Italy Within The Frame – Day 7 – To Venice by Train

Crossing Italy by train today as we move from Camogli to Venice has given me the chance to catch up on a preliminary sort of the nearly 5000 images I took last week.

It is odd to review a body of work taken over such a short period of time and to begin to see patterns emerging of what I have been experimenting with and to remember the decisions I took at the time.

You would think too that with so many images, I would have a wealth to chose from – it is not as if we have not been presented with great opportunities wherever we have gone. Yet interestingly I have found that there are very few images that really move me. There are lots of competent images that when processed will be a useful addition to my work

One of the most valuable opportunities for us is to have some one on one time with David or Jeffrey. I used the long train journey between Milano and Venezia to sit down with David and review some of those images, to analyze what I was lacking or missing in the images that I shot, and to provide a focus for the next few days in Venice.

David is always objective, honest and fair. His critiques bring that wealth of experience that has made his books and eBooks such international bestsellers, so although I feel I have got to know him well over this last week, I was still a little apprehensive.

Most of my images form last week fall into two themes – people in their environment or shapes, colors and patterns. So far so good. The former is my passion, the latter group was what I was trying to experiment with this last week.

However, David challenged me on whether I was taking enough risks. The images are too static or too safe. Initially he thought this might be because I was afraid to get in close, but I genuinely think that my ability to approach people and persuade them to allow me to shoot a series even to use a wide angle and almost be in their space is an area that I am comfortable with. Yet if my images are suggesting remoteness or too much structure, then of course I need to practice this all the more. I am not saying for one minute that I have mastered this but lets just say this is not one of my perceived barriers.

So if it is not about getting in close, is suggest that my images are too static, too structured and that I don’t take enough risks. This I think is spot on. I have been trying to put my finger on what it is that I find stimulating in other images, and are lacking in mine. I think I need to shoot more unusual compositions, more movement and different perspectives.

Secondly I need to have more of a purpose in my shooting. That is not to say that I need to stick rigidly to a theme, but for example over the next few days in Venice I need to have a story of a theme in mind that will help me direct my shooting and ensure that my body of work is more cohesive. It might be the relationship between the water and the people, or it might be the contrast of romantic environment yet solitary people, or perhaps it is something to do with the lack of transport other than by boat.

As we begin the first of our two full days in Venice I am still a little undecided as to what that theme is. However David’s insight into what is holding me back has helped ease a little bit of the frustration that was building, and will allow me to truly enjoy the opportunities that this extraordinary city can provide.

More on Venice in Tomorrow’s post!

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 2nd, 2010 at 5:15 pm. It is filed under Travel, Workshops and tagged with David duChemin, Event photography, ITWF, Jeffrey Chapman, Venezia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.