By mid-August of last year, I had own my first Leica camera for several months and was a having a truly amazing experience. My last summer trip before school started was in Charleston SC. I have been there a few times before and loved the experiences I had there. The city is such a fun and happening place and there are many little gems to find in this city if you look in the right places. While walking up Market Street, I walked inside this really cool new candy store. What grabbed my attention after only seconds of being inside was their ice cream bar. However, for the first time it wasn’t the ice cream that caught my attention, but the huge, very uniquely decorated waffle cones. They had a variety of differently decorated ice cream cones on display that looked absolutely delicious – and they were 🙂

I went up close to the cones with my Leica X1 and rested my arm on top of the glass over the ice cream flavors to keep from blurring the image since I was inside and the lighting was dim. I focused directly on the M&Ms sticking to the waves of chocolate syrup wrapping around the ice cream cone as if it was a Christmas present. In my post-processing, looking at the color image I had taken looked delicious, but I was going for a different mood for my photo. Instead of saturating the colors to make a tasty looking image, I decided to go for a more thought-provoking approach by eliminating the sense of color and emphasizing the texture and artistry of the ice cream cones. The monochromatic tones and values create a more intimate scene that focuses on the quality of the savory and delectable appeal of the hand-made and decorated waffle cone. This avoids the simple thought of looking at something and just thinking about how good it looks and quickly wanting to eat it.