Reflections in a painter’s shop, Venice.

Reflections in a painter’s shop.

Carnival in Venice is also this: a painting of Carnival in a shop. I saw an interesting reflection, because of the morning’s beautiful, bright light.

Leica CL, 1/250 sec; f/8; ISO 400

My friend Sabina in her apartment

From my project “Venetians inside their houses”…

… this is Sabina, a friend of mine, who is also one of the founders of the bookshop “Marco Polo” in Venice. In that bookshop I have been holding photography classes for about ten years. She was in the middle of a renovation inside her apartment and I took advantage of that fact because everything was spread around. Her small black dog was a bit afraid of my tripod.

Taken with my Leica SL and 28mm: 1/13 sec; f/6,8; ISO 1600

An interesting shop in the center of Venice

In the very center of Venice there is a strange, intriguing and interesting shop: this one.

Reflections

Every time I pass in front of it I try to find a composition including what happens in the street and the naked dummies you can see inside. This time it was early in the morning and I was lucky enough to see a man carrying a bunch of flowers on his shoulders. There was probably a wedding not far from where I took this picture.

Leica M10 with 35mm Summicron F/2 asph, 1/30 sec; f/4,8; ISO 800

Mrs. Nevia Capello and her husband

Nevia Capello and her husband Paolo Marassi in their home in Venice, Italy. Mrs. Nevia is the descendant of the noble family Capello who arrived in Venice before the XIII century, according to her. In 1944, together with her family and thousands of other people, she was about to be deported to Auschwitz, but at the last minute, while they were forced to step into the train, a German soldier said "Genug!" ("stop it!") and saved them. Nevia Capello is the founder and she has been for forty years the president of ACIT in Venice, one of the most important Italian/German cultural associations.

Picture taken with Leica SL, 28mm Elmarit 2,8 asph, 1/6 sec; f/6,8; ISO 1600

The Venetian singer Marco Forieri

Marco Forieri, singer. Inside music since 1984, as author, composer, editor, he got three gold disk with the venetian group “Pitura Freska” thanks to the songs: “Na Brutta Banda, Duri i Banchi, Gran Calma”, and a platinum disc “Na Brutta Banda”. His hit "2054 de Santa Marta", very popular in Venice, is a protest song against the enormous cruise ships passing every day in front of his windows and through the canal of Giudecca.

1/15 sec; f/4,0; ISO 800

Street photography in Castello

January is one of the best months to see Venice. The days are bright and light is great. Shadows are interesting all day long and the Summer crowds are a distant memory. In such a situation it’s even more intriguing to walk around the less known streets of Venice. No doubts, Winter is the season I prefer!

Picture taken with Leica SL and 28mm Elmarit-M 1:2.8/28 asph 1/2500 f/2.8 iso 400

Lino, the junk dealer in the Cannaregio district of Venice

This is my friend Lino, a man who has been working in Murano for fifty years.

The junk dealer Lino in his small shop in Cannaregio

Inside the glass factories he learned everything about glass and now, after he retired, he spends most part of the day in a small room on the ground floor in the district of Cannaregio. If you need for something from Murano you can ask his, for sure he will find it for you. During the Photo Tour “Venice and the Orient”, sometimes we pay a visit to him.

Picture taken with a Leica CL and Vario-Elmar TL 1:3.5-5.6 / 18-56 ASPH set on 18mm; 1/160 sec; f/3,5; ISO1600

Street photography in the Giudecca island

I was wandering aimlessly that day, knowing that in the Giudecca island there are always some very good photographic opportunities to be found. This was such the case: I suddenly saw this man waiting for the garbage to be taken away by a special boat, after the high tide of the 12th November entered in his house on the ground floor.

A man waits for a special boat to take away the garbage from the ground floor of his house.

Picture taken with a Leica SL and 28mm Elmarit 2,8 asph. 1/160s, F/3.5 Iso 400.

The morning after the terrible 187cm high tide in Venice

During the night of 12th November 2019 the high tide in Venice reached 187cm. It’s strange to look for the best composition in such a situation, so sad for Venice and for most part of venetians. In my opinion however, trying to capture in the best way what happened, is a way to respect the city and its inhabitants.

