A friend of mine congratulated me on my Venice photographs and commented that it had been very refreshing not to see the traditional Canaletto views in my images, but when in Venice… It a challenge to visit somewhere so famous and beautiful and still be able to frame images that offer something new. Venice by days offers beautiful scenes, and on clear crisp winter days it is impossible not to try.
Gondoliers are synonymous with Venice so it was lovely to see the traditional boatyard where they are still built and repaired. One of the last remaining in the city, it hasn’t changed significantly in more than 150 years, and is situated on the Rio di San Trovaso and Rio dei Ognissanti canal in Dorsoduro.
Bright blue skies and the pinks, creams and terracotta’s of the Palazzos reflect beautifully in the canal, sparkling in the winter sun. Since we were there the week before Carnivale, we saw Venetians in fancy dress and tourists wearing masks.
Tourist ‘must-sees’ are always difficult to capture but the Doge’s Palace from the Vaporetto and the Rialto Bridge from the old Post Office building are hopefully some of the the ‘views less snapped’.
And then of course you can always come across unexpected sights such as the Church of St. Barnaba, built in 809 and then rebuilt after a fire in 1105, which doubled as a library in ‘Raiders of the Lost Arc’ and is now home to the Da Vinci in Venice exhibition. And ultimately there is the lagoon, in which Venice sits and which is the source of her wonderful sea food, the gateway to her original power as a maritime trader and the strategic location – a critical factor in her prosperity. Situated in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, Venice served as a vital link between Western Europe and the Byzantine Empire, the Islamic world, and the Far East.
Text and images © Jonathan Dredge.
Modern Eccentrics 