Part 1: Woodland Walk
On a beautiful Spring day, Elyssa, wearing a lace-front scoop neck pink tank top, a khaki utility skirt, and black combat boots with 2-inch block heels, walks on a woodland trail. She uses her vintage film SLR camera to capture the scenery and wildlife of the picturesque woodland.
A small stream runs alongside the trail, and Elyssa watches as a blue heron lands in the shallow water. The heron stalks prey through the reeds and cattails lining the banks of the stream. Elyssa photographs the heron as it catches a fish.
Continuing onwards, Elyssa emerges from the woodland trail into a beautiful woodland meadow. She watches and photographs peacefully as butterflies and bumblebees visit the flowers of the meadow.
Upon entering a different section of the woodland trails at the arboretum, Elyssa perches on a fallen tree to load a fresh roll of film into her camera. The tree has fallen next to a small woodland stream. Mushrooms grow from the decaying fallen tree, while delicate ferns line the ground in clusters along with bleeding heart plants.
Turning a corner, Elyssa kneels down and raises her camera to capture a trio of squirrels foraging in the leaf litter lining the forest floor. One squirrel pauses and raises up, unsure what to make of Elyssa
Emerging into another clearing, Elyssa exchanges her camera’s normal lens for an extra-long 500mm telephoto lens. Using a monopod to support and steady the heavy lens, Elyssa takes aim at a distant pair of hawks circling a distant grove of trees to her left. The squirrels have scattered and left the area. A small number of woodland flowers, including a bleeding heart plant, are visible in the undergrowth close to Elyssa
In the same woodland clearing, Elyssa exchanges the monopod for a tripod to hold her vintage film SLR camera with greater stability, which she has mounted a long 500mm lens to. She uses the powerful telephoto lens to photograph an eagle feeding its young in its nest, which is located in a tall tree.
After photographing the eagle’s nest, another sight captures Elyssa’s attention from a nearby tree. She uses the powerful telephoto lens to carefully keep her distance to photograph a hornet’s nest attached to a tree near the clearing. The long distance afforded by the 500mm lens allows Elyssa to observe the natural behaviors of the hornets without disturbing them.
Next to a woodland pond with a small waterfall flowing into it, Elyssa stops for a break and sits on a large rock with quartz veins and patches of moss covering its vertical surfaces, her vintage film SLR camera is sat on the rock next to her, along with a camera bag holding her other lenses, tripod, and film rolls, along with a pack of Salem 100s cigarettes in a mesh pocket. Elyssa smokes one of the menthol cigarettes. She takes a long draw on her cigarette, as the draw deepens, her lips purse tightly around the filter and her knuckles curl inward. She removes the cigarette from her lips with a soft pop and smoothly inhales the smoke into her lungs. She exhales the smoke softly for a natural two to three seconds — a gentle, finite release of breath that ends cleanly. A soft, airy cloud of smoke slips from her lips, diffusing into a hazy veil that floats slowly away on the gentle breeze. The smoke is illuminated by the rays of sunlight that filter through the trees that surround the lake and waterfall. Lush vegetation grows around the lake and waterfall, a mixture of woodland plants, flowers, and ferns.
Part 2: The Conservatory
Later in the day, Elyssa carrying her camera bag slung crossbody, holds her Salem menthol cigarette elegantly aloft as she struts out of the woodland trail to a parking lot, revealing that she was photographing at an arboretum on Long Island. She struts over to her Audi and places her heavy camera bag in the trunk of the convertible, keeping her camera. She then heads for the arboretum’s conservatory building to see the more exotic plants kept by the arboretum. She takes a final deep draw from her cigarette and smoothly inhales the smoke into her lungs. She uses her boot to extinguish her cigarette in the parking lot. She then exhales a voluminous plume of smoke into the air as she struts towards the conservatory the smoke trailing behind her as she moves.
Elyssa enters the arboretum’s conservatory building to see the more exotic plants kept by the arboretum. Her first sight is a well-curated display of tropical plants from the island of Fiji contained within an elegant glass-covered hall. Imported tropical birds and butterflies flit about in the conservatory hall.
