I’m really happy with this photo. The focus is sharp. The composition is good and the contrast between the man’s white beard and cigarette, and the greyscale background pops. I’ll give myself a nine out of ten.

…

Smoking. It’s one of those things that despite the overwhelming evidence of its badness, is still habituated by many.

Think lung cancer, but think of worse things than that.

Smoke long enough and be unlucky enough to develop a severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and your life will be a long slow debilitating misery of strangulation.

Despite all this. There is something that smokers have that I envy. Not every smoker has it.
The guy in this picture has it.

That apparent sheer in-the-momentness of stepping out of the world for a few moments to do nothing but satisfy the craving.

Despite the obvious effect of a nicotine hit, I think it has something to do with the intimacy between smoking a cigarette a the breath. There is a focus on the inhalation….a draw.
A pause. And a slow purposeful release.
An embodied moment of inward relaxation and reflection.

Sort of like meditation.

This photo is part of my self-imposed greyscale photographic challenge. Here are the rules.