Composition is nice and the photograph sure is sharp. The lighting almost looks like it was set up. Shadows are nicely filled like there's a big white wall behind you. How'd you do that? Nice scene and glad you didn't use your first pick for a title.
Thanks for the kind words. This is/was handheld on an EXCEEDINGLY bright day here in Southern California. It was taken at the Huntington Gardens in San Marino, near Pasadena. I think I had a polarizer on the lens for this shot, but not sure. In any case, the white wall FilmSprocket refers to is really the sun's fault. I have a couple of other shots that I uploaded within the last few days that were taken within an hour of each other. You can see the blown-out highlights all over this roll. No flash was used.
This is printed commercially (I am a novice at printing), and my scanner is an old flatbed. The scan looks slightly more contrasty than the actual print, so maybe my scanner is unwittingly improving my pictures . This is definitely on my list to try to print myself when I get good at printing and if I can find a darkroom somewhere.
If it is printed commercially, it's very likely the negative has been scanned and exposed digitally nowadays (albeit the final stage being normal wet type analog printing process - if it has been processed by a big lab, but even that is changing, since more and more bulk processing is also going in the direction of full digital printing, especially for webshops offering print services). That is not to say this is a bad picture, but it may explain some of the contrast and tones achieved. However, it also shows what one might be able to get from your negative (and more) in the darkroom, if a skilled printer get's it's hands on the negative...
Actually, this is hand printed by Images Photo in Tucson on Ilford paper (at least they said it was!). The tones in the scan are a little more contrasty than the actual print. I attribute that to my ancient flatbed scanner. I will try to pick up an actual film scanner next year. I absolutely agree with you that I will try to use this negative for its potential. Thanks!