You can see the full article and many photos in my official website following this link: https://www.marcdetollenaere.com/blog/venice-the-day-after/

Picture taken with Leica SL and 28mm Elmarit Asph, 1/25 sec; f/6,8; ISO 1600

Learning from the Masters: Romano Cagnoni

How great Masters of photography can influence our work

More and more young people are attracted to photography, due to the digital advantages of taking pictures without film or directly with a smartphone. The democratization of this tool - a good thing in my opinion - if on the one hand allows a lot of people in having fun, on the other hand makes it difficult to understand what a good picture is.

I am often asked, especially by young students doing a Photo Tour in Venice with me, what makes a good picture, and how they could learn to get one. In this case, I usually ask them which are their favourite photographers and the names I got are “photographers” obscure to me, but may be “famous” on instagram or on facebook or somewhere else on the internet. 

When I started studying photography I learnt by heart the trilogy of Ansel Adams, and I spent a lot of time in the bookstore near where I lived, looking at the books - I couldn’t afford to buy - of great masters. I was in love with Robert Frank and Henry Cartier-Bresson, and anyway the choice in the bookstore was always among the big names, photo world legends.

Romano Cagnoni. Recruits in Biafra

This is how a lot of great shots remained in my mind and sometimes, when in need, they came back and bite me. This is such the case: years ago I was in the Mahagandayon Monastery in Burma and I was told that the monks will line up for lunch before noon. Immediately I recognized the picture of Romano Cagnoni (unfortunately I never met him, I just saw his pictures on books), taken in Biafra and among thousands of possible shots I went looking for this one.

Monks, Mahagandayon Monastery, Burma

Of course, the situation is different, light is different and people too, compared to the Romano Cagnoni’s picture, but when you look for excellence, it’s better to have excellent mentors.

By the way, I recently saw this Monastery listed on Tripadvisor as touristic attraction, I guess it’s not a good thing…

Fiora's house

It happened after years of traveling through the narrow Venetian streets, following my instinct, and carefully avoiding crowded places.

I looked for sacred places, wandering shamans, nomads and memories to tell. Finally, I met Fiora.

Fiora in her corridor

I met her for the first time in June 2018, and it was immediately love at first sight.

Fiora’s book: “Adventures of a Venetian house”

Her house speaks of distant worlds, mainly Latin, and is a blaze of details, lights, shadows and colors. Conversation is always pleasant, profound and time always passes too quickly. Fiora is a writer, photographer, artist and sorceress. She has written several books, including the one entitled "Adventures of a Venetian house" in which I read:

"The furniture in my house are mobile in the truest sense of the word. They are not immovable furniture. Sometimes I think they move from one room to another one. The walls of my house are alive and during the night they change and breathe. I don't know what they do, but I always see them different according to my state of mind. A house with white walls feeds claustrophobia, the desire to escape, to get tattoos to fly, to run away or to get lost in impossible journeys in sinister and dangerous countries.

Fiora in her living room

A house with white walls feeds the desire to get tattooed on the body and to become a landscape, a dream, a myth. Every day I venture into the spaces where I live, barefoot like an enfant sauvage in his wood. I listen to the house’s voice, to the silence of the walls, to the sound of the lights, to the buzz of cracking on the walls. I would like to have a dark, protected from light, house in summer; I would like to have a house where every room follows the rhythm of the seasons so I could walk in autumn in a bedroom with the floor entirely covered with fallen leaves, and hear its creak and smell.

Fiora in Palazzo Cavazza Foscari Mocenigo dalle Zogie

I would like a spring house with all the windows open so the rooms could have a transfusion of air and wind. In winter, I would like to place the soles of my feet on warm kilim, full of colored kaleidoscopes with huge flowers-fruits of the wool  Eden garden. "

Fiora’s book: “Adventures of a Venetian house”

Memories of a lifetime in the corridor of Fiora’s house

A wall in the corridor of Fiora’s house

People working in the canals of Castello, Venice

The challenge is to capture more stories in the same frame.

A typical Venetian scene in a narrow canal of Venice

There is always too much going on at the same time in Venice,

the challenge here is to capture more than one story in only one frame. A taxi, then people discharging from their boat and a man precariously balanced on a catwalk. All this with the laundry hanging out on their heads.

Leica CL, with Vario-Elmar TL 1:3.5-5.6 / 18-56 ASPH at 20mm (a 30mm in a full-frame camera), 1/100 sec; f/5,0; ISO 400.

A venetian interior in the island of Giudecca

What happens beyond a Venetian door?

