One of the most pregnant aspects of my childhood, although not of great significance in contents, is my father using cameras and film cameras on a regular basis. The very first camera I bought was a Nikon FE2 in 1985, thus, for photography being so present in my life, I did not pursue it until a mature age, and needless to say, I started on a very high level of demand. After twenty-seven years I was suddenly free of my Nikon and did much shooting with my Sony Ericsson P800, later P900i and eventually with my first iPhone. Obviously I needed to upgrade my photo equipment and my choice was acquiring my present companion – a (low-end) Leica, the D-Lux 4.
I had been taking pictures of fellow cigar and pipe smokers for many weeks and due to the privacy rights I owe to each of them, I became a madman shooting hands. Each opportunity I got to photograph a person smoking cigars or pipes, I aimed at their hands. Many times silent, other times after a giving a warning that I was only interested in their hands. I gathered that this way I would have much better chances at getting many pictures without dealing with complaints.
It did not take long before several began to complain. No, not about my photographing of their hands, but about the fact that I was not capturing their faces. That was my green light.
My intention taking pictures of hands was the protection of myself and the subject, but also the understanding that hands are another face of ours. Each pair of hands is as unique as the face it could cover. Each hand is moved in itself and through the respective arm in a unique way. Each hand is also unique in the way it will hold a pipe and especially a cigar.
Luckily I have managed to keep building on my collection of fine-smoking faces, while not neglecting the hands that greatly enable us to smoke.
Ricardo / NYC Fine Cigars, New York, NY / Leica D-Lux 4
Filed under: Cigar Lounge, Cigars, NYC Fine Cigars, New York, NY, Tobacco Tagged: Cigar, NYC Fine Cigars, smoker, smoking, Tobacco