Venetian Light | Weekly Photo #71

This is one of the most famous views in Venice and one I absolutely love. The winding Grand Canal which cuts through the city, lined with those iconic red and white striped mooring poles and architecture that spans a thousand years topped with traditional terracotta tiles. All of this leading to the main focal point of the domes that belong to the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute or known simply as the Salute. Translated to Saint Mary of Health and finished in 1681, this 17th-century church was built as a votive offering to commemorate the end of a terrible outbreak of the plague and needed an astonishing one million wooden piles driven into the ground to support the weight of this ornate stone structure.

“To build a city where it is impossible to build a city is madness in itself, but to build there one of the most elegant and grandest of cities is the madness of genius.”

— Alexander Herzen

Fujifilm XT2 | XF18-55mm | 39mm | 1/20th Second | f/9 | ISO200

This photo was taken during my second visit to this jewellery box city in October 2018. I took a wider shot of this view from Ponte dell'Accademia with a single gondola on the water which you can find here Weekly Photo 11 | Solitary Gondola and as I said in my previous post, I got a bit lucky with the river traffic as I only had to wait around for 20 minutes before it cleared for a short while, allowing me to snap a few different shots of the city.

It was getting towards the end of the day and at this time of year, from this vantage point, the sun was going down almost directly behind me so the scene I was photographing had some gorgeous defused light falling on it as the sun was slightly obscured by a thin layer of cloud. Although being in October meant it wasn’t as busy as during the summer months, there was still plenty of people on the bridge and with the light levels getting lower, my shutter speed was getting slower and getting a sharp photo handheld was getting tricky. I could have opened up the aperture or cranked up the ISO but to get the best quality and depth of field, I used a small table-top tripod and rested it on the thick wooden rail that lines the bridge so I didn’t have to compromise the photo at all.

In my previous photo, the focal point was the gondola in the foreground but for this photo, it’s the Salute so I zoomed from 18mm to 39mm to bring the domes forward and make them more prominent in the photo. The diagonal line created by the buildings that line the canal on the right-hand side leads the eye in nicely to the Salute and the darker slither of buildings on the left help frame and add balance to the composition.

Considering how busy Venice can get in high season, the lack of river traffic and the cooler diffused light falling onto the buildings gives the photo a sense of quiet making the city seem almost sleepy, so I tried to respect that mood and reduce the contrast and colour saturation in post-processing. I think it worked out pretty well.

Until next week.

Trevor

---

This post is featured in my Weekly Photo series where I post a new photo every Monday. To have this delivered directly to your inbox, you can subscribe to the mailing list here.

Basin de San Marco | Weekly Photo #56

Before the pandemic took hold, I was starting to consider how I could diversify my own photography so it wasn’t so focused on London or urban scenes. I wanted to spend more time exploring my local area but while working in the city, I guess it was just easier to continue shooting where I spent most of my time. Fast forward a few months and things have obviously changed quite a bit. Since the lock-down started to ease in the UK, I’ve had some great fun researching and scouting locations to photograph here in the South East of England, from castles and lighthouses to ancient woodlands and rolling hills, I have certainly taken advantage of this opportunity.

I will of course share some photos of my recent outings here on my site soon enough but you can keep up with what I’m doing in real-time by following me on Facebook or Instagram and checking the stories I post while out in the field.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF10-24mm | 17mm | 14 Seconds | f/7.1 | ISO200

This week’s photo is one taken on my first trip to Venice back in 2017. My sunrise shoot was coming to an end and this was the last shot on my list I wanted to take.

This is a frequently captured composition of the moored gondolas on the edge of the Basin de San Marco but it’s a classic for good reason. It shouts Venice and most people that visit to take photos will try to capture this scene for their own collection and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that in my book. I’d already spent a few days seeking out new, unique compositions of the city but I wasn’t going to leave without getting my own versions of the hero shots of Venice such as this or the famous view from Ponte dell'Accademia which you can see here: The Glass Canal | Weekly Photo 28.

Compositionally, it took me a few minutes to find the best spot along the water and arrange everything how I wanted. Using my wide-angle 10-24mm set to 17mm, I composed the boats so that they would be pointing up and inwards towards the centre of the frame which mirrored the triangular shape of the clouds that also appear to point to the centre of the frame and towards the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore which was basking in the warm morning light across the water.

I also liked the way the light was falling onto the wooden poles in the foreground and wanted to make a feature of these but had to stay mindful and avoid them obscuring the view of the bell tower across the water. I purposely kept the camera level to minimise any distortion and keep the wooden poles straight which avoided any significant correction and cropping while editing the image.

Lastly, I wanted to capture the movement in the boats but there was too much ambient light to do this by adjusting camera settings alone so I used a 10-stop ND filter to get the longer shutter speed of 14 seconds which was enough to capture the movement, soften the foreground a little but still allow the boats to be a feature and remain recognisable in the image.

If you want to see more of my photos from Venice, you can see them here: A Weekend in Venice

Until next time

Trevor

---

This post is featured in my Weekly Photo series where I post a new photo every Monday. To have this delivered directly to your inbox, you can subscribe to the mailing list here.

Archway to Venice | Weekly Photo #49

I did have a trip to Amsterdam scheduled for the end of this month which we have had to cancel. I was really looking forward to going as it was my first visit to Amsterdam and I’d already started to prepare my must-see places to photograph. I don’t travel as much as I would like so when this trip was cancelled due to the wretched global situation, it was frustrating, but I do appreciate why it had to be done. I think all travel plans this year will be impacted in some way from cancellation to significant disruption while social distancing needs to be observed. I have tried to move the trip back to late August but we will have to wait and see how that goes.

One trip I did take was to Venice in 2018. It was my second visit and after travelling to this beautiful city just a year earlier in 2017, I fell in love with the place and wanted to return so, not long after I got back from my first visit, a return trip for the following year was booked and it then that I captured this week’s photo.

