Now I know why painters never feel like they can never be completely finished with a painting. They have to just tell themselves they're finished and resist the urge to keep touching it up.

I shot this last week inside the greenhouse at Bethel Middle School, and I think it's great...except I wish I had spent more time thinking about what was actually reflected in the trophy. I did think enough to know I didn't want me reflected in the trophy, but now I wish I had done more thinking.

The school won this trophy in 2006 and 2007 for the chrysanthemums raised at the school and entered in the N.C. Chrysanthemum Society's annual Mum Show. It's quite a nice and shiny trophy, maybe cup would be a better term for it.

Anyway, the more I look at it, the more I wish I had taken more time to think about what is actually reflected in the cup. I should have turned it so more of the mums were reflected, or better yet, I could have gotten the students reflected in the cup.

I actually shot this just sort of playing around before the class got to the greenhouse, so it was just me in there and once they and their teacher came in the solitude was lost. It was a great place to shoot photos though. Kind of like a giant diffuser. Very soft light.

I don't know. I like the out of focus wood grain in the right-hand portion of the photo and I like the focus on the inscription on the cup. But then there's the hard edge of the table. I guess that's what really bugs me. I don't know. I'm probably being too critical. I like the greenhouse elements in the photo since that IS where it was shot and was part of the story.

I guess I just need to tell myself that it's a good shot, which it is, and leave it at that.