Anna Boyce, Palo Alto High School, Charles Cathedral, Chartres, France

I took this picture just to remember a trip to Chartres Cathedral in France that I took with my mother. When I was composing my images, I thought the contrast would be nice and decided to take a closer shot. Looking at it now, I feel a connection with the candles because they are memorial candles, not just candles for light. I remember watching family members light candles for their loved ones, and I feel a connection because in my family (a Jewish one but fairly untraditional) we light memorial candles for the passed. This image has a tenderness that comes out of the darkness and into the yellow light from the flame that warms my soul and reminds me that although family members have passed, their flame still burns inside the living.