I have created a page on my website where you can see some photos and stories I wrote from my first trip in 2017 here A Weekend in Venice.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF35mmF2 | 35mm | 1/850 Sec | f/2.8 | ISO1250

One thing I like to do in Venice is to wander the streets and side canals without any particular destination in mind but to just see what I find. With so many twists and turns, it’s easy to get lost but every so often, you turn a corner and a new surprise greets you such as a beautiful church or basilica or a bustling square with bars and restaurants. As I wander around, I’m always on the lookout for a photo opportunity and whereas I will typically have a subject and composition in mind and work a location until I have the photo I'm after, sometimes the photo opportunities are spontaneous and I only have a split second to capture the shot and this photo is a great example of that.

As I crossed a bridge over a small side canal and descended down a flight of stairs, the light from this archway behind me caught my eye. It was just over my shoulder and looking back, I could have easily ignored it but thankfully I didn’t and turned around to see what was there. The gondola was being framed beautifully by this brick archway but was disappearing fast and I could instantly see the story, even mystery of the image. Without any time to check my camera settings, I switched it on and framed the composition the best I could and only just managed to take the photo before too much of the gondola had passed. After a quick check on the screen, I knew I had the shot but being Venice, I couldn’t dwell and had to keep moving to see what the next corner had in store.

I like this photo a lot. I like the pastel shades in the water, contrasted against the reds in the brickwork and I love the green of the foliage hanging down from the top of the arch. There are, however, some things I would like to change. First, I would have included a bit more of the archway, but this wasn’t possible as just to the left of the opening, there was some discarded building rubble that would have been too distracting if included. I also find the gondola cover a little messy, but you can only work with the subject you are given and I suppose in a way, having it there makes the gondola look a little more authentic.

Technically this photo isn’t perfect, but technically Venice isn't perfect either. It's about capturing the essence of the city and even with some rustic brickwork, an archway, and the stern of the gondola, you clearly know what this is and where it was taken. It’s subtly obvious.

If you want to see more photos from this trip to Venice, check out a post I wrote that features a set of black and white photos I took after the weather turned the following day. Photographing Venice in Black and White.

Until next week.

Trevor

---

This post is featured in my Weekly Photo series where I post a new photo every Monday. To have this delivered directly to your inbox, you can subscribe to the mailing list here.

The Glass Canal | Weekly Photo #28

“Venice is the exemplar of human wit and ingenuity. Despair of man and go to Venice: you will cease to despair. If human beings can build a city like this, their souls deserved to be saved.”

— Anthony Burgess, foreword to Venice: An Illustrated Anthology, 1988.

Like many photographers, I love to take photos of Venice. It has everything I like from charming streets and intimate canals to grand, cityscape vistas that will take your breath away. This picturesque city has an abundance of rustic splendour and oozes history throughout.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF18-55mm | 18mm | 480 Seconds | f/8 | ISO200

During a previous trip to Venice in 2017, I decided to venture out before sunrise to capture the city as it sleeps. As an urban landscape photographer, whatever city you happen to be in, there is no better time to capture it than at sunrise. This is the time where you can have the place to yourself and capture the landscape in a way not normally experienced by most other people.

If there was one shot I just had to capture during my stay it was this composition below looking down the Grand Canal towards the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute in the distance. The light wasn't as epic as I hoped but if I was going to capture a long exposure, this had to be it.

Upon the Ponte dell’Accademia Bridge, I set my camera onto the tripod, composed, focused and then mounted my filter. You can see the settings I used directly under the image above. I also have an easy 10-step process to taking long exposure photos which is available to download by subscribing to my newsletter. Having already taken a test shot without the filter, with the light levels as they were, the resulting exposure was an impressive 8 minutes. So, with the remote cable release connected, I went about taking the shot.

What I really like about this image is I had one chance to capture it while there was some light in the sky. The eight-minute exposure makes the water almost mirror-like with a touch of etherealism and the resulting image is a clean crisp shot ensuring the sweeping curve of the water leads the eye to the main focus being the architecture and Basilica.

Back in Lightroom, I had to deal with one of the downsides of such a long exposure and that was the many hot pixels across the image. These are areas of electrical discharge created by the sensor getting hot whiles taking the long exposure. Noticeable in the shadows, I had to endure the tedious process of cloning out the hundreds of small red dots from the darker parts of the image.

If you’re interested, I wrote a two-part travel blog about my trip to Venice which is filled with photos and information about the many places I visited.

Photographing Venice - Part 1

Photographing Venice - Part 2

Until next time.

Trevor

---

This post is featured in my Weekly Photo series where I post a new photo every Monday. To have this delivered directly to your inbox, you can subscribe to the mailing list here.

Venetian Nights | Weekly Photo #20

As charming as Venice is during the day, it takes on a whole new identity at night. There are fewer people on the island in the evening as most tourists are either day-trippers or stay elsewhere on the mainland. The resulting quieter streets coupled with the dark, poorly lit side canals means the city takes on a whole new aura of mystery and tranquillity and I for one love to walk the streets at this time and soak it all in.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF18-55mm | 29mm | 9 Seconds | f/10 | ISO200

Photographing the Grand Canal at Night

I took this photo during my latest trip to this beautiful city. In fact, it was the very first photo I took. After checking in at the hotel and dropping off our bags, my wife and I headed out into the night to explore the island. Armed with just my Fujifilm XT2 camera and a small tabletop Manfrotto PIXI tripod, I was traveling light that evening and it turns out, that’s all I needed to capture this photo.

We arrived at the Rialto Bridge and as we crossed, this composition stood out to me. I particularly liked the way the canal sweeps to the right around the buildings and gondolas. Although it was after dark, the lights were nice and bright and by using a smaller aperture of f/10, I was able to create those cool starbursts around the streetlights.

