Street Shenanigans with Oscar Stars 2 - My Monomad Challenge Entry

The original plan was to do this; "Sitting in the middle of the road, reading the newspaper" type of thing. Every other idea stemmed from this. After I phoned him (Oscar - the model), I explained to him how it would give an urban vibe, with the busy road and all, and the idea of lamenting the current torrid state of things in the country, plus monochrome as an alternative would also be super. He agreed, and on the D day, he even brought a cigarette. He also got a funky hat, which complimented my original idea quite perfectly. When he got in, he was so full of ideas, but due to my desire to wrap the whole thing up quickly, I shut his ideas down until it dawned on me, one of the lessons I learned in photography; welcome every idea. I stepped out of his way afterward and allowed him to do his thing, and I can attribute all the credit to him for killing this. Here's the funny story. I didn't want him to light the cigarette. We were in the middle of the road, and we had more than enough attention already, but he was adamant and said it would make the photos even better, and sure as hell he was right. The first photo captured perfectly the smoke from his mouth as I was shooting at a very high shutter speed due to the harsh sunlight. These are vogue-worthy images don't you agree?