Venice

"A Unique and Beautiful Place."
Article and Images by Ian Whitworth

I believe Venice to be one of the most interesting cities in the world to visit and photograph. It is truly a unique and beautiful place and one of the only cities that can boast having no roads for motorized vehicles in the main portion of the city. Beyond the causeway from the mainland ending at the train and bus terminals, Venice can only be travelled on foot or by water.

We arrived via the airport on the mainland and utilized the water bus (vaporetti) to travel across into the Grande Canal and through to the stop by the Rialto Bridge. Our stay was a short one as we were leaving late the next day on a 12 day Mediterranean Cruise.

I should mention that they say to travel light when going to Venice, due to the water access and walking required (including many bridges with steps over the canals). Light we were not! A 12 day cruise requires quite a bit of stuff and it was a fair walk to our hotel up and over lots of steps on canal bridges.

Once settled in the hotel (now with longer arms), it was time to explore this great place. If at all possible, try to get up early and beat the crowds and enjoy the good light for your photography as Venice is quite congested with tourists. Two of the main tourist destinations are Piazza San Marco and the Rialto Bridge. Venice also offers great foregrounds for sunset or late evening sky shots.

To ensure you capture the great colours of Venice in your daytime images, be sure to remember to make use of a polarizer. These filters will help bring out your sky colour, help with glare and reflections, as well as assist with challenges related to haze. The blues on the gondolas will also be brought out well.

Great images are available of the Grande Canal and its activity from the side of the Rialto Bridge both during the day and at night. Also along the south shore below the Piazza San Marco just east of the southern Grande Canal entrance. Gondoliers and their gondolas are abundant throughout the canals and many shops displaying the famous masks make for some colourful shots.

For those of us that understand and enjoy logistics, it is quite interesting to sit down with a nice cappuccino first thing in the morning and watch the activity along the canals before the tourists are taking their gondola rides.

Everything you are accustomed to showing up by truck for the stores, restaurants and hotels is arriving by water along the canals, truly a unique experience.

If you have the opportunity to take a cruise that departs from Venice, you have some unique image opportunities from this elevated position looking north as the ship heads east passing Piazza San Marco. For the greatest flexibility, position yourself in the stern of the ship on the port side on an upper deck. This will allow you to capture the city to your north (left) and to look back over the stern to the great views of the entrance to the Grande Canal. In general, I always go to the stern on a cruise ship as it also helps with blocking the wind.

Summer in Venice is beautiful and can be quite warm. Tidal flooding is common in Venice during the time between fall and spring and can cause some inconvenience and detouring, but for the adventuresome, may allow for some interesting images that I have seen but not experienced first hand.

So if you have not moved Venice up on your bucket list yet, you may want to think about planning to see and capture this beautiful and unique city sometime in the near future.

Larger sizes of these photos and a further selection taken on Ian's trip are in the Gallery of Better Photographs.

More of his work is on his Website at - Ian C Whitworth Photography.

Why visit this place?

"Venice is a very unique city."

When is the best time of year to visit?

Late spring and early summer are the best times to visit Venice as far as weather is concerned.

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