I consider Alex Ward as, well, one of mine. I worked with his dad for seven years at First United Methodist Church in Oak Ridge, and Alex was one of the most talented kids in the youth choir. My son Chris became friends with Alex on a couple of choir tours, and that makes him part of my extended family.

Alex came to us by invitation because we needed a few more handsome guys in our portfolio. This shot was taken at an abandoned factory on Warehouse Road where there is a lot of good rust and decay to play with. It was a crystal-clear winter day, usually not the best for shooting, but we were there at the "golden hour," when the sun was setting and the light was more than perfect. The unedited versions of this photo have a golden, warm, even pinkish light which is spectacular- but I decided to go for a black-and-white rendering of this photo. It is now one of my favorites. It looks like old Hollywood to me.

So, this photo was taken with my Canon 5dMkII with a Sigma 50mm f1.4 lens just as the sun was about to set. The photo was rendered in black and white in SilverFX Pro.