"Evening Shadows" (4 of 6)

This image is one of my favorites. This was part of a still life project for a college summer photography class. I had no idea what to use and finally settled on my guitar and Bible - two of my favorite things. As I was leaving home that morning, I noticed the coral colored rose growing in my yard, so I cut it and took it with me. I had no idea how to group objects for a still life and I knew very little about how to really use a good slr camera. Even in my ignorance, this was a very successful shoot and a few shots from this day hang in the kitchen of my family's home. I remember how surprised my professor was when I downloaded the pictures and I had taken 350. That was only a hint of things to come! (I'm a little heavy on my trigger finger - at a recent wedding, I took around 4 times as many photos as my dad did. I get a little excited.)

This particular photo wasn't intentional. I had the neck of my guitar resting on a chair in the art studio. The sun hit the headstock just the right way and created a perfect shadow. I love all of the different textures of this photo. The floor in the room couldn't have been more perfect. (Or more dirty.) To me, this photo is very warm and inviting. This project made me fall even more in love with photography. When I saw what I could do with a good camera and lighting, I was ready to get serious. Within two weeks, I had my first digital slr! About a month after that, I became the staff photographer for the school newspaper. I had absolutely no idea that photography would be my career!

"The evening sun came through the old cracked window and hit the headstock of my
guitar producing a perfect shadow on the weathered hardwood floor.
I love the stark contrast of the rough, gritty floor against the unblemished rose.
This photo was taken in natural sunlight during a still life photo shoot.
This photo is very personal to me because it incorporates so many things that I love -
my guitar, my Bible, a rose, and some amazing sunlight."