With the low light and small aperture, there was no way I could handhold this shot so I placed the camera on my Manfrotto PIXI tripod and with a nice sturdy wall to rest the tripod on, I went about capturing this 9-second exposure. Along with the composition, I’m drawn to the colours I was able to bring out of this image in post-production and knowing how good the guys at Fujifilm are with their colour science, I suspect that had a little bit to do with it.

Here are a few other articles featuring photos and stories about Venice:

• On location photographing Venice in Black and White

• My top 6 photos of Venice

• On location photographing Venice - Part One

Speak to you soon.

Trevor

---

This post is featured in my Weekly Photo series where I post a new photo every Monday. To have this delivered directly to your inbox, you can subscribe to the mailing list here.

La Piazza Desolata | Weekly Photo #16

This is a very empty St Mark’s Square in Venice. I had just completed the 10-minute walk back from the Ponte dell’Accademia Bridge where I had captured the classic view of the Grand Canal at sunrise and I found myself in a very quiet St Mark’s Square. It feels both odd and exhilarating to be in a place on your own which is normally overrun by thousands of people and I wasn’t going to miss this opportunity to capture such a beautiful city in this unique way.

I share many more photos of my trip to Venice in my two-part blog post:

• On Location Photographing Venice - Part One

• On Location Photographing Venice - Part Two

Fujifilm XT-10 | XF18-55mm | 34mm | 6 Seconds | f/8 | ISO200

After a short while wandering the piazza, photographing the ornate architecture and soaking up every ounce of the history as possible, I started to head back towards the Bacino San Marco. I noticed the sun lighting up the tower that belongs to the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore across the water, basking in gloriously warm sunlight and with the Lion of Venice up on the column appearing to stand and welcome the new day, it was an image I had to capture.

With such a large space in front of me, it was inevitable that one or two people would now be in the shot so I decided to use my Formatt-Hitech 10-stop ND filter to create a long exposure and as long as those one or two people kept moving, they would be rendered invisible in the scene. That’s exactly what happened and with the Fujifilm X-T10 (my camera of choice at the time), XF18-55mm lens mounted on the tripod and my settings locked in, I went about capturing the scene in front of me.

It took a few tries to ensure I didn’t capture any people, but I got there in the end and the resulting photo is one of my favourites from that entire trip.

Whenever I visit a new city, I make a point of venturing out at the break of dawn to enjoy the unique experience of having a normally busy location all to myself. Whether you take a camera or not, I have listed three reasons why everyone should give it a try.

3 reasons to photograph a city at sunrise

#1 You get the best light of the day.

Ok, this is a subjective one but to me, there is something quite magical about the light at sunrise. I love a good sunset like everybody else but with sunrises harder to capture because all of the getting up early nonsense, it seems just a little bit more special when out experiencing it. That coupled with the long shadows and warm sunlight, it can be such a beautiful time to be out with the camera.

#2 You get the whole place to yourself

As I mentioned above, if you like photographing iconic locations then you will no doubt have to point the camera upwards or include the crowds of people in your photos unless you visit early in the morning. Most tourist hotspots will start to get busy just after breakfast as the hotels usually have set times and tend not to serve much before 7 am. This means any time up until 8 am will be the best time to capture the morning light without lots of people in the shot.

#3 You get to do more.

Whenever I travel with my family, I will always schedule in a sunrise shoot so I can get my photography fix in before breakfast. Sunrise is a perfect time to focus on photography especially when travelling with friends and family. It enables you to get a few hours of dedicated photography before meeting back up to spend a full day doing other activities not necessarily related to photography.

I hope you found that useful and as ever, feel free to leave a comment about your own sunrise experiences in the comments section below.

Until next time.

Trevor

---

This post is featured in my Weekly Photo series where I post a new photo every Monday. To have this delivered directly to your inbox, you can subscribe to the mailing list here.

Solitary Gondola | Weekly Photo #11

“This was Venice, the flattering and suspect beauty – this city, half fairy tale and half tourist trap, in whose insalubrious air the arts once rankly and voluptuously blossomed, where composers have been inspired to lulling tones of somniferous eroticism.”

— Thomas Mann

Fujifilm XT2 | XF18-55mm | 18mm | 1/40th Second | f/9 | ISO200

This photo was taken on my second visit to Venice and having already captured a sunrise image from this spot (links below), It’s such a classic and instantly recognisable viewpoint which I wanted to capture another photo but this time, towards the end of the day and including a point of interest. I arrived on the busy Ponte dell’Accademia Bridge around 5:30pm, still some time before sunset and as expected the Grand Canal still had quite a few boats on the water.

I take a lot of cityscape images and as you may have read in other blog posts I have written, I like to declutter the compositions removing distractions and simplifying the scenes as much as I possibly can. In the case, the boats on the water were creating the clutter in the image resulting in no clear focal point in the composition. So, I did what I had too, and waited patiently for a gap in the traffic.

It was probably 20 or so minutes later when the traffic reduced so I just needed that focal point I was after. Keeping an eye on both sides of the bridge I noticed a single gondola sailing underneath my feet and as it entered my frame, most of the other boats had left it, allowing me to capture this iconic cityscape with the focal point I was after. I didn’t have an opportunity to wait for the second gondola to leave down a side canal as in no time at all, boats started to enter the frame once more. I felt confident that I had captured the best version of the image I could that evening. It’s a great feeling when you feel you have a keeper on the memory card and can’t wait to get it back to the computer to process.

The settings I used were fairly standard, and I was able to use a low ISO, f-stop of f/9 at 1/40th second exposure as I had my tripod to avoid any nasty camera shake. I processed the shot in Adobe Lightroom to emphasis the nice blues in the water and sky and lighten up some of the architecture that frames the shot.

This became my favourite photo of the trip which I printed and looks fantastic on paper. I say it all the time, “print your photos!!”.

I have written a number of other posts covering my trips to this city and a few notable posts are listed below:

On Location Photographing Venice - Part One

On Location Photographing Venice - Part Two

On Location Photographing Venice in Black and White

If you ever have the chance to visit Venice, I highly recommend it as I for one can’t wait to be back, surrounded by the deep history and beautiful architecture once more.

