In my last post, I mentioned that everything just worked out right for this trip I took to Europe. This is part two of that trip where I visited Italy for a few days. Although I mentioned that one of my favorite photos would be in this post, I decided to split it up differently. Plan on that for next time!
I flew into Venice and spent the afternoon learning about that city. It was overcast and rainy – drizzly. The number of people was shocking. I managed to snag a few good photos from a couple of hours there in the late afternoon/early evening. These photos aren’t of the primary attractions of Venice. If you know me (everyone who reads this blog does) then you know I don’t like crowds. So to avoid my 5000 closest friends, I ventured more towards the homes and neighborhoods than the tourist attractions.
Venice is very interesting if you’ve never been. You probably know that it’s a city built on the water but exactly what that means is a bit strange once you’re actually there and seeing it. I got the feeling that this is some sort of warehouse delivery door. There is a lot I like about this photo. The drain pipe, the algae which seems to indicate a low water level, the fading paint at the bottom of this door, and the drain pipe coming out from under the door are all things that draw me to this photo. I have a slightly wider crop that includes a walk way that’s immediately to the right but I worry it’s more distracting than anything.
I must give my wife credit for this idea. She asked if I could get a photo with some of the gondolas moving. Since I had left the tripod in the car, I found a pallet at a fish market that looked like it would work. I set the camera down and propped the lens up with a piece of trash, if I remember correctly. This actually worked out pretty nicely. I chose this building because the yellow contrasted nicely with the cobalt blue covers on the gondolas. The sky is uninteresting but I don’t tend to do total sky replacements.
This little scene caught my eye and I like it but I’m not sure that I did it justice. I believe this is is a photograph of somebody’s home that I took from across a canal. I like how the plants are happy and growing in the direction of gravity. I like that the plants above are doing so as well. The colors of the plants are nice but this image doesn’t look as nice as it did when I was there. I’m not sure what I could’ve done differently – perhaps this is a poor edit… Your thoughts are welcome!
The chaos of this photo struck me. I don’t like it enough to spend the time (though brief) removing the power line at the top of this. The variation of all of these windows, plants, and shapes is interesting. I kept the colors dull and dim because that’s how it felt when I was there thanks to the rain. I don’t know who would ever want something like this on a wall but the scene is worth putting on a blog!
That’s it for this post. Not too much in Venice. Again – the crowds were an emotional drain for me and it makes taking photos hard when you know that there’s a lot of post processing work left to make people disappear. My time in Venice was short but I’m happy I went anyway. Perhaps I’ll go back one day. If I do, I plan on getting early morning photos of some of the popular places. I hear that early in the morning is much better to avoid hoards of people in your photos and the light is quite nice.
Shelley Lowe March 1, 2025
Both the “drainpipe” and the “growing gravity” photos were ones I kept returning to! Having never seen Venice (except in travel books), I enjoyed seeing it through your lens. I can’t figure out what the red and white striped pole (rolled-up flag? giant candy cane?) is inside the window, but I like the red just peeking out.
Thank you for sharing these!