My dirty little secret
First, with a photograph you can evoke a mood or a visual experience. In this shot I hope you can smell the morning mist heavily laden with the fragrance of meadow flowers as it drifts through the trees. Calm and languid the song of birds harmonizes with the breeze. Maybe an elk bugles in the distance. Calm spiritual quietness like a warm blanket.
Secondly and this is the reality of the shot. The”Mist” is the result of a relentless stream of logging trucks on a hot August day. Dusty sweaty and anything but quiet. One after another they roar down a logging road, pounded road dust 3 inches deep is raised up in huge clouds that follow the trucks down off the mountain. Coating everything in dirt and diesel smoke.
You can take an image combine it with vision and create a reality. Two of the most important aspects of the art of photography. Yes I said art because without your "pallet" and "paint" you have just another snapshot.