Smoking Photos & Pictures of YOU

[Stinky]

I'm always looking for good "Cigar Themed" photos. I tend to "study" photos for composition & content. Over the years, I've developed a dislike for pictures of guys (anyone) with a cigar in their mouth. Having a cigar clenched in your teeth, or lips prominently posed while drawing on a cigar . . . never yields anything flattering to the guy. [girls different thread!]

Of course, this is my personal opinion! Your opinion may vary. Many people do not 'study' photographic content. Hell! Most people have NO graphic abilities what so ever! How many times have you seen a sign or commercial graphic that is difficult to read? . . . can you say "Clueless"?

Personally, I refuse to be photographed while drawing on a cigar. As I review cigar store web sites and a plentiful bounty of cigar event photos . . . I wonder if other people see this too.

PART B:
Photographs at Herfs (and cigar events)? We all love to capture the moment. Holidays, parties, Birthdays and gatherings of all kinds are excellent ways to collect memories of the good times we all enjoy. Here's what I see a lot. . .

EVERYBODY has a camera. FEW have any acumen (or aptitude) for photography. Am I saying you need high skill toward professional? ? ? NO! Please don't read that into my comments! I'm saying some people have such a low level of awareness that they don't even see what they did! I'd say; to display those crappy photos, they lack common-sense! ! !
. . . . .
Examples include:
Cutting-off part of the subject in the photo.

Flash-Burn and blurry photos should simply be deleted! . . . unless you're collecting evidence for a court case!

And here's my biggest peeve:
The person with the camera taking random pictures with their friends with no regard for what's going on in the shot. They are having so much fun, they just wanna capture the moment. Good intentions, but they might as well put the camera on a tri-pod and set a random timer! Some of the thoughtless shots include your friend when they're about to chomp down on a fork-full of food or face & mouth distorted in activity! (like sucking on a cigar) The one with the camera didn't even see what they photographed! Another very common "Lousy" photograph is the back-of-head or behind-the-ear of a group of people at a herf (or party). Delete the worthless photos right then and try again! ! !

Why do I bother sharing this (trivia) with you? Well, I sincerely believe you SHOULD take photos at your events & parties. Be that family, social, work-related, sports or herfs. . . capturing the moment with photos enables you to share the good times and enjoy the event again (and again) with your friends in the future! However, we were married in 1980 (still married) and my brother, as our Best-Man, hired a "kid" who's only photographic credentials were that he worked on the local high-school newspaper. Our wedding reception photos are simply horrible! He took only random photos of people chomping on food, looking the other way, behind-the-ear and missed capturing our friends, relatives and guests. One problem is that he was simply too shy to ask people to [pose] look at the camera.

Bottom Line:

Get some photos of your Herf(s)! [and send me the good ones. . . this could be a contest!] Make a little effort to get some good ones!

Don't keep crappy photos! [do over]

Take the cigar out of your mouth!

Ask your friends to Look At The Camera and smile!

Looking forward to your comments and/or wisecracks!