Venice: A City as the Stage

Way back over the holiday break (which seems like years ago now), we went to Venice. I have to admit that we've neglected Italy a little too much over the years and we were way past due to visit its most romantic city. The vacation days finally worked out last year so that we could have a good stretch of time there to take the city at a mild pace. With all the fabulous places visited in 2016- Iceland, Lisbon, Ireland, etc., Venice kinda fell off our radar for a while. But as the trip approached we remembered, "Oh yeah, we're booked to go to Venice for Christmas!" It turned out to be the perfect place to close out the year. Now, rumor had it that the Christmas break wasn't as popular as the peak summer season for tourists, so we were pretty excited. The thought of having the famed city mostly to ourselves and the locals sounded like just the way we wanted to experience it. We'd been to enough tourist traps over the years that seeing such a popular place when most people don't is a very attractive concept. I didn't really want sunshine and warm piazzas. I was after overcast skies, a little fog, and somewhat empty cicchetti bars.

Somebody lied.

Venice was packed over Christmas. Apparently it is the place for the French to visit over the holidays. You know, come to think of it, I rarely see French tourists outside of France, so maybe Venice is the only place they go? A question for another day...

So much for having the place to ourselves. The weather was cold, but clear so I never got that gloominess I was after either. But, one thing I've learned is that even when my vision never becomes reality, there is usually a new one just around the corner if I'm willing to let go of the original plan. The thing is, if there's ever a place that is photogenic no matter what the conditions or the popularity, it is Venice. If I didn't know better, I'd believe Venice was built just for photographers.

That wonderful haze.

Thanks to the lagoon there's this really magical thing about Venice and the surrounding islands. The light is good all day. I don't know if this is just a winter phenomenon or if it occurs all year, but it's pretty incredible. All that water in the air creates this haze, and it's not the usual kind of haze that just obscures distant views. It's a haze that is all around. The haze and the low hanging winter sun brings a softness to the afternoon that makes golden hour last for several hours. I was totally obsessed with it and maybe spent too much time (and storage) trying to capture its effects. Have you ever seen the vedute paintings of the 18th and 19th centuries? They're those big sprawling paintings of cityscapes and harbors that were really popular when well to do people went on Grand Tours of Europe. Every major art museum has at least a dozen of these. Venice was one of the most common places for the vedutisti to paint, for good reason. It looks like a painting. And so after you see the city in person, you realize the paintings look like photographs and some photographs actually look the old paintings. It's all because of this incredible light.  Check out the works of Francesco Gaurdi  and Antonietta Brandeis to see what I mean.

The haze wasn't present in the cold mornings. They were perfectly clear, and oftentimes full of brilliance. Every morning we get up before the rest of city and walked out to where I wanted to photograph, shoot for a couple of hours, then head back to our apartment for a late breakfast and, usually, a nap.  By the time we went out again in the early afternoon, the magic haze was in place. I'd photograph pretty heavily until the end of blue hour in the evening. All of that makes for an extended day's worth of shooting. I came home with three full cards (two 32GB, 1 64GB) and two more mostly full ones (32GB each) after only 5 days. If we had stayed there any longer I would have needed to pick up some more cards at one of the incredibly overpriced camera shops in Venice. I was in total love with this afternoon light.

While everyone else was interested in the glass shops on Murano, I was fixated with this bridge.
There was something about the long shadows, railing, and that haze.

No filter!

And, it's not just the light. That probably isn't even the first thing that makes Venice amazing to photograph. While the light seems like it is being crafted from unseen stage rafters, the locals look like they a cast from a movie. There are so many beautiful pairs of shoes, perfectly tailored suits, luxurious furs, and stunning hats walking around. They're not even going anywhere that requires this sort of dress code. They're just going to the market or to get a coffee!  Here you have all these tourists stumbling about in their trekking pants and Northface alongside Venetians in bespoke three piece suits, handmade Italian shoes, and cashmere topcoats! It's bloody bizarre, but absolutely riveting. I don't know. Maybe they were dressed like this because it was the holidays and they were all on their way somewhere glitzy and just needed to pop into the Coop for a Panettone on their way there. But, I like to think that there's this whole island city that is truly trapped in another time. Yes, the architecture is all from a by-gone era, but maybe the people are too. They aren't denizens of the old glory days of Venice. I mean it would be a bit ridiculous for the men to strut about in doublets and tights and the women to be laboring to the grocers in 3 voluminous layers of linen and wool gowns while clopping in wooden clogs like the cast of the Merchant of Venice. No, these folks seem to hail from the time when Peggy Guggenheim was just moving her gallery to the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni and throwing her famous parties on the Grand Canal. They're not headed anywhere special. There isn't a dinner party every evening. Is there? No, there can't be. They just can't imagine leaving the house without their studded pocket watches, freshly shined shoes, their white gloves, and their furs. It just isn't done. So, for street photographers Venice is magic. There are no cars to worry about being run over by and no bicycles either. Venice even moves like it is from a slower time. Everything is at a walking pace. Even the boats move leisurely (unless piloted by the Carabinieri). You can take your time and watch the scene unfold, filled with the classiest cast you could encounter on a Tuesday afternoon. Admittedly, I had a bit of a hard time photographing them. Even though cameras are as common as water in Venice, pointing it at the local people instead of the city itself was a struggle. They always noticed and for some reason I found that intimidating. Getting over that fear is something I definitely have to work on. For those who are past that phase in their street photography, go to Venice!

