frank Relle<\/a> was nine years old, he remembers sneaking out of the house he grew up in in New Orleans just before daybreak to catch the sunrise\u2014an event he found frustratingly difficult to explain to others, as much as he wished to share the experience. It was only years later that he discovered the camera, and he reflects on this time now through the lens of an excerpt from the essay \u201cBetween Yes and No\u201d by Albert Camus: \u201cA man\u2019s work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Relle adds, \u201cThe swamp was that opening for me. I do not fully understand how. I went in once, and something happened; I changed, and then I kept going back.\u201d  The New Orleans-based photographer still returns to the swamps of Louisiana, watched over by bald cypress trees draped in ethereal swathes of Spanish moss. He canoes onto the calm waters, capturing the transition between day and night amid the sounds of birds and other creatures that make their homes there.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/relle-5.jpg\" class=\"swipebox\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-471929\" title=\"\u201cBabsoo\u201d\" data-rl_title=\"\u201cBabsoo\u201d\" data-rl_caption=\"\u201cBabsoo\u201d\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/relle-5.jpg\" alt=\"A large, healthy cypress tree draped with Spanish moss in a Louisiana swamp, illuminated against a dark sky\" class=\"wp-image-471934\"><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\u201cBabsoo\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI work in the swamp because it returns me to a way of being that feels older, quieter, and more true,\u201d Relle tells Colossal, continuing:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Out there, surrounded by trees, insects, birds, reflections, and dark water, I stop living inside the noise of my own mind. The swamp pulls me out of the island of myself and places me back inside a larger living world. In that state, I feel wonder, connection, and a kind of freedom. Photography became my way of sharing that feeling\u2014not by explaining it but by inviting others into it.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Relle\u2019s series <em>Until the Water <\/em>explores Louisiana\u2019s otherworldly bayous through a lens of serene reverence. He places lights beneath boughs and trunks, illuminating trees against darkening horizons to emphasize their billowing shapes amid expansive wetlands distinctive to the Gulf Coast region of North America.<\/p>\n<p>Time is both evident and seemingly suspended in Relle\u2019s photos, as within the context of a single day ending or beginning, we observe mature cypresses that may have weathered hundreds of years. (The oldest known living tree in eastern North America is a bald cypress in North Carolina that\u2019s more than <a href=\"https:\/\/earthsky.org\/earth\/north-america-oldest-trees-bald-cypress\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2,600 years old<\/a>.) Some of the trees are abundantly leafy and full, while others are bare, struggling, or cracked open.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/relle-8.jpg\" class=\"swipebox\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-471929\" title=\"\u201cLemeire\u201d\" data-rl_title=\"\u201cLemeire\u201d\" data-rl_caption=\"\u201cLemeire\u201d\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1439\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/relle-8.jpg\" alt=\"A swamp in Louisiana at dusk with huge cypress trees silhouetted in the foreground, with one illuminated from below in the background\" class=\"wp-image-471937\"><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\u201cLemeire\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThe swamp at two in the morning is not quiet; it is one of the loudest places I have ever been,\u201d Relle says. \u201cBut a photograph of it is silent. And in that silence, there is an opening. A threshold\u2026.That is what I wanted when I was small, watching the sky change. Not to describe it. To bring someone else to the edge of it. To share it without words.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Find more on Relle\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/frankrelle\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Instagram<\/a>, and purchase prints in his <a href=\"https:\/\/frankrelle.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">online shop<\/a>. And if you\u2019re in New Orleans, visit his brick-and-mortar gallery on Royal Street.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/relle-4.jpg\" class=\"swipebox\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-471929\" title=\"\u201cAugereaux\u201d\" data-rl_title=\"\u201cAugereaux\u201d\" data-rl_caption=\"\u201cAugereaux\u201d\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1175\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/relle-4.jpg\" alt=\"A swamp in Louisiana at dusk with huge cypress trees silhouetted in the foreground of a sky dotted with clouds\" class=\"wp-image-471933\"><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\u201cAugereaux\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/relle-7.jpg\" class=\"swipebox\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-471929\" title=\"\u201cCesaire\u201d\" data-rl_title=\"\u201cCesaire\u201d\" data-rl_caption=\"\u201cCesaire\u201d\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1600\" height=\"2133\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/relle-7.jpg\" alt=\"A swamp in Louisiana at dusk with huge cypress trees silhouetted in the foreground, with one illuminated from below in the center\" class=\"wp-image-471936\"><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\u201cCesaire\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/relle-3.jpg\" class=\"swipebox\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-471929\" title=\"\u201cAttakapas\u201d\" data-rl_title=\"\u201cAttakapas\u201d\" data-rl_caption=\"\u201cAttakapas\u201d\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/relle-3.jpg\" alt=\"Large cypress trees draped with Spanish moss in a Louisiana swamp, illuminated against a dark sky\" class=\"wp-image-471932\"><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\u201cAttakapas\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/relle-1.jpg\" class=\"swipebox\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-471929\" title=\"\u201cAlhambra\u201d\" data-rl_title=\"\u201cAlhambra\u201d\" data-rl_caption=\"\u201cAlhambra\u201d\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/relle-1.jpg\" alt=\"A swamp in Louisiana at dusk with huge cypress trees silhouetted against a golden sky\" class=\"wp-image-471930\"><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\u201cAlhambra\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/relle-2.jpg\" class=\"swipebox\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-471929\" title=\"\u201cAmano\u201d\" data-rl_title=\"\u201cAmano\u201d\" data-rl_caption=\"\u201cAmano\u201d\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1792\" height=\"2400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/relle-2.jpg\" alt=\"A large, fallen-down cypress tree draped with Spanish moss in a Louisiana swamp, illuminated against a dark sky\" class=\"wp-image-471931\"><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\u201cAmano\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<aside class=\"after-entry\" role=\"complementary\" aria-label=\"After Entry\">\n<section id=\"block-16\" class=\"widget widget_block widget_text\">\n<p><mark style=\"background-color:#88caf0\" class=\"has-inline-color\"><strong>Do stories and artists like this matter to you?<\/strong><\/mark> Become a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/members\/\" 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