Venice

How to attend the opening party of the Carnival in Venice? It starts on a specific canal, best to let Google maps show you the way. To get a perfect view, you have to sit down on the embankment of the canal. The time was about 4 pm when we positioned ourselves; then we had to wait nearly 4 hours sitting on the cold stone and concrete ground with the feet swinging over the water. If you leave your place, the next waiting guests will occupy it. That’s the price you pay, for sitting in the front row. Remembering back, I can tell you, it’s worth to watch that great spectacle without hindrance.

Post processed with: Aurora 2019, Photoshop 2019

• Camera: ILCE-7RM2
• Aperture: ƒ/2.8
• Shutter speed: 1/100s
• Focal length: 36mm
• ISO: 4000

My wife Karin and I arrived in Venice at about 5 pm. We parked our car in the San Marco garage, which we had booked online. I can recommend booking in advance, this garage is already on the island, from where you can go directly to the water-bus station. The 30-minute drive to the Piazza San Marco showed us the pink sky over Venice, with motor boats of Venetian residents on their way home. First I thought water busses are a bit slow, but in which city you can go from the outer areas to the center within 30 minutes? That’s pretty cool, no traffic jam, no traffic lights, no waiting time. 🙂 

Post processed with: Aurora 2019, Photoshop 2019

• Camera: ILCE-7S
• Aperture: ƒ/4.5
• Shutter speed: 1/15s
• Focal length: 75mm
• ISO: 200

While waiting for my wife Karin, I was underway with street-photography. At Lido di Venezia, there is a longer boulevard where I was ready to take some lower shutter speed shots of driving cars. I planned to get a photo with an abstraction of a car with Italian buildings in the background. You can see, it worked out. For the shutter speed, the tenth of a second unit makes the difference of the outcome for the blurriness.

Post processed with: Photoshop 2019

Light garlands are hanging from the ceilings on all ways around the Piazza San Marco. My wife and I were late, visited a Campari bar and then took a photo tour. I was pleased that Karin gave me enough time to compose my photos sufficiently.

Post processed with: Aurora 2019, Photoshop 2019

• Camera: LEICA M (Typ 240)
• Aperture: ƒ/4.8
• Shutter speed: 1/90s
• Focal length: 50mm
• ISO: 1250

On the way home my wife Karin wanted to make a detour to the Designer Outlet near Venice. You get there bargains of the famous Italian fashion brands. That’s what the little boy thought with his shopping bag.

Post processed with: Photoshop 2019

• Camera: iPhone XS
• Aperture: ƒ/1.8
• Shutter speed: 1/122s
• Focal length: 4.25mm
• ISO: 25

Always ready for a snapshot, the constant changing action in Venice demands to be prepared with the camera in your hand. The city is old, worn, morbid, with crumbled plaster, rusty ironed grids, some great restaurants, and some tourist traps, this city is an art-masterpiece in large magnitude.

Post processed with: Aurora 2019, Photoshop 2019

• Camera: LEICA M (Typ 240)
• Aperture: ƒ/4
• Shutter speed: 1/4s
• Focal length: 50mm
• ISO: 6400

The waiting time for the ferry back to Piazza San Marco was about half an hour. Therefore I walked the promenade street on the Lido Venice up and down and made shots of driving cars in the night, which brought unique views of the vehicles.

Post processed with: Aurora 2019, Photoshop 2019

• Camera: ILCE-7RM2
• Aperture: ƒ/2.2
• Shutter speed: 1/8s
• Focal length: 24mm
• ISO: 320

There are too few films shot in Venice. The scenery would be ideal for mystical conspiracy theories and secret societies. An old order of knights, hidden scrolls and disappeared persons would be the ingredients for a screenplay for a mystical movie in Venice. And then the dark streets and small bridges and the black water of the canals.

Post processed with: Photoshop 2019

• Camera: LEICA M (Typ 240)
• Aperture: ƒ/5.6
• Shutter speed: 1/12s
• Focal length: 50mm
• ISO: 4000

On a Sunday before noon, the canals got crowded with Gondolas. They line up and bring their passengers through the street canyons. Some Gondolieres become acrobatic, they jump between Gondolas, prepare the empty ones for new drives. Mostly they are dressed in fashionable clothing. I wonder if one falls in the canal from time to time. However, it would be a funny scene.

Post processed with: Photoshop 2019

• Camera: LEICA M (Typ 240)
• Aperture: ƒ/16
• Shutter speed: 1/2000s
• Focal length: 50mm
• ISO: 6400

I love Italian Bars. The Campari bottles on the glass shelves, the Averna bottle beneath the Amaro bottle, the Espresso machines. The display cases with Tramezzini, the bartenders with their Italian style. The interior consists of brass covers and wood, where the ravages of time have taken their toll. You get the right size for the glass of bitter liqueur, not too small and too lean, as you often get served in the rest of Europe. Here in Venice they know it.

Post processed with: Aurora 2019, Photoshop 2019

• Camera: LEICA M (Typ 240)
• Aperture: ƒ/2.8
• Shutter speed: 1/60s
• Focal length: 50mm
• ISO: 800