It is not the act of smoking that makes this image incongruous. It is the volume, concentration, and position of the smoke at the moment of release that makes it unusual. This man was sitting in the perfect spot for such a shot – at the end of a row of benches, beautifully backlighted before a dark background. This allows the smoke to become translucent and thus more visible Using a long 400mm telephoto focal length, I shot many frames of this man as he smoked, and eventually knew exactly when he would exhale. I pressed the shutter on this shot a moment afterwards, while a cloud of smoke still shrouds much of the man’s head.