I took this image during a vacation in Puerto Rico. I was photographing landscapes when I came across this spot and noticed two people having a somewhat heated conversation in the background. The rocks are used as seats, and there were a lot of people around, sitting and walking. This shot was truly a split-second capture, where almost everyone somehow walked out of the frame just for a moment.
I was shooting film with an old TLR camera during a session with this model, and at one point, I caught some backlight and flare with the film camera. I took the shot, but I wasn't sure if it would work, so I repeated it with digital. I adjusted the flare with my hand to bring in some details, and it worked well to my taste. The film images had too much flare and weren’t usable. During this golden hour shoot, we captured tons of images that look like album covers to me.
We were losing sunlight quickly during this end-of-the-day photo session. The wall behind the model was lit by the sun just minutes before, but it had now fallen into shadow. Trees between the sun and us created a small spot of light that illuminated the model's face. I love how it created a strong contrast in both color and light in this image.
It looks like you made a good deal with the sun. Just enough to make it jump out. Love it.