Nicolas Reuland, Up in Smoke

“Celebrating my 10th year off the fags, I thought that I would shoot a series of smokers’ portraits, they are after all… a dying breed… Banished to the back of office buildings, kicked out onto the street outside pubs and restaurants, they are the lepers of our society. Yet, they are the ones who have the best craic, the juiciest gossip and the strongest connections. This collection is dedicated to these masons of a new age. I don’t – or rather I no longer – believe in stealing someone’s image from the safe distance afforded by a 300mm telelens. I enjoy the interaction, the eye contact, the simplicity of the approach. I am fast. The first frame is usually the best, like a photographic DNA sample which, I hope, captures borrows the essence of the model. I have not embarked on an anti smoking crusade. I am not a preacher. I only ask three questions of all the people I photograph: their first name, the average number of cigarettes they smoke in a day, their age when they first started smoking.”

About Nicolas Reuland

Nicolas Reuland is a self-taught photographer. He enjoys scary things like skydiving, suggesting splitting the bill at the end of a four course meal with accountants, or going up to total strangers on the street and asking for their permission to photograph them up close and personal. The first frame is usually the best. You have to move fast, people become rapidly self-conscious and then the moment is lost.