i finally went to venice
Do you have a location where everyone has been telling you for years that you should go? People say to you how it's so beautiful, you'll take the best photos! And you say something like... Yes! I’d love to go! but ultimately you just never do…..
Well, the title says it all really! I’d never been to Venice! For someone who lives in the UK, and has been known to occasionally fight the imposter syndrome and call themselves a photographer is pretty crazy! But, I finally went!! and I've been so excited since getting back to show you the photos! Here's one of my favorites to whet your appetite! because I REALLY should have gone sooner!
WHERE IS VENICE?
If you’ve been living under a rock somewhere then Venice is an island city towards the northeast of Italy. Look at it. it's literally in the sea! The only way in is by this road and train! This road literally ends the second it hits the island! From this point out cars are no more! you either walk…. or get a boat!
A little sadly Venice is actually sinking! According to the headlines, in the last century, Venice is thought to have sunk by 9 inches! And this is a problem that hasn't really been solved yet! The place itself is a historical gold mine! But most importantly for someone there to take photos it looks like this!
You know how when you go to most places the main attractions look awesome, but as soon as you stray off the main path things begin to fall apart quickly. Venice is the opposite! Literally, the entire place looks amazing. But if we rewind 24 hours, I had that huge dilemma many of us face before a trip! Do you know the one? WHAT GEAR DO I TAKE?!
what gear did i take?
I'll keep this bit quick but I know some of you will be really interested to know what I took. Now to make this even more stressful I am currently doing a bit of a gear transition, some things have sold and I'm yet to replace them.
So first up the Fujifilm X-H2S was a guaranteed pick! It's my video camera and to be honest it just safely covers all bases. Now if you’ve watched my other videos recently you might be searching out which primes I have bought! This is the problem... none yet! so I took the Fujifilm 16-55mm f2.8, heavy. But continues the theme of covering all bases.
But that's a big setup, what about when I don't want to lug around 2kg of camera gear? For that I opted for the Leica M10, and 35mm Summilux!
I can already sense my comment section. What about the X100V I hear you ask? Well, the bad news is it's been stolen! The good news is that it's been stolen by Clare. She used the Fujifilm X100V all trip long and well tbh she's got a pretty good eye too!
But this is my blog! So enough of that! let's crack on with talking about Venice.
Must Go Locations?!
A few of the main attractions are definitely worth visiting! The images might be a bit cliche and you’ve all seen them a million times before! But it is worth making it a million and one. Our hotel was next to Rialta Bridge, which is one of the main bridges over the Grand Canal! It's stunning! This area though is super busy!! But get up early, and it's completely different.
Continuing on with bridges Accademia Bridge might actually be the one that provides the better images! Because from here you can look straight towards a basilica, I used the boats to add some foreground interest to the images! It again can be busy but for us, 8am on a Sunday was super quiet!
Maybe the best-known area of Venice is St Mark's Square. I found this a little disappointing because there was a lot of scaffolding around the main square that made taking photos a little lackluster and uninspiring. However, just around the corner is where I took that awesome photo I showed you at the start! I could have just sat here for hours.
Next up is the day trip we did, and honestly I can't recommend this enough, it was a boat trip to Murano and Burano. Murano is famous for its glass blowing, and the demonstration we watched here was incredible. A glass master made a horse in less than 60 seconds right in front of us! But the real attraction of this trip for a photographer is Burano.
What do you think of Burano? looks pretty tame in black and white right? But the colors look like this!!
The island was mainly used by fishermen and legend says that it was very misty here. So to find their houses the fishermen painted them in bright bold colors!! And they really didn't hold back! My advice is if you book a tour like we did make sure you find one that spends a good amount of time here! We ate lunch here which took a huge chunk of our time away and it ended up being a bit of a rush! so prioritize Burano for photos!
NON PHOTOGRAPHY BASED ACTIVITIES
The Bell Tower on the St Marks Square gave us some really good panoramic views! The weather wasn't on the side! But it was still awesome!
Cicchetti bars! We tried a few! these are basically just a slice of baguette with toppings like meat and fish. Super cheap and go down very well with a beer or Aperol spritz
The inside of Doge Palace was incredible! I have never seen paintings of this scale with this amount of detail, genuinely I found myself walking around picking up my jaw! Literally jaw-dropping!
Gondolas
We did do a gondola ride! However, these are pretty expensive! They have a flat rate of 80 euros for approximately 30mins! I feel like it's one of them things where I am glad I did so that I can say I did it. But beyond that, I'm not sure it was worth it really. You can share this price with other people to get it down as you pay per gondola not per person. Looking at the EXIF data of my photos I know our Gondola ride only lasted 19mins so we paid 4 Euros a minute.
Lens Choice
Now that I've been when it comes to lenses I do think a variety of focal lengths is a good idea. I think I lucked out choosing a versatile zoom because I frequently found myself using both ends of my 16-55mm.
To capture all the little canals and add some compression to them I found myself frequently using 55mm.
But equally, as everything is so compact often a wider lens is needed.
Typically I love a set of primes but I do think I'd have found myself switching lenses a lot so maybe just maybe in this situation a zoom is the answer.
The Standout Advice
My best advice for someone looking to take photos in Venice would be:
Don't shy away from the main attractions! they are worth seeing! However, go and get lost because all the nooks and crannies of Venice are as beautiful as the main event. Getting lost is very much part of the charm of this city.
