Smoke break at St. Mike's

[RBSinTo]

This was taken the other day across the street from the St. Michael's Hospital here in Toronto.
I was waiting for my wife to return from shopping when I spotted a man across the street standing inside an entrance bay having a cigarette. He was obviously a patient, and despite being hooked up to an IV line, he braved the cold to indulge his habit.
Sensing the irony of the situation, I grabbed this shot.
Nikon D3
Tamron SP 35~105 2.8 AIS manual focus
2.8 @ 1/160th/ ISO 1,000

[Peter]

Those moment shots..
By any chance get a shot without the woman, she's is the center of attraction in the shot as much as the man is your eccentric subject, she takes away the dark humor of it IMO.
It would give the impression of isolation and sneaking out for a puff while your cheating death..

[Fons Baerken]

Good one!

[Alaun]

Very nice, especially the No Smoke sign in the background and the Emergency sign behind him.

[RBSinTo]

Peter, Fons, Alaun,
Thanks for the comments.
Peter,
I did take another shot but because it was cold, the subject was moving about, and kept turning away from my line of sight, so the cigarette wasn't always visible.
When he finally did face in my direction and take a drag, while his "pose" was the best, the woman was in the background. Figuring this was my best opportunity, I grabbed the shot.
The depth of field being what it is, she isn't in sharp focus, so her presence in the background doesn't bother me, and cropping her out means losing the "Smoke-free" sign, so I left her in.
Robert
 

[David H. Hartman]

I don't think the woman in the background detracts, she looks like she's not the healthiest herself. The red disk with a white bar (no stopping?) and the smoke free sign really add to the shot. It's very ironic. It's also sad.

Dave Hartman

[Olivier]

This is so cool!
But, ahem, Robert, did I really read "Nikon D3" in your post?
If so, it could be as funny associated with your famous signature "I shoot film..." as the picture of the man smoking at a hospital next to a "no smoking" sign!

[RBSinTo]

Dave, Olivier,
Thanks for the comments.
Olivier,
Yes, that's not a typo. This was taken with a D3.
It's a long story, but due to the generous plotting and scheming of a photobud, who finally made me an offer I couldn't refuse, I reluctantly ended up with a Canon 1D MK IV and two lenses (none of which I had the slightest intention of keeping) which I flipped for the D3.
As it is really nothing more than a computer with a lens mount, I'm still trying to figure out how the damn thing works as it seems to have a ton of stuff I'll never use anyway.
Really, Aperture Priority, Metered Manual, shutter speed and aperture and I'm a happy boy. And thanks to the incredible foresight of Nikon I can use all of my manual focus Nikon-mount lenses with this thing.
I'm still going to shoot film with my rangefinders and keep at least one or two SLR film bodies (F and F2) for use with the one long lens I schlepp when I'm using the rangefinders, but swap at least four or five film bodies (SLR and one rangefinder) for whatever I can get.
As for my signature? Well I really haven't given it any thought yet.
Robert
 

[gryphon1911]

Dave, Olivier,
Thanks for the comments.
Olivier,
Yes, that's not a typo. This was taken with a D3.
It's a long story, but due to the generous plotting and scheming of a photobud, who finally made me an offer I couldn't refuse, I reluctantly ended up with a Canon 1D MK IV and two lenses (none of which I had the slightest intention of keeping) which I flipped for the D3.
As it is really nothing more than a computer with a lens mount, I'm still trying to figure out how the damn thing works as it seems to have a ton of stuff I'll never use anyway.
Really, Aperture Priority, Metered Manual, shutter speed and aperture and I'm a happy boy. And thanks to the incredible foresight of Nikon I can use all of my manual focus Nikon-mount lenses with this thing.
I'm still going to shoot film with my rangefinders and keep at least one or two SLR film bodies (F and F2) for use with the one long lens I schlepp when I'm using the rangefinders, but swap at least four or five film bodies (SLR and one rangefinder) for whatever I can get.
As for my signature? Well I really haven't given it any thought yet.
Robert

Film...digital...it matters not to me as I love seeing your images, regardless of the medium.  Whatever you do, just keep sharing them! 

[RBSinTo]

Film...digital...it matters not to me as I love seeing your images, regardless of the medium.  Whatever you do, just keep sharing them! 

Thank you Andrew.
That is incredibly kind of you to say.
Robert

[Olivier]

Dear Robert
I totally agree with Andrew, as long as you keep showing your images, all is well!
Being Canadian, you may know the French saying: Qu'importe le flacon, pourvu qu'on ait l'ivresse...
Poorly translated in English: who cares for the bottle, as long as we get drunk...

Enjoy your D3. Having played with the D700 for a long time, I think it will suit your style of shooting well. You may especially find high ISO liberating.

[David H. Hartman]

As it is really nothing more than a computer with a lens mount, I'm still trying to figure out how the damn thing works as it seems to have a ton of stuff I'll never use anyway.

Figure out what you need, what you want. Ignore the rest. Get the camera setup to your defaults. Save the settings to a BIN file. Upload that to your primary computer so you can restore your settings to your D3 if you format a CF card. Write protect it on the CF card. This allows restoring YOUR defaults when you need them. Write protecting the copy on your primary CF card so you don't over write it. This is not as hard as it sounds.

The most frustrating thing about my first DSLR, a D2H was trying to take a photograph with a setting amiss and loosing shots. Now I load my defaults, check the exposure mode, compensation and I can start shooting. Again this is easier to do than write out. I've been using the same set of defaults for almost a year and it's little changed in the last 2 1/2 years.

This isn't as easy as a Nikon F or F2 or even an F3 where you ignore aperture preferred but it's far easier than diving into menus while people wait while I try to find what's miss set. 

Best,

Dave Hartman