The incredible interior of a Venetian house.

Venetians houses are incredibly rich in history, life, objects and mold.

So the focus of my attention is now on what happens beyond a door. In this situation I did not have the courage to ask my subject how old the newspapers on the wall were, but I guess he did not read all of them. May be this is why they are still lying there.

Picture taken with a Leica SL and an Elmarit M 28mm 2,8 asph. 1/20s, f/4.8, iso 1600.

My solo exhibition in the Bassano Fotografia Festival

Venice still dances

From Saturday the 14th September you can visit my exhibition during the Photofestival Bassano Fotografia 2019: “Venice still dances”.

My exhibition in Bassano del Grappa during Bassano Fotografia 2019

You’ll see a selection of my pictures about the Venice I like the most: from my project “Venetians inside their houses”, but also the Orthodox Church of the Greeks, and much more.

Don’t miss it!

My exhibition will remain open every Saturday and Sunday in September and October 2019 from 10.00am until 12.30am and from 3.00pm until 7.00pm.

The beautiful Gran Teatro La Fenice

A picture taken in the Gran Teatro la Fenice in Venice, with iso 6400

The concert of the Arma dei Carabinieri inside the Gran Teatro La Fenice in Venice

I had the great honor to be invited in the Gran Teatro La Fenice in Venice, at the concert of l’Arma dei Carabinieri.

My place was in the first range, right in front of the conductor and I enjoyed a lot the music and the atmosphere. There were extremely poor light conditions, as often happens in the theaters, and I pushed my Leica CL up to iso 6400 in order to freeze the right moment.

Leica CL with Vario-Elmar TL 1:3.5-5.6 / 18-56 ASPH 1/160s f/5.1 iso 6400

A snapshot taken during a Photo Tour in the district of Dorsoduro.

Church of San Sebastiano - Venice

Picture taken with a Leica CL and 18/56mm Vario Elmarit asph, 400 iso, 1/2000 f/8.

I was on a Photo Tour in the district of Dorsoduro.

I saw this woman with her dogs coming io shade with the very bright façade of the Church of San Sebastiano behind her.

Picture taken with a Leica CL and 18/56mm Vario Elmarit asph, 400 iso, 1/2000 f/8.

The carver of the gondolas

Inside a “squéro” I met one of the best carvers in Venice.

The carver Antonio Peroni

I published my book about the construction of the gondolas 12 years ago,

and since then I sometimes meet again one of the best carvers in Venice: Antonio Peroni. Here he is carving directly on the top of a gondola (the Venetian name of this part is tràsto de prora).

I took this picture with a Leica CL and a Vario-Elmar TL 1:3.5-5.6 / 18-56 ASPH. 1/125s f/5.1 iso 1600

The little seahorse on the Ω Omega Seamaster model

In one of the most iconic watches, one of the symbols comes from Venice

In Venice, these decorations are made by the “ottonai”, craftsmen who make the brass horses and other ornaments in metal.

I was absolutely not aware of that, but I recently discovered that on the back of the famous Ω Omega Seamaster - like the one you can see in the picture - you can find the seahorse which decorate the central part of the two sides of the gondola.

The seahorse of an Ω Omega Seamaster watch

The original brass seahorse in the foundry

The Ω Omega Seamaster watch

The original Ω Omega Seahorse

Inside Venetians' houses

The Venice beyond the doors

There are many different Venices. One is on the street, in the 4 or 5 main streets where everybody follows everybody. One is off the beaten path, where I usually go during a Photo Tour. One is on the canals, during a gondola ride, and one more is beyond the doors and the walls of houses and palaces. This last one is the project I am working on since six years so far, and you can’t imagine the incredible amount of stories you can find inside the centuries-years-old Venetians’ houses.

I took this picture with a Leica CL and a 18mm Elmarit 2,8 Asph - 1/8s - f/2,8 - is 1600.

Street Photography in Venice

I like working on the street, in Venice people live on the street. This is why I am drawn to Street Photography in Venice. Wandering around you can find some theatrical scenes like this one, and I like the way the subjects play with the architecture. Although I never understood why this girl was wearing a mask after the end of Carnival. The secret is this one: we walk around the hidden streets of Venice and we pick up a corner, very carefully chosen, and that becomes the place where the best picture is.

Leica CL with 18mm Elmarit, 1/250s f/2,8 iso 400.