The Creators
Rick Dobbs is the award winning creative director of UNREAL, a multi-disciplinary creative studio based out of New Orleans with clients world wide. Rick was previously art director at MGM-MIRAGE's Beau Rivage Resort in Biloxi, Mississippi, and at XDesign in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. With over 15 years of advertising and design experience, Rick is zealous about creating clean, effective design that tells a story and starts a conversation. The idea for Local Spirit: Neighborhood Bars of Orleans Parish has absorbed Rick for a long time, and it's a beautiful homage to the spirit of a city he loves.
During a military exercise in Germany, while serving as a Tank Commander, Ken Murphy lost his right index finger to an explosive device. He was reassigned to a hobby shop at Fort Leonardwood, Missouri. There he discovered photography. He began to study the art and eventually began his life's work of photographing Mississippi. The results of his efforts are now four volumes: My South Coast Home (2001); Mississippi (2007); Mississippi: State of Blues (with Scott Barretta) (2011); Jackson (2014); and now Local Spirit: Neighborhood Bars of Orleans Parish. Ken lives and works in his lifelong hometown of Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. In 2003 Rick hired Ken for a photo shoot – they have been close friends, cohorts and collaborators since.
