Sometimes the most important memories can be evoked by the simplest objects. (Though the specifics and significance in this case are for the target audience (and me) alone.)

My original idea for this shot was to have the coffee cup illuminated solely by the candles, but I couldn't quite get the exposure right for that and even HDR couldn't help. (Though I may have been able to get that had I had enough time to work on it.) As this was my PAD, though, and since night had already fallen and I was running low on time, I had to revert to supplementing the light via a flash bounced off the white ceiling in a darkened room. However I'd like to revisit the HDR option with a shot like this at a future time.