Favorite Photo Friday: Getting Up at First Light

For my favorite shot for this week's Favorite Friday,

I'm choosing this one. I took it about a month ago,

but it brings back SO many memories

of Venice, a place I went back to in June

after having experienced it first

many years ago

with the love of my life.

There's a story here,

one that has nothing to do with my current single-ness.

It does relate, however, to my current affair with my Nikon.

 I'm not the world's biggest fan of getting up before sunrise.

When the light began to seep in around the edges

of the shutters at my windows in a faint blue-gray,

I thought I could cheat and snap a few shots leaning

 out my 4th story window so I could stay

in my nightie and wake up only a little, 

just enough to point and shoot a couple of times

and then go back to bed and sleep til 9 or so.

Spirit had other ideas.

When I saw the light, the stillness of the water,

the cloud formations, 

the mere handful of people moving along the canals. 

a totally unpeopled Rialto Bridge,

well. . . . 

I quickly pulled on clothes and headed out.

No tripod.

Just me and the Nikon with an 18 - 200 mm lens

and a wide angle (Tamron, 18 - 24 mm)

Though I'm only showing this one,

I think I took some of my best photos ever

 during that splendid hour of silence.

For this one, here's the technical info.

Nikon D5000 without flash

digital cam focal length 19 mm

"film speed" set at auto (268 ISO)

aperture f/5

shutter speed 1/160 second

white balance set for sunshine