I’ve been doing a daily photoblog project and have become a fan of Photojojo, a site with an infectiously enthusiastic attitude toward the act of shooting. Like Salt & Fat, the cooking blog I wrote about here a couple of days ago, Photojojo seeks to strip the mystery away from its subject, and to knock down the idea that its practitioners are a kind of priesthood average people can never hope to join. It accomplishes this partly through its newsletter and partly via its store, which sells a wide array of cool and useful tools. Case in point: Smoke drops. A touch of smoke can add mystery to an image, can add visual variety, can even help in constructing a narrative. But where does the average amateur go to get smoke that’s dense and long-lasting enough to shoot? Italy, as it turns out. That’s where Photojojo sources this useful set of chemical drops. Combine a squirt from Bottle A and a dash from Bottle B, and voila — Smokiness. The site is also thoughtful enough to provide a FAQ, which includes the helpful advice that “The drops are quite corrosive,” so as a general rule you don’t want to get them mixed up with your contact lens solution. That caution aside, the drops provide a quick and easy way for any home shooter to add a touch of noir without burning his house down.
