It's fair to say that I was looking forward to the trip, but maybe putting a little too much pressure on myself ("Here's my "A" Panel!!!")
The trip was just what I needed, although not in the way I thought it would be.
The photography wasn't great in fairness ... Venice is one of the most commercialised places that I've ever been ... famous for it's architecture, but destroyed by advertisement hoardings for the most part...
Maybe another time I'll get a little further from the beaten track, but this time was just the usual tourist shots ... we did get a nice sunrise though ...
That is to say, I wasn't a father, Husband, Son, Employee, Professional Photographer, Friend, Facilitator, Tutor etc.
I revel in my life here, and I missed my family dreadfully, but I had to get over it, as I was hundreds of miles away from them ...
I came home with my batteries fully charged and ready for just about anything ...
One thing I did hope to do was try my hand at "Street Photography" or "Environmental Portraiture" as It's known as well ..
Trouble is, although I could organise 100 guests at a wedding for a group shot, and I'm, in general, good with people ... I find it nigh on impossible to approach strangers to ask for their photos ...
When in Venice, we too a trip to Burano, an island in the Venetian Lagoon, and I spied a character walking the canal banks there. I thought "He'd be a great subject for a portrait", but nerves got the better of me and I let the opportunity pass ...
As luck had it though, myself and a mate were walking around the canals and wonderful coloured residences and we came across said individual in the doorway of his house ... again I panicked, but my mate Paul asked if he could take the man's picture ... the man agreed with gusto ...and I did the decent thing and snuck along to take a shot as well ... :-P
What a face ...
now you can see from this shot ... I made a balls of the processing ... and I will revisit, but I was happy with the shot .... not so happy that I couldn't ask for the shot in the first place ...
anyway, here's another from Burano ... as I said ... every residence was like this!!
I love the colours here, and it's a bit of a glimpse into another, simpler, world ....
So, to finish this post ... I'm gonna post another tourist shot ... the view from Rialto Bridge ...
It was taken on our second evening in Venice.
I wanted to get a slow shutter speed shot of a barge passing beneath the bridge, but when we got there, the adverts hanging from the bridge were so distracting that I didn't bother with that shot...
I went up onto the bridge and captured this shot looking down the canal ...
I was on the steps of the bridge with one leg of my tripod on the ground and the other 2 on the handrail of the bridge ... I used cokin filters to balance the sky and the foreground.
Canon EOS 5D mkII - 24-10mm F4L @ 24mm
F4
ISO 1250
1/20sec
processed in Photoshop CS4 ... mainly levels and curves ... little vignetting added
anyway ... here it is ...
really like this shot ... it captured the hustle and bustle of the area and still managed give a sense of place with the Gondolier in the centre foreground ...
Philip
16th Jan 2011
