This particular image is one of those I made because I walk around downtown Rock Hill in South Carolina every day. I work there, so I take advantage of the opportunity. In fact, people that don’t know my name have referred to me as ‘the guy with the camera’ because I always have it with me.
I have several favorite times of day, according to the season and the sun. One of those is earlier in the morning or later in the evening with long shadows and great reflections off downtown buildings. In this case, the light was almost perfectly parallel to the wall in Freedom Alley.
The texture of the bricks just came to life and the painted mural glowed providing different colors in an otherwise bland setting. The decorative concrete seats gave the ground some extra detail and long shadows as horizontal lines. Like a sundial, a few minutes either way, the shadows would no longer be straight on the ground. Like a sunset, the wall light was changing rapidly. It was there, then it was gone.
For me, the sun provided the sparkle that made me stop and take the image. This is perfect light.