Elyssa continues her tour of the arboretum’s conservatory building. The next room has a somewhat unique theme, using modern tree ferns, additional ferns, club mosses, and horsetails at ground level, and monkey puzzle trees to simulate a prehistoric environment. A few animatronic dinosaurs are strategically placed around the exhibit, along with informational plaques and fossil displays to educate visitors. Elyssa imagines that the room is very popular with the children that visit the arboretum.
Continuing her tour of the arboretum’s conservatory building, Elyssa leaves the prehistoric-themed room of the conservatory. The next room is themed after an elegant European garden of the types that would be found in the grand manors and palaces of the old world. Well-manicured topiaries line the pathways, giving way to elegant roses and lilacs giving the room an elegant perfumed atmosphere.
Part 3: The Unexpected Cafe
Elyssa continues her tour of the arboretum’s conservatory building. Her next stop is the conservatory’s elegant dining room for lunch. Elyssa is delighted to discover that the dining room offers a smoking section in a small glass room off to the side of the main dining area. She orders a glass of wine and lights a Salem 100 menthol cigarette while she waits for her food. Elyssa takes a measured draw from her cigarette and smoothly inhales the smoke into her lungs. She then exhales an elegant voluminous cone shaped plume of silvery smoke into the air of the room. The light streaming through the glass walls causes her smoke to be illuminated as it drifts slowly through the air in a diffused cloud.
She sips from a glass of white wine and holds a Salem 100 menthol cigarette while she waits for her food. Elyssa takes a measured draw from her cigarette and smoothly inhales the smoke into her lungs. She then exhales an elegant plume of silvery smoke into the air of the room. The light streaming through the glass walls causes her smoke to be illuminated as it drifts slowly through the air in a diffused cloud. While drinking her wine and smoking her cigarette, Elyssa strikes up a conversation with another woman wearing an elegant black dress, with a glass of red wine, and also elegantly smoking a cigarette. They talk about the beauty of the arboretum and how nice it is to have a smoking section in the dining room in the modern day.
They each take a final draw from their cigarettes and put them out in the ashtray on the table as the waiter brings their food, elegantly exhaling their final plumes of smoke upwards into the air. The ashtray on the table holds two spent cigarette butts from the ladies, and faint traces of their smoke float in the air above the table. Elyssa enjoys a plate of shrimp scampi while the other woman enjoys a filet mignon with a side of mashed potatoes. Elyssa formally introduces herself to the other woman, who gives her name of Maureen White. Elyssa mentions that she owns Prism Studios photography studio in the city, and mentions to Maureen that, if she was ever interested in doing some modeling, Elyssa would be glad to have her come to the studio, while also mentioning that Prism Studios is friendly to smokers, sometimes incorporating smoking into the studio’s photoshoots.
Part 4: The Return to Prism Studios
After a satisfying day and loaded down with rolls of film to develop from her day, Elyssa drives back to the city from the Long Island arboretum in her Audi A5 Cabriolet in the early evening. She crosses the Queensboro Bridge back into Manhattan. As she drives, she thinks about her chance encounter with Maureen at the conservatory’s cafe, planning to contact her for an upcoming contract from a boutique that wants Elyssa to photograph their upcoming capsule collection.
Elyssa brings her Audi A5 Cabriolet into the underground garage at Prism Studios. The building is an 8-story brick building located on a side street in Soho, with the top floor housing her loft. The building also used to contain a garment factory in the upper floors. Elyssa enters the garage through a former loading gate that leads to the underground garage, which has been converted from the former freight and coal loading area, parking the car in an open space. Her old diesel truck is also parked next to a wall, which has soot stains on the green paint near the truck’s exhaust pipe from the sooty diesel exhaust. Two large boilers that once supplied steam to the garment factory line another wall.
In the evening inside her darkroom, Elyssa, wearing a protective apron over her outfit, snaps on a pair of nitrile gloves as she prepares to mix the chemicals needed to develop the three rolls of 35mm film that she shot earlier in the day at the arboretum and conservatory. Under the dim glow of the red safelight, she mixes the development chemicals and pours the solution into a development tank, adding the film into the tank after the chemicals are ready.