53

Challenge 53: Make something in which the sense of smell is the essential component.

I hit another block with this challenge.  I really didn't know what to do.  I looked around the apartment for different scented materials, but couldn't get past thinking how I was going to make the objects into visual art. I decided to compromise with the challenge.

We keep incense around the apartment because it's the best way that my fiance and I can agree to keep our place smelling pleasant.  Candles, sprays, etc. - we just haven't been able to agree on anything else.

So I decided to light some incense and document my experience by trying to capture images of the smoke in photographs.  Although the resulting photos don't actually have a scent to them, incense smoke is always scented so I came to terms with my photos being close enough to the terms of the challenge.

Here are some of the more interesting pictures:

Looks like filigree to me

Kinda ghosty

I see part of a female figure in this one, with her long hair blowing to the side

Looks almost like a letter in some fancy font style

Wisps

Outer space?  I love all the visual "noise" of the incense crumbs on the dark wooden table

Experimenting with wiggling the camera slightly when taking the shot

More wispy pieces

In conclusion, I found that smoke is hard to take photographs of, but it could also be my less-than-professional camera and amateur photographer skills.  It was a fun challenge though, and interesting to try to take photos of smoke than just add some filter on a fancy computer program to do it for me.

Also, I peeked at the next challenge just to see if it might be another especially challenging one for me, and I actually already have a few ideas and think it's going to be one of those challenges that I could run away with for days if I had the time.  Stay tuned!