Until next week.

---

This post is featured in my Weekly Photo series where I post a new photo every Monday. To have this delivered directly to your inbox, you can subscribe to the mailing list here.

On Location Photographing Venice in Black and White

In October 2018, I made my second trip to Venice. When I’d first visited back in July 2017, the weather was good and it was nice and warm the entire time I was there. When the sun is out the city is full colour and vibrancy and being someone who prefers to shoot in colour, I didn’t consider doing anything else.

You can read about my previous visits to Venice in my two-part article here:

• On-Location Photographing Venice Part 1

• On-Location Photography Venice Part 2

Fast forward to October 2018 and the weather forecast was quite different. Throughout the time we would be in the city, the weather would start to deteriorate. We would have some sunny weather to start but by the last day there was heavy rain predicted so I knew right away that I would need to adjust my plans to capture some photos I would be happy with.

Photographing Venice with the Fujifilm XT2

On this trip, I would have with me my Fujifilm XT2. It’s the big brother to my X-T10 and although the X-T10 is a lighter camera, I decided to take the heavier XT2 as not only does it have the great image quality and tactile controls I love using so much, but it also has a weather-sealed body so it was less of a concern if I was out shooting in damp weather.

With the XT2, I took the following lenses, all of which you will see photos taken with below:

• XF10-24mm

• XF18-55mm

• XF35mm f2 (weather-sealed)

• XF55-200mm

Although I had all of these lenses with me, I would typically head out with just one on the camera and one in the bag. I like to travel light when on a city break and the Fuji X system helps me do that without compromising on the quality one bit.

Photographing Venice in Black and White

As mentioned above, I usually take colour photos and black and white would tend to be a bit of an afterthought. I might choose to convert to black and white if the photo is not working in colour and it would always be during the editing stage and rarely when capturing the photo.

For this trip to Venice, I decided to change things up a bit. I chose one of Fujifilm’s cracking black and white film simulations so I could visualise the image in black and white as I was taking it, removing the wait to see how it looks in Lightroom. This method worked incredibly well for me and I ended up with lots of images I really liked.

Although I used the film simulations to capture the photos, I did still record the raw files too as I wanted to process the photos myself when I returned from the trip using the JPGs as a reference. This way I retained all the creative control and if I saw an image that looked better in colour, I still had all of that data to play with.

San Marco Basin and San Giorgio Maggiore

Fujifilm XT2 | XF35mm F2 | 35mm | 1/125th Sec | f/2 | ISO640

The first set of photos were taken from various angles looking across San Marco Basin towards the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore. San Marco Basin is located towards the south of the island at the mouth of the Grand Canal and there are so many angles and compositions to shoot here.

I really like the contrast that black and white processing provides as it helps the tourists and their umbrellas stand out as silhouettes against the brighter background as they cross the bridge in the image above. It really helps tell the story of the conditions that day and I love the feeling I get from this photo.

I have found that black and white photography allows you to push the highlights and crush the blacks much more than you would dare in a colour photo and the high contrast images you are left with can have lots of impact and work well for photos such as these.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF18-55mm | 18mm | 1/9,000th Sec | f/4.5 | ISO1250

Fujifilm XT2 | XF55-200mm | 86mm | 1/3,200th Sec | f/4.5 | ISO200

Fujifilm XT2 | XF35mm F2 | 35mm | 1/1,100th Sec | f/2 | ISO200

The Gondolier

During both of my trips to Venice, I couldn’t stop taking photos of the iconic gondolas as they would float peacefully along the twists and turns of the seemingly never-ending canals. These instantly recognisable boats are fun to shoot, especially when they catch the occasional light hitting the water creeping through the gaps between the buildings and with those tall Venetian structures flanking the canals they make perfect compositional frames which look fantastic in a black and white image.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF18-55mm | 46mm | 1/25th Sec | f/4 | ISO200

When converted to black and white, the photo can have a somewhat timeless look to it and in Venice, even more so as without any modern distractions in a lot of the scenes, these photos look like they could have been taken any time in the last 50 years. I guess it’s a bit of a throwback to the past when there was no colour photography and black and white film is all there was to use.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 10mm | 1/1,400th Sec | f/4.5 | ISO200

Fujifilm XT2 | XF18-55mm | 55mm | 1/80th Sec | f/4 | ISO400

Venice at Night

Fujifilm XT2 | XF18-55mm | 50mm | 15 Secs | f/16 | ISO200

Black and white photography is particular good when taking low key images as those shown here. I really like the mood in the image above, in particular the tower of the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore partially illuminated across the water and the light from street lamps illuminating their ornate shapes and features. This style created the mood I was looking for perfectly

Fujifilm XT2 | XF18-55mm | 18mm | 1/125th Sec | f/2.8 | ISO1600

Fujifilm XT2 | XF18-55mm | 18mm | 30 Secs | f/14 | ISO200

Piazza San Marco

You can’t possibly visit Venice and not capture a few photos of the striking architecture at Piazza San Marco. I had to get up extra early to capture the images of the square being empty of people but with all of the people removed, these photos portray well how a black and white image can emphasise the lines, shapes and patterns such as the paving slabs on the ground or the buildings that flank the square shown in the images below.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 17mm | 1/6th Sec | f/8 | ISO200

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 10mm | 1/10th Sec | f/16 | ISO200

This was my first attempt at some deliberate black and white photography and I couldn’t have picked a better camera or a more beautiful setting to give it a try. Who knows, I may even attempt a similar approach on one of my regular walks around London. I wrote in my last post how we all should step out of our comfort zone now and then to see what we are really capable of and while in Venice I feel I did this and as I am happy with the photos I took, it was well worth it.

Until next time.

My Top 6 Photos of Venice

A few months ago, I spent some time in the wonderful city of Venice and absolutely loved it.

