Not my usual shot...

[rpcrowe]

I have to admit that shooting trash collection vehicles has not been my major interest in life. However as I was looking through some of my images from my trip to Venice, I came upon this one.



I shot it (from my hotel window) because it was (to me anyway) quite a different way to collect trash.

My wife didn't like the hotel room because it was an old fashioned 18th or 19th Century building and because our bedroom window was right on this side canal. That meant gondolieri singing their way down the canal half the night long, interspersed with party goers and boats with outboard motors.

I liked the room because of this canal which afforded all types of image possibilities...

[IzzieK]

Richard...that was a nice clear shot but what was that in the water? -- oil sleek or something...?

[Shadowman]

I would have loved a room that close to the canals, unfortunately when we were there our hotel was across the waterway. Nice image.

[tbob]

Very interesting and a different view of Venice. Does Venice have the equivalent of a street sweeper? A boat towing a net or some such thing?

[rpcrowe]

The canals get flushed out by the tides from the sea. Mother Nature's street sweeper. I believe that the "oil slick" Isabel asked about was a reflection of the buildings. I don't remember anything like an oil slick. However I don't think I would want to swim in the canals.

Just about anything else we do by auto or truck, is done in Venice by boat or by man-handling...

Bus transportation...


Construction:


Deliveries:


Taxies:


Of course every location doesn't have direct canal access:


So the loads have to be man-handled:


But it is the gondoli that interest most tourists:

I had this one printed on canvas and it looks quite good.









i am revisiting my Venice RAW images to see if there are any shots that I missed editing... Here is my smugmug Venice Gallery:
http://rpcrowe.smugmug.com/Architect...nice/i-39vsNNn

[Wavelength]

Nice image.....this happened to have fine color scheme......

[Shadowman]

Nice additions to original post.

[Wavelength]

This new set is simply awesome!!!!!!!

[deetheturk]

Great images Richard,and not a dog in sight

[rpcrowe]

Great images Richard,and not a dog in sight

I wonder how that happened

However, the food was great...





A restaurant along the Grand Canal can be expensive and quite touristy - but, the ambiance is great and that is one meal we will always remember...

[NorthernFocus]

This is the kind of photo set that really tells the story of the place, Richard. You did a great job of documenting your trip. Now I have to keep my wife away from seeing them...

[rpcrowe]

Venice IMO has the largest number of photogenic sites, crammed into a small area, of any city I have ever visited... Every time I turned a corner or crossed a bridge (must be hundreds of those in Venice), I saw something photogenic...

It could be something major like the traffic on the Grand Canal...


Or something like a couple of lovers enjoying break next to a secondary canal...


Then there were grand vistas by the Lagoon like the San Marco Vaporetto Landing...


And the Isola Di San Giorgio Maggoire with its (IMO) absolutely atrocious inflatable purple pregnant woman with no arms.


However, I liked Istanbul better. I really don't have any great desire to return to Venice but I would go back to Istanbul in a heartbeat! It is a far larger city than Venice and I needed a lot more than my three days there to see it and photograph it adequately...

[Hui Song]

Venice IMO has the largest number of photogenic sites, crammed into a small area, of any city I have ever visited... Every time I turned a corner or crossed a bridge (must be hundreds of those in Venice), I saw something photogenic...

But there are so much pictures of Venice out there. How to take a unique photo over there is really challenge.

[IzzieK]

Nice additions and documentation of your trip. Did you have a notebook of how you formed your story while there and the shots you were going to take? Your shots makes it more interesting as I follow your shots and comments...I like the sepia one the best in the second installation. Very remarkable.

[rpcrowe]

Isabel, I had some specific ideas of what I wanted to bring home... Gondolieri plying their trade, various types of water transport, pretty women, etc.

The rest of the shots were grabs like these...





I knew that I wanted to have some images of the Venetian Carnivale masks...



And some of the shots were just luck...



Actually not entirely luck, I waited a while and shot several images in this sequence. This is the best combination of the young ladies and the passers by reflected in the mirror. My wife is the lady walking in the red top and blue pants. She is really quite patient when it comes to my photography but, I tend to shoot better when alone and can concentrate totally on photography...

All the images that I have processed so far are at...
http://rpcrowe.smugmug.com/Architect...nice/i-kpngkRH

I occasionally revisit my RAW imagery and find new ones to edit such as the image that started this thread...

[Downrigger]

I enjoy all of these. So rich in detail and color; and with story too. A wonderful collection for me to see.
Venice is a widely held favorite destination and visited by millions, but I'm afraid I always contemplate it with its compromised septic engineering in mind.

[IzzieK]

Go during the New Year ... I only there once and only for a short half day and wasn't into good photography then, we sat down in one of those outdoor spots and listened to the orchestral music. It was so beautiful...I have nothing to show for it unlike Richard that is why I asked if he had researched and planned his shots beforehand. Getting taken by beautiful sights I tend to forget to catalogued my travels. Seeing Richards work, I will do my research beforehand and plan ahead. It will be a nice project in my next travels, which will be plentiful this year.

'Have to check on weather this coming Wednesday too at LA. We have an 8 hour wait when we get there and plan to go downtown or somewhere I can grab something interesting...if it rains, fuggedaboutit! We'll just have to book a hotel room and catch up on sleep... Boring....

I enjoy all of these. So rich in detail and color; and with story too. A wonderful collection for me to see.
Venice is a widely held favorite destination and visited by millions, but I'm afraid I always contemplate it with its compromised septic engineering in mind.

[rpcrowe]

I like to research my travels. Not to copy images but to learn what might be photogenic, unusual or historic. I research a lot on the internet. One thing that interested me was the Bridge of Sighs...

This is a covered bridge leading from the Palace of the Doge (image left) to the Venetian Prison (image right) the Palace of the Dodge also housed the courts.



The Bridge of Sighs is so named because it is the last sight of Venice for many convicted persons. Knowing this bit Of trivia, I did the below image from inside the bridge hoping to give an impression of what the convicted prisoners saw as they crossed the bridge from the court to the prison.



I also shot some brick and mortar stuff to flesh out my collection. That is necessary for any travel but, doesn't comprise my main efforts.

I really like shooting people the best...



But, I loved the look of the buildings at the golden hour...



The winged lion of Saint Mark was/is the symbol of Venice. You can see this symbol through out the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean areas since Venice was once a super-power there...



This mural above the entrance of the Basilica di San Marco shows how Venetians kidnapped the body of Saint Mark from Muslim control in Alexandria Egypt and smuggled it past the Muslims in a cask of bacon; pork being unclean to the Muslims.



I am sure that they brought a body home to Venice but, seriously that it was old San Marco himself. However, the Venetians believed that it was his body and that's all that counted.

[IzzieK]

Very interesting shots and very story, Richard...love the story of the Bridge of Sigh...

[rpcrowe]

The prison cells were pretty darn gruesome. I hate prisons generically so did not shoot any images inside that place. According to story, the prison is where Marco Polo wrote/dictated his famous travel story...