Lombardi Gras
It would be a Mardi Gras season like no other in 2010 as following a victory of the Colts in Super Bowl XLIV the Saints would return to New Orleans to party with the Lombardi. The first of it’s kind, victory celebration parade was scheduled for Tuesday following the Super Bowl, only about 10 floats would roll in this parade but it would go down as the biggest turnout for a parade in the city’s history with an estimated 850,000 people crowding the streets to get a glimpse of the Saints return from Miami as Super Bowl XLIV Champions.
It was the happiest group of people I ever witnessed, a sea of people dressed in black and gold lined the streets of New Orleans, I spent the evening walking along Howard Avenue taking photos of the crowd and settled into a spot where Lee Circle turns up St. Charles Avenue. Below are a few pictures of fans that I took before the parade began.
The lady with the aluminum foil designed Lombardi Trophy was the first to catch my eye as I walked up St. Charles Avenue I would find the Lombardi Trophy was a common theme including the guys below who are already calling for a repeat next season.
Saints fans are a passionate bunch, heck I’m a fan as well, I’ve followed the team since about 1986 myself and the Saints winning the Super Bowl was a dream come true for me, what made it even more special in my case was I had the opportunity to document the journey. I covered minicamp, ota’s, training camp, press conference, pre season, every home game, two playoff home games and finally the Super Bowl in Miami, Flordia. So when the fan below came up to me with tears in his eyes screaming “We did it, we finally did it.” I knew how he felt.
After taking pictures of fans over a few hours while waiting for the parade, the moment had finally come the parade was in site and the first float featured to no surprise the Lombardi Trophy.
Later in the parade I notice a lighted ball with Super Bowl Champions, as it got near, confetti started to go up in the air, and the confetti fell around the ball making for a cool shot. 
One of the biggest draws of the parade was the opportunity to catch a glimpse of Super Bowl MVP, Saints quarterback Drew Brees and a glimpse it was as the float carrying Brees never came to a stop near my location so I have to get off a few quick shots before he passed me by. 
Later in the parade a float featuring many of the Saints defensive stars rolled up and when the float stopped as it made the turn up to St. Charles Avenue a number of players jumped off and began to celebrate with fans in the streets. Fans quickly filled the streets jumping barricades to touch or to take a picture with some of their favorite stars. I captured one black and gold fan with her face painted gold she spotted linebacker Scott Fujita and went up to him to get a hug.
As the parade neared it’s end a float featuring star running back Reggie Bush rolled up the street once again, this float wasn’t stopping so I had to move fast to try and get a photo, and in the process of scrambling to get in position and fighting through the crowd I lost the lens hood for my 70-200mm lens, despite the lost equipment I found a spot to get a shot of Bush as he threw some beads into the crowd.
Finally came the moment everyone was waiting for, Saints head coach on a float with the Lombardi Trophy, it was the reason everyone was there. It was the fans first chance to see the Lombardi Trophy in person and I only had a few precious seconds to get the shot, I changed to my long lens, a 400mm f/2.8 to get the shot, I got off four shots three of them turned out below is my favorite shot of the parade, Saints head coach Sean Payton holding out the Lombardi Trophy for fans to see. I can’t wait to see what next year has in store because this season was almost too amazing for words to describe.