I have visited quite a few cities such as Paris, New York, Valencia, Barcelona and of course London but Venice is like nothing I have experienced before. From the many canals breaking the city lots of smaller islands to the ornate very typically Venetian architecture this place has a unique atmosphere full of culture, art and history.

One thing any person visiting the island in the summer months will notice is the number of people. During my visit, it was packed full of tourists from about 9am as they all arrived in their droves from the many boats that bring them in. I can't complain though, as I was one of them but it was for this reason I decided to approach my photography a bit differently from my normal approach while in a city. For each day I was there I took just one camera and lens out with me as I knew I would be blocking pathways and just getting in other people's way if I tried using my tripod through the narrow streets and canal paths.

I am so glad I made this decision as I came home with a collection of images that I was really happy with and not in keeping with my usual style. I took so many photos during my visit and covered so much ground so I wrote a two-part blog post documenting my visit below.

• Photographing Venice - Part 1

• Photographing Venice - Part 2

As I have already covered my visit in detail within the above posts, I won't repeat myself here but if you are interested in finding out a little more about the images I took, grab a coffee and give the above posts a read.

So, all that being said, I am still a fine art, landscape photographer and I'm not happy unless I have the camera mounted on the tripod, methodically dialing in my camera settings and fitting my filters to capture a carefully composed image. I decided to venture out before sunrise one morning to capture the city as it sleeps. As an urban landscape photographer, whatever city you happen to be in, there is no better time to capture it than at sunrise. This is the time where you can have the place to yourself and capture the landscape in a way it is not normally experienced by most other people so below are my favourite shots from my early morning shoot in this magical city.

If there was one shot I just had to capture during my stay it was this composition below looking down the Grand Canal towards the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute in the distance. The light wasn't as epic as I hoped but if I was going to capture a long exposure, this had to be it.

What I really like about this image is I had one chance to capture it while there was some light in the sky. The eight-minute exposure makes the water almost mirror like with a touch of etherealism and the resulting image is a clean crisp shot ensuring the sweeping curve of the water leads the eye to the main focus being the architecture and Basilica.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF18-55mm | 18mm | 480 Secs | f/8 | ISO200

Now, I know the composition below is similar to the above but I had to include it in the post too. I really like the atmosphere in this shot. It suits the location and represents the feeling I had while I traveled around the city. You see, a photo does not have to be technically perfect for it to be a favorite. It just has to be an image that evokes a personal and emotional bond with the viewer. Well, this shot does that for me.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF18-55mm | 37mm | 0.5 Secs | f/11 | ISO200

Here's a little lesson for any landscape photographer. Always look behind you! While still on the Accademia Bridge and as I had just taken the image above and I looked behind me and the view up the Grand Canal was beautifully lit with the sun lighting up the clouds with this fantastic magenta. I was not expecting to capture another composition from this bridge so I was really happy with that!

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF18-55mm | 18mm | 0.7 Secs | f/11 | ISO200

Although on its own, this is a nice shot of the entrance to St Mark's Square from the river with Doge's Palace to the right of the shot, what I like most about the image is the Lion of Venice standing to attention on top of the pillar appearing to welcome the sunrise as it just hits the top. I'm not sure if the statue is deliberately placed in that location and that height but I like to think that this was more about fortuitous timing and witnessing a moment not many will.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF18-55mm | 34mm | 6 Secs | f/8 | ISO200

Next up is a photo of the Bridge of Sighs. Again, if you wanted to know more about this location, check part 2 of the blog via the links above. There are a lot of ornate, architectural details in the buildings in Venice and it should stand out and be prominent which is why I decided to take another long exposure to smooth out the water and any distractions. That coupled with the central composition and lines leading in from the edges of the image results in a more striking image of this beautiful bridge.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF18-55mm | 24mm | 4 Secs | f/10 | ISO200

Last but not least is one of the more popular compositions of the Venice Gondolas. This one took a bit of work to get the composition right as the water level was high and spilling over to the walkway and the boats were moving up and down, left to right in the water but I got there in the end. I had to use the ND Grad filter for this shot to capture the motion of the boats with a longer exposure and I am really pleased how this turned out with the central composition and the prominent wooden poles adding contrast and texture to the image.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF10-24mm | 17mm | 14 Secs | f/7.1 | ISO200

On Location Photographing Venice | Part Two

This is part two of my travel blog covering my trip to Venice. If you haven't yet seen part one, you can find it here: Photographing Venice - Part One.

Part one of this blog finished with some shots taken from the Accademia Bridge as the sun was beginning to rise. This was my one and only early morning shoot so I wanted to make the most of it. There is no other time you can get the city (almost) all to yourself with the best light of the day.

Saint Mark's Basilica

At Piazza San Marco (St Mark's Square) once again, with the 18-55mm lens attached, I wanted to capture Saint Mark's Basilica. The most famous of Venice's churches. The building has taken various forms since its inception in the 9th century. It was burnt down and restored in the 10th century and has undergone various developments since then. One thing is for sure, with its highly decorative facade, it is quite something to behold.

Capturing Saint Mark's Basilica can be quite tricky when trying to nail the composition. Being quite low to the ground to get the spires in the shot and having to be as wide as possible meant that there was a lot of distortion (keystone effect) where the usually straight vertical lines would converge nearer the top of the image. I managed to correct this in post but in hindsight I should have left just a bit more headroom in the shot to allow for this correction by moving slightly further back. Link to Google Map of the location this image was shot from.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF18-55mm | 18mm | 6.5 Secs | f/8 | ISO200

Bacino San Marco

Just to the right of Sant Mark's Basilica, the square opens up with great views across the Bacino San Marco. In this scene, I particularly liked the ornate lamps and Doge's Palace architecture coupled with the way the rising sun is just catching the Lion of Venice on top of the column. I think the palace on the left and column on the right balances the composition nicely.

