Framed and Signed photograph of Leo Nocentelli of The Meters taken before his show at Tipitina's. 

About the Artist: 

For fans, and even many longtime friends, of WWL-TV anchor Eric Paulsen, word of his photography hobby came not through Facebook or prints of favorite images framed on his walls, but through – of all things – a published book. Your Power Is On!: A Little Book of Hope features more than 40 of Paulsen’s photographs accompanying inspirational messages and favorite scripture passages of his friend and co-anchor Sally-Ann Roberts. When Pelican Publishing Company released the book last year it opened new eyes to an old hobby for this multi-talented TV journalist.

“Sally had seen my photos over the years and as she talked about doing the book, I invited her over to my house to look through some of my photographs and see which ones might lend themselves to the book she had in mind,” he says. Many of the photos came from Paulsen’s vacation trips, to places as far away as Spain, Canada, the Caribbean and Italy – including a striking one of a sunset in Capri that graces the book’s cover. Other photos highlight the rich natural beauty of Louisiana’s bayou country, City Park and Lake Pontchartrain.

Paulsen says his interest in photography dates back to his early years in his native St. Louis, and later as a college student at Southern Illinois University.

“I took a film class there and I guess that’s what first opened my eyes to the world of photography. I’ve loved it ever since,” he explains. He even has the photo of himself to prove it: a young blonde-haired Eric Paulsen, photographing himself gazing into a mirror. Years later, when he met his wife Bethany, also a onetime photography student, she pulled out a similar photo of herself in almost exactly the same pose. He dedicated his photographs in Your Power Is On! to her.

Though his career path put him in front of the camera, Paulsen says he has always kept up the photography hobby, especially as WWL (which he joined in 1977) offered him opportunities to travel the world – often with a still camera in hand right alongside his microphone. He traveled extensively for Channel 4’s nightly show “PM Magazine” in the ’80s, sometimes carrying his personal camera, sometimes not. The rigors of the production schedule often meant the hobby took a back seat to the work.

“I did take some great shots in a balloon over Burgundy, France, but some of my biggest regrets are not having a camera with me for my interviews with Ella Fitzgerald and Tennessee Williams,” he says.

As his passion for photography has grown, Paulsen says nature photos, and landscapes in particular, have become his favorite. For someone who has risen before the sun for some 30 years to anchor Channel 4’s “Eyewitness Morning News,” it may be a surprise that night photography is also a favorite.

“The different images you get, with different exposures and streams of light are just beautiful,” he says.

While he loves taking photos around town, Paulsen also says that his travels around the world have provided him with some particularly memorable shots. Favorites include photos taken in Paris and Florence, while one shot from Quebec of a red-roofed church covered in snow also stands out.

As a young photo buff, Paulsen says he was known to burn up an entire roll of film while trying to get the perfect shot. But he has embraced the advances of digital photography and the tools that can enhance great shots or erase the simplest of mistakes. That technology even includes his smartphone, which he confesses he used to snap one of the photos featured in the book.

“In the end, it isn’t about the camera or the technology. It’s really all about the eye.”

-Taken from 

http://www.myneworleans.com/New-Orleans-Magazine/August-2014/TV-Guys-Through-A-Different-Lens/