Laura Noel - Photographer Research

Laura Noel is a photographer based in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.  Laura's most famous project, 'Smoke Break', focuses on ordinary people taking a smoke break. On this project, Laura Noel says 'my pictures concern the attitudes – defiance, enjoyment, resignation, and contentment – of those who continue to smoke cigarettes in the face of public disapproval. More importantly, these portraits reveal that for some smokers, cigarettes are a way to enter into a state of contemplation. This introspective pause in a hectic world is more valuable to smokers than non-smokers would imagine'. Laura says that Smoke Break does not condone or support smoking but is a way of portraying those united by this habit.

The way that the woman is holding up the veil to the back of her head implies that it is her wedding day and that she is preparing for the day. The use of smoking in this image may be used as a form of stress relief as weddings are a stressful event, and her face looks quite relaxed in the photo. It may also show that the woman does not see her habit as a bad or horrible thing as she is doing it on, what is supposedly, the happiest day of a woman's life.

Due to the array of instruments surrounding the man and the macbook sat in front of him, we can assume that he is recording and editing music. Therefore, because of this assumption, the man may be using smoking as a way of simply having a break from working and perhaps so that he can have a break to think about what to do next.

This woman is sitting in her bed whilst smoking - a habit that most people disagree with as they don't want the smoke in their house. Therefore we can tell that this woman is relaxed about the habit and is likely to have been smoking for years. Smoking may be a way for her to relax as she is doing it in relaxing environment.

This photo is different to the others as instead of focusing on the woman's face, it focuses on the tattoo on her wrist. The tattoo says 'deliver me' - a phrase from the Lord's Prayer. The focus on this tattoo in the image can somehow imply that smoking is an escape for this woman and allows her to enter her own world where she can clear her thoughts.