I used a 10 stop ND filter mounted on the lens for this shot as a few people were starting to wander around the square and with them not adding anything to the image I took a longer exposure which helps blur the figures out of the image as they move.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF18-55mm | 35mm | 6 Secs | f/8 | ISO200

Riva degli Schiavoni

This image below is taken just in front of the Doge's Palace, just a few yards from the image above. I tried to isolate the lamp as the main subject with the Venetian architecture in the background.

You have to see to believe the difference a few hours make between the shot below and when the tourists start rolling into the city. This area along the waterfront, called Riva degli Schiavoni is absolutely packed during the day. Seeing it like this almost feels like a privilege as not many people will see this unobstructed, peaceful view of the city.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF18-55mm | 25mm | 6.5 Secs | f/10 | ISO200

Revisiting the Bridge of Sighs

Heading towards my hotel and ready for breakfast, I decided to capture the Bridge of Sighs again but this time as a long exposure. With so much architectural detail on the scene which I couldn't and wouldn't want to change, I used the 10-stop filter again which gave me a 4-second exposure, allowing me to smooth out the water, softening the image a little and emphasise the bridge. The composition was also helped by the converging lines leading the viewer's eye into the image to the bridge itself. Link to Google Map of the location this image was shot from.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF18-55mm | 25mm | 4 Secs | f/10 | ISO200

The famous moored gondolas

I couldn't visit Venice without capturing a couple of images of the famous moored gondolas. Once again, I used the 10 stop natural density filter to slow down the shutter speed to 1.9 seconds which allowed me to capture the movement of the boats bobbing up and down on the water. If there's any view that is instantly recognisable as Venetian, then I think this is it.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF18-55mm | 18mm | 1.9 Secs | f/10 | ISO200

For the image below I got close up to the gondolas to really capture their movement with a more central composition so I attached the wide-angle XF10-24mm lens and parked my camera on the tripod right on the water's edge. I particularly liked the contrast between the softer moving boats and the pin-sharp wooden poles as it balanced the image really well.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF10-24mm | 17mm | 14 Secs | f/7.1 | ISO200

Riding the gondolas

Getting on to the end of my last full day in the city, it was time to take a ride on the famous gondolas. The gondola rides in Venice are a must for anyone visiting the city. Not cheap (100EUR for 30 mins) but if you can, you most certainly should. I was lucky enough to have a really good gondolier who spoke of the historic locations as we travelled through the canals. It was almost like having my own tour guide.

The image below was taken as we followed another gondola out onto the Grand Canal providing a great view of the Rialto Bridge which dates back to 1591.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF18-55mm | 33mm | 1/320th Sec | f/9 | ISO200

The gondolas are covered in ornate decorations which creates the character and charm of these beautiful boats. The shallower depth of field provided by a wider aperture (f4) used here emphasises these details nicely.

The second shot, albeit wider taken from aboard the gondola. This trip took place around 19:30 and without a doubt, this is the best time of day to take the ride during the summer months in my opinion. During the day, the canals can be like the equivalent of the roads around London during rush hour. There can be gondolas 2 or 3 abreast sailing around the canals. It really is that busy. As the sun goes down and the evening draws in, the canals really quieten down and the ride I took was so peaceful and relaxing.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF18-55mm | 55mm | 1/80th Sec | f/4 | ISO200

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF18-55mm | 18mm | 1/150th Sec | f/2.8 | ISO200

As I wandered back to the hotel, I passed the Chiesa di (church) San Giorgio dei Greci once more. I spoke about this fascinating church with its lop sided tower in part one of this blog. I was drawn to the way the light hits the side of the tower and the way it seems to be leaning towards the sun's warm evening light, longing for it not to go.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF18-55mm | 55mm | 1/300th Sec | f/5.6 | ISO200

Back at the hotel, another bank of cloud rolled in from the mountains but before it completely engulfed the sky, I managed to capture a few pictures of the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute just after the sun had gone down. There was a nice pink glow from beyond the horizon providing great light for the shot so out came the 55-200 lens again.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF55-200mm | 82mm | 1/300th Sec | f/3.8 | ISO400

Another shot of the basilica just a few minutes later than the one above with the last remains of the sun's pinky-red light and the city lights now turned on.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF55-200mm | 61mm | 7.5 Secs | f/8 | ISO200

So, my last day in Venice started with a walk across the Grand Canal, over the Rialto Bridge, providing fantastic views of this incredibly busy water way. During the day, there are gondolas, delivery boats, water taxis, trade boats and water buses sailing up and down, avoiding each other along the canal. I decided to continue with the longer 200mm lens and take it out for the day as I walked about to take some tighter shots and isolate the subjects a little.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF55-200mm | 58mm | 1/1500th Sec | f/5.6 | ISO200

Exploring the streets and canals of Venice

Walking around the narrow maze-like streets south of the Grand Canal, the different intricate features along this street is what caught my attention, from the ornate lamps on the side of the buildings to the window shutters. The 200mm focal length gives a nice feeling of depth to the scene.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF55-200mm | 200mm | 1/210th Sec | f/6.4 | ISO200

Heading back across the Grand Canal, once again I crossed the Accademia Bridge. Having already captured the traditional views from the bridge, I used the longer lens to capture the below shot of the gondola floating towards me. I really like the way the gondola appears to be all alone in the water when in fact I just got a bit lucky with the timing and the river traffic just quietened down enough as I took the image. Luck certainly plays its part in the photography process.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF55-200mm | 200mm | 1/750th Sec | f/5.6 | ISO200

Continuing the gondola theme, the next few images were taken around the canals as I wandered around in my last few hours before heading to the airport. The reason I like the image, in particular, is the pleasing composition created by the canal leading the eye deep into the image and the way both the canal and the gondola are nicely framed by the buildings either side.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF55-200mm | 55mm | 1/100th Sec | f/10 | ISO200

