diff --git a/src/trimage/trimage.py b/src/trimage/trimage.py
index 20a1322..7e24db1 100644
--- a/src/trimage/trimage.py
+++ b/src/trimage/trimage.py
@@ -128,9 +128,11 @@ class StartQT4(QMainWindow):
     def file_dialog(self):
         """Open a file dialog and send the selected images to compress_file."""
         fd = QFileDialog(self)
+        directory = ""
+
         images = fd.getOpenFileNames(self,
             "Select one or more image files to compress",
-            "", # directory
+            directory,
             # this is a fix for file dialog differentiating between cases
             "Image files (*.png *.jpg *.jpeg *.PNG *.JPG *.JPEG)")