Where there's smoke ... - Reflections on the second week of 52

Here is the description of the second theme:

… there isn’t always fire. Something about smoke (clouds, vapour, etc) in the winter strikes me as especially beautiful. It just seems more crisp, defined. And on my commute into work, which takes me through west end Windsor by Windsor Salt, there is a lot of it. Sure, you may cringe about what is causing and being effected by the less than natural clouds, but they do lend themselves to being captured by a person with a camera. Feel free to be creative with this one as well. Is there some way you can play on the expression “where there’s smoke there’s fire” with this week’s photograph? If you choose this route, please provide a brief description so we can all enjoy your unique take on this theme.

Though my favourite part of the drive in and out of Windsor during my commute is travelling along the Detroit River - a landscape either dotted with boats or choked with ice - the inspiration for this week's theme really came from the second leg of my journey; once you round that bend coming out of Lasalle, heading towards the now vacant horse track, you find yourself in the midst of smoke stacks and train tracks and - now - cut down trees. Just like Chemical Valley was to me growing up in Sarnia, ON, these industrial spaces can have an aesthetic quality unto themselves. I shy away from using the word "beauty," but maybe that's just my hookup (although I doubt it is).

 "Bridge in between" by Zee1977

I wasn't the only one to capture some of this aesthetic of industry in Windsor's West End. There is something about these huge billowing forms hanging heavy above the city-scape, more menacing than sublime, that makes for a powerful photo. Although I chose to use a different composition for this week's theme (a smudging kit smoking on the edge of the Detroit River with the smoke of U.S. industry in the background), two of my shots that ended up on my photostream were direct captures of this.

 "Smoke Screen, West Windsor, ON" by Pat86

Even as I wrote the first part of this blog post, some of my fellow challengers were composing wonderful shots that did not have anything to do with the menacing aesthetic of the smoke stack. Instead, we were treated to Christian's minimalist and colourful smoke formations, and Lupita's vibrant blue / purple smoke in a glass. 

"Smoke" by Christian Kuong

"Nice Blue Purple Smoke" by Lupita Amaya G.

"Smoke" by Lauritabonita123

I really liked the variety of this week's submissions, from the landscape to macro, from grey to colourful. Enjoy the pictures on this blog post, but also go to Flickr and Facebook to catch the other shots and further updates from #52weeksofWE. Happy shooting!