Grease and Nicotine

2005. Digital Photograph. 8" x 10" $49.99 plus $2.99 shipping; 11" x 17" 69.99 plus $3.99 shipping. Click here if you want this piece.

This is one of those still life images that's just got too much contradiction. I was just sitting at the bus stop, looking for a momentary distraction... when I spied some peculiar beauty, in the form of a greasy plastic top (that probably covered somebody's dinner) sitting on a bed of burnt-out cigarettes in an ashtray. Now, this piece is distracting, first because it's a fairly attractive image, then because a person recoils upon realizing what it actually is, and finally because of a slight amount of guilt, when it's still pretty good-looking. Sometimes I wonder if the art of photography isn't mostly about luck.