A photo a day – so many choices

I awoke to a really crisp winter light today: proper winter light. It takes me an age to get up and dressed but the sun was so bright it was still early by the time I was up and so I thought I knew exactly what the shot for today would be – light. “Thought” is the operative word here, as even though I was shooting only from my bedroom and workroom the representational options were manifold.

Should I represent the light in a pure type of form such as this below?

I probably would have but for the fact that I had used this approach last winter – see here. So then I tried a silhouette but felt the colouring and approach evoked ideas of evening rather than morning. 

So I focussed back and shot the window with the condensation and thought I had my approach. It was close in form to this taken last January from the back of the house but was different enough to warrant consideration.

Then I looked down at the car as Karen was about to go out and was taken by the pattern of frost on the roof. This could have made either a nice feature of a realist image (but there isn’t much going on) or I could crop and process the vista to make it fully abstract.

Then I experimented with a little post processing but thought the approach failed to either represent the light and sharp cold of the day.

So which wins out? Abstract, formalist expressionist or realist? Well today I’ve selected a realist image for its narrative qualities. Karen scraping the car windshield, along with the strong cold light along with warm yellow sunshine showing up the pattern of frost on the car roof all capture and say something about today and the season.  So below is my photo of the day. 16:9 aspect ratio; ISO 160, F/4 shot at 1/200th with a little post processing to bring out the sense of cold and warm sun. Shot through a window and so so showing reflections within the frame, but that all adds to the sense of story.