The power of suggestion

As photographers, we often get hung up on the technicalities of a shot, forgetting what's important about what we're taking, and why. I think I'm guilty of this more than most, and largely it's down to my competitive streak.

This was taken only minutes after I woke up this morning. It's no accident that there's nothing here in focus. There was no point in trying to get details, because the view from my window is not inherently attractive. What mattered was the colours of the sky, and the softness of waking up earlier than you'd like. The foggy window gave a beautiful, soft-filtration effect, giving a lovely glow to the sunrise. Even the water droplets on the window would have felt like a distraction to this, so I defocused the lens, and I didn't worry about holding the camera steady. Because I could only have taken this from where I was stood, I had to compose the shot by choosing the right focal length through the viewfinder. I now leave the 18-270 attached to the camera as a matter of course for exactly this reason. I'm always ready to respond to what's in front of me.

Sometimes you just have feel your way through an image. I love things like this, because they don't invite technical analysis or in-depth critique. You like it, or you don't, and it's left to the imagination to explain what you're looking at.

Nikon D300; Tamron 18-270mm @ 85mm; ISO 200; F/5.6; 1/4s. VC off.

More about the project here