I like the shot of the gondola below as it shows off the traditional Venetian boat as the main subject without a cover on or full of tourists having a ride. As mentioned before the longer lens allowed for this isolation and cut out a lot of other distracting elements that would be in the shot if a wider lens was used. The scene looks typically Venetian and with subtle touches like the mooring poles along the edge of the water, it really does complete the scene.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF55-200mm | 55mm | 1/80th Sec | f/16 | ISO200

As I headed back to the hotel to collect my bags before heading to the airport, I spotted this gondolier just chilling on a bridge. With the chap dressed for the part and the composition having a nice symmetry to it I zoomed right in and snapped away. I did have to crop the image a bit as he was standing right underneath a Greek national flag which looked obviously out of place.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF55-200mm | 200mm | 1/140th Sec | f/16 | ISO200

For the final few of images, we have come full circle and back to the location of the very first image in the first blog (Part 1). Right above me is the Bridge of Sighs and on the edge of the canal is a small ledge where you can relax and watch the gondolas float past as they start another circuit around the winding canals. I mentioned earlier in the blog that during the day the gondolas can be really busy and you can see that in the shot below.

I do like the composition in this image as the busy canal is nicely framed and leads into the shot to the bridge in the distance. The light in the far background is also pleasing as it adds depth to the image.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF55-200mm | 105mm | 1/50th Sec | f/16 | ISO800

The final image below captures 3 gondolas in a row as the canal quietens down a little. I composed the shot in a way that shows a lot of depth in the scene and the gondolas on the canal are again nicely framed to the left and up top by the Bridge of Sighs. I was really happy with this shot when I took it and even happier with it after a bit of post-processing.

I tried to keep the post processing as consistent as possible as it is important to me that the images throughout this story of my trip look like they belong together. Individually I think the images are nice, not amazing but together they tell a story of the city and how it looked and felt to me. Whenever I look at the photos or re-read this blog it will take me back there over and over again.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF55-200mm | 55mm | 1/60th Sec | f/14 | ISO200

I am really happy I took my Fuji X-T10 with me and even more glad that the times I was out and about, I used just the one lens for a period of time. It made me work with what I had and find the images in the scene that worked with the focal length I was using. Yes, I probably missed a few images but not having to fiddle with the camera, changing lenses throughout the trip allowed me to look around the city, spot a shot, capture the image and move on, resulting in images I might not have taken, or even seen for that matter.

I'm not a travel photographer. I have a day job but of all the places I have visited, I will be going back to Venice one day. It's the kind of city you need many visits to before you can feel you have exploited the place photographically. I just hope I don't have to wait too long before I go back!

Thanks for taking the time to get to the end of this journey as it was certainly a long read and feel free to leave a comment and ask any questions I may not have covered in either part of this blog post.

On Location Photographing Venice | Part One

In July, I spent a few nights in Venice and wow, what a city. It really is something else. The architecture, the history, the romance. I had a great time wandering around the city capturing the views on my camera (Fuji X-T10), so in this two-part blog post, I'm going to share some of the pictures I took accompanied by some information about the location and maybe a bit of history thrown in for good measure.

Traveling from Venice from the UK was so quick. It took just 1h 45m. Once landed, I took a boat from the airport to the city, dumped my bags at the hotel (more on the hotel later) and went to explore this beautiful city.

Bridge of Sighs

The first image below is a slightly different view of the Bridge of Sighs. This is a really popular bridge in Venice and as you can see below, the bridge in the distance is packed with tourists trying to grab a view of the beautifully sculptured walkway.

This ornate, limestone walkway was a solution to a problem way back, when authorities needed to transport prisoners from Doge's Palace to the new prisons across the Palazzo river. Thought to be named because of the sighs that could be heard from the prisoners, the bridge, or more specifically the holes in the side would have provided prisoners a last glimpse of the outside world before heading to their cells.

The image below was taken from Memoria Ponte. Link on Google Maps. Although still busy, it is a much quieter location than the one opposite.

One thing to note is that although I took multiple lenses to Venice. I would tend to only go out with the lens attached to the camera. Having the restriction of one lens is actually quite liberating. There is less to carry and it removes the fuss around changing the lens or not being sure which lens to use for each shot. I see the shot, pick the best composition, move if I have to (or can) and snap away. The first three images below are taken with the XF18-55mm.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF18-55mm | 55mm | 1/420th Sec | f/6.4 | ISO200

I would be lying if I said I could remember where the next shot was taken. It was just one of the hundreds of bridges over the miles of canal somewhere in Venice. All I do know is that based on the time stamps on the images, it is only 7 minutes walk from the next image below. It was the red and black mooring poles here that caught my attention. They were quite striking and a typically Venetian.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF18-55mm | 55mm | 1/120th Sec | f/5.6 | ISO200

One of the more surprising observations I had when wandering around Venice is that there are very little in the way of paths running along the canals, particularly the Grand Canal. It was something I didn't really consider before which does actually seems obvious to me now. This means getting pictures of buildings along the Grand Canal is more difficult than you might imagine. You will tend to cross the canals rather than walk along them in this city.

Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute

The next few images focus on the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute. I took the image below from a jetty along the Grand Canal, just opposite (Link to Google Maps).I think it is such a beautiful and recognisable structure along the canal. Maybe it's because the dome has a little St Paul's Cathedral about it which as you may know, pushes the right "London" buttons for me. Officially a minor Basilica, this structure is one of the largest churches in Venice.

The church was built on the back of a promise the locals made to the Virgin Maria in exchange for salvation from the Plague and when the plague was finally defeated in 1631, the church was erected.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF18-55mm | 28mm | 1/350th Sec | f/13 | ISO200

The hotel I stayed in was fantastic. It was right where you would want to be while staying in Venice, a few minutes from the Piazza San Marco with riverside views of the San Marco Basin and the mouth of the Grand Canal. The hotel we stayed in is called the Hotel Locanda Vivaldi. I booked the hotel because the location was great and it had a traditional Venetian look and feel and during my visit I really wanted to soak up as much of Venice as I could and this hotel really delivered.

