logo
Ryan Hodgson-Rigsbee
RHRphoto@gmail.com
+504.708.3144


  • Carnival 2019
  • Mardi Gras Makers
  • Land of Dreams (New Orleans)
    • Recent Work
      • Carnival 2018
      • Wild Opelousas
      • Iggy
      • 2017
      • Monuments
      • Monogram Hunters
      • Faces of Jazz Fest 2017
      • Women's March
      • Edwin Harrison
      • Queen Mercy
      • Alton Sterling
      • Best of 2015
      • Running of the Bulls 2015
      • Bloomingdale Trail
      • Mid Summer Mardi Gras
    • Main Projects
      • Carnival Season
      • Urban Nature
      • The Woods
      • Music
      • Rockwell Gardens
      • Music Festival Culture
      • Take a Hike
      • Music II
      • Portraits
    • Winfield
      • Winfield Overview
      • The Phoenix: Winfield 2017
      • Winfield Portraits
      • Winfield 2016 (audio)
      • ORDER - Winfield 2016: Flood Stage zine
      • Winfield 2015 (audio)
      • Winfield 2014 (audio)
      • Winfield 2013 (audio)
      • Winfield 2012
      • Winfield 2008 Lake Year
      • Loaded Goat Stage 7 set (audio)
      • Mike Helvey (audio)
      • Kansas City Bear Fighters Stage 7 set (audio)
    • New Orleans
      • New Orleans
      • Carnival 2017
      • Carnival 2016
      • Carnival Time 2015 (audio)
      • French Quarter Fest
      • Indians 2014 (audio)
      • Mardi Gras 2014 (audio)
      • Southern Decadence
      • Birdfoot 2015 (audio)
      • Birdfoot 2014 (audio)
      • Birdfoot 2013 (audio)
      • Halloween 2016
      • Jazz Fest 2015
      • Running of the Bulls 2016
      • Jazz Fest 2014
      • For Uncle Lionel
      • Chaz Fest
      • Never Records (sample edit)
      • Exhibit BE
      • Satchmo Fest
      • Block Party
      • Noise Ordinance
      • Mardi Gras Indians 2013
      • Jazz Fest 2013
      • Carnival Season 2013
    • Archive
      • Minute Woman
      • Defending Their Families: Ohio militia
      • 2013 Highlights
      • Best of 2014
      • 2012
      • Lotto
      • High School
      • Muscle
      • Cuttin Class - Landry Walker
      • Cuttin Class - Red Wolf Brass Band
      • Birdfoot Mentoring
      • Shopping Season
    • About
      • Bio/C.V.
      • Contact
      • Contributors
    • Store
      • Prints
      • A Year and Some Change (Pub 2013)
      • While Wandering: Chicago (1-2-3 Book series, 2011)
      • visiting Mardi Gras (pub 2011)
      • Festival (1-2-3 Book series, 2011)
      • Winfield (1-2-3 Book series, 2011)
    • Links
      • (weddings) RHR Weddings
      • Joe Stolarick
      • Scott Edwards Gallery (NOLA)
      • Birdfoot Festival
      • WWOZ
      • Southern Glossary
      • Never Records
    • Gallery Shows
      • Moscow (Group Show) May 2014
      • A Year and Some Change at Scott Edwards Gallery (Feb 2 - Apr 6 2012)
      • Queens Rule (Group Show) Dec 2014 - Jan 2015
      • Reframing Ruin: A Prelude to the Bloomingdale (Feb 28-Aug 22, 2013)


The Woods
photography by Ryan Hodgson-Rigsbee
shot between 2008-2017

The Woods was my secret garden. A place where I could go to escape the rhythms of city life. The land was once a bend in the Chicago River, then shipping yards, before falling out of use in the early 1900's. Since then this no man's land has grown wild. A small woods led into a prairie with a mountain range like view of the skyline.

In April 2010 the City of Chicago cut down the Woods to put in a multi million dollar park, and by 2017 the prairie region was cut down in anticipation of future development.

Watching the inevitable destruction of the Woods in the name of development, makes me thankful for my time wandering the wild lands just south of downtown.