Second Day of School

This photo was taken on 2009-01-22, Mark's second day of school at Rhenish. Some reasons why I find this image aesthetically interesting include:

* Color: The bougainvilleas over the front porch give a fantastic red/pink glow on that side of the house in the summer. The glow is all the more dramatic in the evening when this picture was taken. I think this image does a good job of capturing the ambience of the location.

* Composition: I like the way Mark's face is framed by the pillar (on his left) and the bougainvilleas (on his right).

* Pose: Mark is at ease and relaxed. Compare this image to one taken on the morning of the first day of school, where Mark is noticeably uneasy about what was to come.

* Bokeh: The out of focus background draws the attention to Mark's face and white school shirt. My incredible 85 mm f/1.8 lens makes that possible. It is so fast that I was able to capture this image with an aperture of f/2.2 and shutter speed of 1/125 s in the low evening light.