I love this view out of my study window where I write, especially as the sun sets, I’ve been trying to capture it in a photo for more than a month, and I think I finally got it today after scores of tries.

My study is shaded by a bunch of Maple trees and  Lilac Bushes.

The sun comes in strong in the late afternoon as it drops over the mountain and shines directly into my office.

I wanted to catch the juxtaposition of an old lamp, a flower reflected in sunlight (Maria puts flowers in my office all the time), and the iron crow, a symbol of resilience and stubbornness that I keep in the window.

To get this photo, I had to figure out how to take a picture when the camera itself is in darkness (my room), with blinding light coming through the way (very strong sun), and a black object at the other end of the photo – three different exposures.

On top of that, the sun is only level for a couple of minutes, then dips below the hills across the road.

No matter what combination of aperture changes and exposures I tried, I couldn’t get them all to work together.

Either the light was too intense on the flower, overexposed the picture, or the lamp disappeared in the glow. And the light on the lamp is essential to the photo and its balance and atmosphere. I tried just about everything.

Today, I got it right.

Today, I opened the shutter speed by quite a bit and left the aperture low.

To my surprise, it worked! The crow is clear against the window, there is no streaming sun in the photo, the gladiola looks radiant and beautiful, and the lamp is a haunting and evocative shadow. A perfect capture of the atmosphere in the room as the sun sets. It’s one of my favorite images.

I know this is not a big deal, but it took me many tries to get all of these elements to work together. I thought about quitting, but I’m not much of a quitter.

I’m not sure I remember exactly how I did it; I kept trying until it worked out. The key turned out to be changing the shutter speed.

I make up in willfulness what I lack in skill. This is the photo I wanted.