Postcard From Venice

Venice, Italy, 2012

Good morning from Venice. We’re now two days into this year’s Venice Within The Frame and it is so good to be back here. Venice is a mixed bag. People either love it or hate it. I both love it and hate it. I love the light, the architecture, the possibilities. I love the food, the wine, and the restaurants we’ve come to call our own. But by day Venice, packed with tourists (of which I am one, I know,)  holds little photographic pull for me. I wander streets and make notes, stop in at cafes and bars for espresso, prosecco, or a glass of Valpolicella depending on the time of day, waiting for evening to come and usher the tourist hordes and kiosks selling masks and keychains off the cobbled streets. Venice in the evenings is magic, full of gorgeous light and dramatic skies, and lovers coming from their daytime hiding places. In the back streets the kids play soccer, until one by one mom calls them in for dinners. We eat late, the wine and laughter and shared stories taking us almost to midnight before heading back to the hotel.

Today we’ll wander, go take in the Elliot Erwitt exhibit, and wait for evening to fall, punctuating the day with pasta and seafood and a little window shopping.  Somewhere in there we’ll gather for a couple hours to talk about the visual language and the ways we have to fit the magic of this place into our photographs. And then we go out for more, to get lost in the alleys and the light.