Just after wrapping ‘Crimes’ and ‘Breakup’, I did this photoshoot. The original version of this shot was supposed to be the model standing by herself lighting the cigarette. For the life of her, though, she couldn’t get the lighter to work. I went over to light the cigarette for her, and decided to take a picture with the self timer, just something fun and indulgent for my self. Later that week, I had some work prints made up from various recent shoots, to show my teacher. I had this pic printed up, but forgot it was in the stack, until my teacher came across it. He was wasn’t really impressed by anything else from the ‘crimes’ and ‘breakup’ series, but loved this shot for some reason. I told him it was just a pic of me as a joke, and he said he didn’t care, it was still a great picture. He also commented how this should have been the direction I went with the ‘breakup’ series, more subtle and edgy. It really made me reevaluate my style, though I’m not sure the effects on how I shot were immediate. I think it took a little while for my style to catch up to that photo. On a side note, that photo was lit with only car headlights and the lighter.