 

Morning shoppers on Burano.

Of course if the locals are a bit difficult to capture, there is always the ever present and ever photographed gondoliers. These guys are so used to being photographed that they don't bat an eye and some will ham it up for the camera a bit. I couldn't resist the visual draw of those sleek gondolas with their casually posed pilots moving through the canals around the hubs of the city. Ferrying bus groups of Koreans, families of four from France, quartets of Indian businessmen sitting in awkward silence, and starry-eyed couples alike on their required 20 minute quick and dirty gondola rides, the gondoliers are always a solid go to subject- especially if you can catch them without their cell phones or, if you're really lucky, without any passengers.

One of my favorite photographs from the trip is one that I didn't take. I was set up along the Grand Canal near all the popular restaurants taking long exposures of passing boats during blue hour one evening. We were tucked next to an unmanned gondola booth. From one of the side alleys came three gondoliers and they were quite angry with each other. Apparently, from what we could understand from our limited knowledge of Italian, the booth was not supposed to be unmanned and it was definitely somebody's fault. Of course, no one wanted to admit it was theirs and a passionate argument went on for about 15 minutes between two of them (the third just sulked after a while) and they were probably still arguing by the time we were long gone. The Italians, God bless em, are famed for their love of arguing. It's a passion passed down from generation to generation and one that can be witnessed or involved in wherever Italians have made their way into the world. However, the best Italian arguments are, of course, in Italian. And this one between the two gondoliers was one of the best I've ever seen. It was chock full of gestures, profanity (the Italians have the best curses), huffing, puffing, eye rolling, stomping of feet, false exits and returns, long dramatic pauses, and operatic tones.  During the height of it, I had my back to them holding down my shutter release for a long exposure. Trapped by my current task I asked my husband to try his best at capturing the drama behind me. So, he pulled out the X70 that he had been using that week and hiding it slightly against me so as not to turn the heat of the wrath on us, fired away with it on automatic mode. I adore this image.

Ok, maybe the light and the people aren't the first things that come to mind when you think of Venice. They weren't for me either before we went. The main attraction is the scenery itself. There is a reason people have been painting, sculpting, composing, writing, and photographing here for so long. Despite that everything is slowly dissolving back into the lagoon, it hasn't lost its inherent beauty. Almost every alley and canal enters into another perfect scene. If you visit, get up before dawn at least once and stroll the place in its glorious soft and quiet hours. It will reward you with a memory no souvenir can give. It will just be you and the garbage men, a couple of photographers, the bakers, and the city. While there may be no time of year to see the city without the hoards of day trippers, there are a couple hours every day when you will be guaranteed to have the city all to yourself.

One of the classic views.

St. Mark's Square just after a winter sunrise.

Light trails of an early vaporetto on the Grand Canal.

I came home with more photographs than I imagined possible. It took me three weeks to get through them. It was a wonderful three weeks of editing and reliving five days in one of Europe's most iconic cities. Every single one of those days presented me with incredible performances thanks to the light, the characters, and the set. Venice is not overrated. You just have to give it a minute or two, maybe stand in the cold hours before dawn, be a little brave, and, behold- scenery, light, action. All you need is to bring your camera. I'm not sure if the world is a stage, but Venice definitely is. And it is just as stunning as you imagined it would be.

The moon sets, the sun rises, and Venice begins to wake.
This image was created after a very long walk and then a cold wait on the Ponte dell'Accademia.
This moment was shared with just one other photographer. It captures a time when
I believe Venice is at her most beautiful- dawn.

For all the photographs click here!