DC Streets: Readin’n’Smokin’ on Flickr.

Guy smoking.

Manchester: Lighted on Flickr.

One thing I really like doing is just photographing a group of people standing around. Mostly because it’s an excuse not to talk and just take in the conversation. So when you have a group of folks huddled together outside for a smoke, there are obviously going to be fun little shots like this.

DC Streets: Smoke on Flickr.

I love getting a good shot of smoke. It can be very difficult and often completely up to chance. Especially with subjects in the wild. Lots of movement and the normal street issues of trying not to be noticed.

I don’t actually smoke. It costs too much, in all ways. But it does make for dynamic subject matter.

More often than not, the first shot is my keeper with a subject like this. It’s almost as if the main decisive moment with a particular subject is the first one you notice. Then the rest just never really get to that point.

This is, in my opinion, because the presence of the camera changes the scene too much. Even when they subject is unaware of the photographer, the photographer comes to focus on the scene too much and that creates issues.

DC Streets: Got a Light? on Flickr.

I seriously love when I get a good shot of hands on the fly. I really like this image. Looking closely, you wonder why he has a stump of a cigarette, why is he holding it that way? Lots of interesting questions.

Honestly, it’s photography that makes me get out an experience the city. I’m not really a fan of being around so many people. The camera allows me a reason to be there, allows me a way to understand the life of a city. I’m pretty sure if I didn’t take pictures, I’d be agoraphobic. I’d just move from points A to B and actively avoid what was around me. Now I take the time.