Camera: Fujifilm XT 5.

So this is what I have for you today.

I just was not feeling it.
Out walking for an hour, I had only taken one photo of a man smoking.
I spent ages stealthily creeping up on him from behind trying not to give him the feeling that someone was creeping up on him from behind.
He was standing in half-shadow, but in a shaft of light sent from God, his curling smoke was luminescent. Holy smoke.

I got one photo, then he turned and walked back into the building.
My expectations were that this was going to be a portfolio keeper for sure.

I snuck a look (don’t chimp!) and it was decidedly rubbish and totally out of focus. Walking on, I deleted it in a flourish of self-disgust.

Wait.

This might be a pretty cool photo of a very interesting man sitting at a counter holding his coffee, deep in conversation.

Taking a photo through cafe windows of a person having their lunch is a pretty cheap shot really. But I was walking past and this guy really caught my eye. It was a Saul Leiter moment.

As you can see, my spontaneous ‘drive-by’ shot was not what I envisioned.

It made Smoking Man look decidedly artisanal.
But smoking man was gone. So….

It’s all I got.