When I caught her smoking, I was very upset (this was particularly difficult, because her mother and I were former smokers who had struggled mightily to quit). Rightly or wrongly, I made the decision to include the ever-present cigarette and cup of coffee in the series.
These situations highlighted the difficult issue for me of parental disapproval and intervention vs. my desire to objectively and artistically document the everyday “in-between” moments of her life over time. Happily, Alison today is a non-smoker, she is a musician and artist who lives in Virginia with her husband and enjoys an excellent relationship with her parents.