Cigarette Butts: A Senior Listener Lyric Photographic Diptych by Jacob Martin (2017)

My lyrical essay highlights and explains the feelings one feels as a nicotine addict and they way it affects relationships. I chose the specific passage because it explains how the urge to smoke can suddenly and exponentially creep up on one when they least expect it. I feel that this is represented in the photo because the first bounce, or the plick, is shown by the ‘NO SMOKING SIGN’ in the background, however it is subtle and easily dismissed like the initial urge. But like I say in the lyrical essay, the urge increases with each bounce, so the second bounce, or the plock, is represented by the more prominent sign in the foreground. But at this point, the urge is too strong to dismiss and it is not a matter of whether or not one will smoke it is where and when, which is answered by the sign when it says “PLACE CIGARETTE BUTTS HERE!!!” In addition, I feel this this sign accurately shows the urgency one might feel with a strong urge to smoke.

I used the pen tool in Adobe Illustrator to select the fire extinguisher and turn it into a shape. I then transferred it as a .png into the Photoshop document where I used the Warp Text function to fill it with text. I then added a Black and White filter over the entire photo where I used the pen tool in Photoshop to select a path around the sign and fire extinguisher and delete the filter in those locations.