The blues in black and white

I could have been deaf and still heard the blues as I walked up the steps into the newest gallery in Baton Rouge, Ocken Photography. The lighting was dim and relaxed. The guests were dressed like springtime. Blues music was playing, the wine was pouring, and the smiles came at you with ease. Jenn Ocken’s gallery was open.

The atmosphere was so infectious I wished

I had a camera instead of a notebook. A T-shirt-wearing Shih Tzu mix led me to the photo room, and there I met Sweet Rosie. She played the accordion, staring defiantly yet jubilantly into the sky. I wanted to hear the music, hear her story, and ask her all my questions. But truth be told, Rosie was a photograph. So were Otis, James Brown, “Gatemouth” Brown, and John Richardson. And I’d never be able to get any of them to talk to me.

Five years ago, Jenn Ocken started photographing blues festivals from San Francisco, Chicago and New Orleans to Little Rock. “You can’t stage a good portrait!” she told me. But you can capture them, as Ocken does with grace.

She pointed to a portrait of a wizened-looking guitar man. It was CeDell Davis, whose polio caused him to work the fretboard like a butter knife. The resulting sound revolutionized blues slide guitar, Ocken said. Then she led me to the front wall and three antique wooden doors. Each of their panels was set with a still-life photo of a musical instrument. I wanted to reach through that window to the past and pick up the horn.

Ocken’s favorite, though, may be “Piano Eyes.” From that photo, Henry Townsend looked at me through an open baby grand. Ocken had to fill me in on his story. “He was a St. Louis blues musician, and he died at 96 after eight decades of music and a posthumous Grammy.” She had spotted Townsend at the Mississippi Valley Blues Festival in Davenport, Iowa. She didn’t have much time, but with a long lens, a keen instinct, and a little faith, Ocken shot Townsend “Hail Mary” style, with the camera above her head.

At the end of the evening, I didn’t want to leave. I watched the deejays packing up and the guests slowly filtering out of this world. I was sent home with a package of savory Szechuan green beans, but the centerpiece of the evening was Ocken’s work, her passion for photography, and the blues on full display for the first time.

Ocken Photography is located in Kenilworth Plaza at 7384 Highland Road U4.

ockenphotography.com