Cosa sarebbe Venezia senza le gondole ? E una foto da Venezia senza una di quelle fatate imbarcazione, quelle trappole per turisti e fotografi ? A meta strada tra Doge e Disney, tra tradizione e tradimento. Pero sempre e per sempre ineluttabile.

(dettagli tecnici: tutti Olympus E-P3, M-Zuiko 45mm f/1.8)

Competing with the Rialto Bridge area for the Cliché To End All Clichés of Venice is the Piazza San Marco / Riva degli Schiavoni area.  A long exposure shot of gondolas with the tower of San Giorgio Maggiore in the background is absolutely obligatory for any self-respecting Fine Art Photographer. Not to mention Rough Art Photographers, or indeed tourists. Street Photographers would, of course, rather take an artfully oblique, grainy black and white shot of a Fine Art Photography prancing around with his (usually) tripod, taking a long exposure shot of gondolas with the tower of San Giorgio Maggiore in the background.

But that’s no reason whatsoever to avoid the obvious, and here’s my take on it. The lack of people in some shots confirms that unlike Street Photographers who are still tucked up in bed dreaming of their first espresso, Urban Landscape Photographers get up early.

(for any technically minded visitors - the first shot here is taken with a Ricoh GRD II, all the rest are Sigma DP2 Merrill)

I probably should try shooting more people, but I keep telling myself that it’s not really my thing.  But anyway, here are some denizens of Venice I’ve shot over the past few years.  Some in focus. Some less so.

Sestiere di Castello, Venezia, approaching midnight, approaching silence.  Probably a real photographer would have made these black & white & moody & gritty.  Probably a real photographer wouldn’t have taken them at all.

Venice: where street signs are just a hint of where you might be, where you could be, where you once were.