The shot below was actually taken from my hotel room window. I purposely booked a superior room as they all have waterfront views and as you can see, it did not leave us wanting.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF55-200mm | 128mm | 1/850th Sec | f/5.6 | ISO200

For the shot above and the two below, I used my XF55-200mm lens. I've not had this lens too long and yet to see its full potential.

On the image below you will see the start of what turned out to be quite an epic storm coming in from the mountains to the north of the city. It turns out this is quite a regular occurrence in the late afternoon during the summer months. Thankfully it only happened the once during our visit and only lasted an hour or so but when it hit, it was epic.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF55-200mm | 55mm | 1/200th Sec | f/5.6 | ISO200

To give the lens a run for its money I grabbed a close up of the church's domes from across the San Marco Basin. I loved the way the storm clouds gave the dome a moody backdrop and even at 200mm, the image was nice and sharp and no tripod in sight. The storm clouds really help the statue at the top of the bell tower stand out and I really like how the windows reflected the warm, yellow evening light too.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF55-200mm | 200mm | 1/75th Sec | f/5.6 | ISO200

San Giorgio dei Greci

Traditionally Venetian on the outside and Greek Orthodox on the inside, the leaning tower of Chiesa di (church) San Giorgio dei Greci in the picture below is one of the tallest bell towers in Venice. Located beside the canal running alongside my hotel, I took this picture of the tower with the 35mm F2 lens attached. There is no distortion in this image despite how it appears, the tower actually does have an obvious lean which, so I read, started pretty much as soon as the tower was completed.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF35mm F2 | 35mm | 1/120th Sec | f/4 | ISO200

Piazza San Marco

At the end of my first day in Venice, I ended up in the Piazza San Marco (St Mark's Square). When wandering around the city, this square seems to have some kind of strange magnetic force as no matter how far I walked and how lost I got throughout my stay, I always seemed to end up at St Mark's Square.

The ambience of the square late at night is very different than during the day. In the day there are literally thousands of people around the square trying to capture the views around the square or standing in a very long line waiting to get into the St Mark's Basilica. At night, it is surprising how fast the square quietened down. With a lot fewer people, the bands playing romantic music around the square, it was a nice time to walk around and soak in the romance of the city.

Still, with the 35mm attached, I thought that the architecture in the background creating deep shadows and the sculpture of the traditional, ornate lamp post casting the light across the ground captured the feeling of this location beautifully. The detail rendered by this great lens made it a great choice for the job too. Link to Google Map of the location this image was shot from.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF35mm F2 | 35mm | 1/25th Sec | f/2 | ISO1600

Accademia Bridge

I continued with the X-T10/35mm F2, camera/lens combo the next day as I ventured to one of the famous bridges across the Grand Canal, the Accademia Bridge (Ponte dell'Accademia). Most famous for two reasons. The first is obvious and that's the classic composition it provides of the city. Arguably the most recognisable view in Venice. Secondly, the bridge's history. The bridge was supposed to be temporary and was built after the previous iron structure was removed in 1932. The bridge was actually replaced in 1986 with a bridge made from the same plans as the original.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF35mm F2 | 35mm | 1/16000th Sec | f/2 | ISO200

So after crossing the bridge, I had a wander around to the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute and on the way back, found a cute little area with a bridge across a small canal right next to a cafe that served the best ice cream in the city and trust me, we tried a few.

Time for ice cream

The cafe was called Luganegher (google street view link) and with the temperature up near the 30s, it went down a treat!

Back at the Bridge of Sighs, I found a great little spot to have rest and dip my feet in the water while watching the gondolas float past. I since found out that putting your feet in the water is probably a bad idea as the city does not have a sewer so you can imagine where it all goes ;-) but with the temperature as it was it felt so good at the time.

I grabbed the shot below of the gondolas starting their circuits around the canals with a new batch of paying customers. In this picture, the river leads the viewer nicely into the shot and the canal is also nicely framed by the bridge above.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF35mm F2 | 35mm | 1/200th Sec | f/10 | ISO200

I mentioned earlier in the post about the hotel I was staying at but one thing I left out was its roof terrace. A cute little area to have some food and drink with some great views of Venice. It also provides a nice view straight down the adjacent canal so I grabbed my 55-200mm lens again and zoomed in down the canal which gave a lens compression effect which works quite well for this shot.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF55-200mm | 135mm | 1/125th Sec | f/9 | ISO200

The Grand Canal

I decided to venture out into the city just before sunrise. I often do this in London to capture the sunrise and there is no better time to experience any city in the world. While everyone else is asleep, the calm and tranquillity a city has to offer without the hustle and bustle is quite something to experience and I recommend to photographers and non-photographers alike to experience this when visiting a new city.

Using the 18-55m lens again, I started off capturing the view I've always wanted to get in Venice namely the Grand Canal and the Basilica. I had already checked the sunrise location out on suncalc.net so I knew that all being well with the weather, the sun would rise in the general direction I was shooting. The sky was pretty clear on this particular morning but not wanting a too cluttered composition, I was fine with this.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF18-55mm | 18mm | 0.6 Secs | f/10 | ISO200

During the day, the Grand Canal is full of water taxis, gondolas and all manner of boats so experiencing this view without all of that was a bit special. I'm pretty sure this morning's photoshoot was the one and only time I used a tripod during my stay in Venice and with the camera firmly mounted, I captured another composition of this classic view below. Link to Google Maps of this location.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF18-55mm | 37mm | 0.5 Secs | f/11 | ISO200

While on the Accademia Bridge, I checked the view facing up the canal and I spotted the scene below with the morning sun lighting up the few clouds drifting past and I could not let that escape without capturing it. I love the way the different shapes and sizes of the buildings that line the canal provide the character of the city. I am sure each and every one will have a story to tell especially as some date back around 1000 years.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF18-55mm | 37mm | 0.6 Secs | f/11 | ISO200

That's it for part one of my trip to Venice. click on the link below to see the next instalment.

Photographing Venice - Part Two